Over the top, but under the rock
Tuesday, December 10, 2013 | 10:17 PM
It’s been a while since I last posted something and next year I don’t think I am going to blog much. Sucks right? I know, don’t miss me. ): And while I was pretty high profile on social network, now I don’t really care about it anymore. And I realize I am much happier now. All the “likes” and “approval” that I get on Facebook and Twitter, will never amount to the bliss I feel from the love I get from my “Friend”, compliments in real life as I heart-to-heart-talk with my friends, and the quality time I spend with my family. For the first time in my life, these holidays, I’ve feel like I’ve finally grown up.
The thing is, I’m turning 18 in thirty-six days. (Yes totally hinting for a birthday present). It’s 15th January if you are too lazy to do the Maths. And this is actually a first but I am finally feeling my age, and embracing it. When I was turning 17 on January this year, I still felt 15. Because, my life didn’t change much. I still rely on a counsellor to sort my thoughts right, (since 12-years-old gosh) and I still rely on my “Friend” to always forgive me for my immature-ness, and I still couldn’t understand my family issues and my priorities were all wrong, studying second and social life first.
I have had my wake up call. And for those who don’t, (and are still studying for the sake of it) here’s the deal and harsh painful truth: MIRACLES DO NOT EXIST. We’ve heard of tons of success stories, about how students who scored ‘U’ and ‘S’ get a ‘B’ and ‘A’ in A Levels in the end. It happened not because there was a miracle; they talked about working very hard, stopping their social life and games. They did and got their rewards in the end. It is really all about walking the talk. And for some people, they need more time to catch up, to understand, to learn. People like me.
Why did I start talking about this? Because I was SHOCKED when I talked to my classmate de other day at the school library. He wasn’t doing the assignments but was just copying the answers over because according to him, “he doesn’t know how to do it”. I told him that he only had 300 plus days left and he said that that is still a lot of time. It really pissed me off. And I told him,
“We have two years in junior college. The first year we learnt all these topics, then we screwed up and by the end of the first year you still don’t understand what you have learnt. You have wasted your first year. But your competitors out there, are not only doing well, but are also starting to prepare for the topics next year. But YOU are left with 300 plus days to learn everything for the past year and next year. PLUS revision for everything. How is that a lot of time left?”
Now that I think about it, why am I panicking for my friends when I should be panicking for myself...?
The following parts of the post was written in 7th November and I never finish writing it and I don’t think I will after all, so I will just post it as it is because it would be a waste to just leave it aside.
Was doing GP (General Paper) holiday homework this morning and I was supposed to write 2 essay outlines from a choice of 24 questions. When choosing the questions to write about, we normally go for the safe ones, the ones which we know we will score better for. But these questions are not necessarily the ones that really interest us or ones that we feel a strong passion/opinion for.
Out of the 24 questions, there were four that really made me stop to think, about the issue presented and about life itself in relation to it. I didn’t write my essay outlines on these four questions though (I chose another two questions). Mainly because I feel emotions towards these questions raised and I really don’t want to get emotions tangled into my work again. And partly because I am baffled by it and what I feel towards it might not be right. The four questions are:
1) ‘Originality is overrated.’ Do you agree?
2) Is modern life in greater need of a ‘pause’ button or a ‘rewind’ button?
3) The mass media is a scapegoat for the ills of society. To what extent do you agree?
4) Should we work to live rather than live to work?
Before I launch into a full essay (No I don’t plan to write a full essay, but just some thoughts. This is why I chose to blog about this instead of coming up with an essay outline anyway. Well, sorry to disappoint but I don’t entertain, unless you are Mr. “Friend” or something then maybe I will go out of my way to make your day. ANYWAYS), I was just wondering, if what I am about to write, is something that the examiner/reader/you had read before, AKA non-original, would they/you still bother or be interested to read further? Originality is essential (especially when it comes to blogging) because otherwise, it’s just B-O-R-I-N-G with no element of surprise.
But of course, this essay is not about what originality is, whether it is essential or not, the question is whether it is overrated. So before one falls into the trap of writing WHAT originality IS, let’s just get to the point.
Thesis: Originality is not overrated.
Anti-thesis: Originality is overrated.
And having written till here, I think I will never make it as a GP/English/Language teacher. LOL Anyway, as promised, I will not write an essay out of this, (I wonder how many times I have reiterated this… I see my potential in being a nagger now) I will just blog about why I think originality is NOT overrated.
Just look at PW (Yes I truly thought that after talking about it in two posts, I am done with it and will not blog about it again but here I am…) For our Project to stand out, we must have an interesting topic first, explore areas in which little touch on. And the proposed strategies that we come up with for PW? It is all about being original so that we can stand out. The competition is getting stronger. You will lose out if you give ideas that others have already thought of. It is all about being unique and different. And the more you stand out, the more others pay attention to you, and… More points for you (:
BUT originality is overrated when you look at the recent celebrity headlines. Although I look like a wild child to many, I am surprisingly conservative (Like how I shocked my classmates when I told them that I don’t listen to K-pop and my favourite genre of music is actually Blues/Swings/Jazz and they just told me I don’t look like those type who’d enjoy such music). Anyways, in the bling bling world (or Hollywood), I think originality is overrated. And I write this with Lady Gaga’s outfits and Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball in mind. It’s not a bad song (it’s extremely catchy actually) but I think the MV is just... Overrated. This is my personal opinion by the way, that there’s no need to go to such lengths to stand out. But then again, it is a different world.
I guess this question was asked assuming that right now, we are pressing frantically on the “play button”. “LIVE THE MOMENT!” “TREASURE EVERY MOMENT!” “Live your life RIGHT NOW!” Screams right at us, to seize the moment. Well I guess that there’s no argument there, there’s no moment to waste according to “them”. Back to the question.
The “pause” button constantly pop up in my life but not to the things around me. Just look at the new malls, JEM (which celling just fell not too long ago, thanks to the hastiness of building it) and I think there’s a new mall not far from JJC. And oceans away, they say that in China, there is a new business being set up every day. But just 3 days ago, I read on the newspaper, that an 8-year-old girl has contracted lung cancer in a heavily-industrialized area (in China). What is shocking is that she is the youngest person recorded to contract lung cancer, the average age to contract lung cancer is 70-years-old (statistics from the same article that I read from).
*deep breath* Yeah we need to stop for a while. But no one dares to. Because they are afraid that they will lose out while they are at a standstill. When you’re travelling on the bus, have you ever look out at the trees? Did you notice that there are some trees that are smaller than the others? They are the ones with shorter branches, lesser leaves, and covered by the larger trees, hidden from the sunlight by the widespread leaves of the larger trees. And they remain small, because it is hard for them to get sunlight to grow, and they remain small.
We are afraid to be that small tree so we all struggle to grow, before the others outshine, outgrew and out-talent us. But wait, what happens when there is no sunlight and when the rain comes? The lightning strikes the tallest tree. So before rushing into things, I think it is important to stop. Modern life is in greater need of a ‘pause’ button because to go back is impossible and the ‘rewind’ button does not exist.
Sorry for the abrupt ending there about the post because I have had the worst case of writer's block. LOL. And it just came back so ... I really think this is quite a bad post actually... (I feel like I sounded like some naggy mother and old fashion mindset auntie and all the words just doesn't come together like how I was hoping it would) I apologize for my hiatus and my lousy-quality work after my long break. Anyways, there's nothing much to expect from me. FOR NOW.
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