The booksmart or the streetsmart?

Its been a while since I last wrote an argumentative essay, but this question has truly been bothering me, hence I really need to express this out or I think I'll just burst.

Of course all of us would really love to have both but given a choice, would you rather be book smart or street smart?

Before we actually proceed on, being book smart simply means "succeeding academically" . By saying someone is a booksmart it basically means that the person is your typical high flier with a varieties of certificates and A grades to produce when asked for it. The scholar.

well street smart on the other hand is defined as "having the shrewd resourcefulness needed to survive in an urban environment"

If you ask me on my personal opinion, I would have to say that being street smart would be my pick should I be given only one of these 2 choices.

Being a street smart means that we have all the skills needed to survive in today's society. Its not so much of communication, all of us can communicate. Its a matter of whether we're proficient enough at communicating via our methods and skills. At also I feel that in today's society, to survive we've gotta have EQ. Without EQ, its goinna be really difficult for us to socialize with others cause many at times we may say the wrong things and all without even realizing it.

Hence in this sense I feel being a street smart is really important.

Being street smart gets you the necessary skills to be employed. A street smart can aim to study hard enough to finally achieve both aspects and perform really well in his career.

A book smart, on the other hand, simply cannot, for his strength lies in the realm of the brain, with words words words. He simply does not have much experience in the real world to make it big. The booksmart can really be clever and go on to get degrees and masters, but is that really all that matters in todays society? We are judging humans by pieces of papers and not how well skilled they are, isnt that ridiculous? This might sound like the case here in Singapore but I firmly believe the traditional idea of looking out for skills is still important.

If being booksmart really did matter to Singapore, they would not have implemented the rule with regards to CCA and Direct Schools Admission via skills and talent. They would not have reiterated the importance of being all rounded apart from simply being academically inclined.

Remember 'The Apprentice'? There was this particular season where the booksmarts were pitted against the streetsmarts and who in the end survived? Not the one with the degrees. The streetsmarts had the necessary experience to sell their products and interact with customers while the booksmarts simply relied on their textbook knowledge to help them do the job, which was a wrong move.

Albert Einstein wasnt a booksmart. Well, yes he may be intelligent enough to come up with his own formulas and all, but he was afterall a street smart. A dropout of school who worked his way around this entire episode known as a failure by many, to eventually make it big as one of the world's most respectable figure.

Evidently, the street smart still wins at the end of the day.

Liverpool VS Singapore Match

I swear, I actually had faith in Singapore doing well for this match against Liverpool. The way they played during the first half was rather convincing and here I was thinking that they would at least be good enough to draw against the 'legendary' Liverpool but no how wrong I was.

Mistake number one: Slacking off during the final few seconds of the game leading up to half time

And that really did cost Singapore. No, it was not merely an issue of ONE goal, rather it was the beginning of a sliding downhill confidence and spirit. The lions were really bothered by this one goal, we can tell, and this led to them letting in another FOUR goals to make it a grand total of five goals.

Then again, kudos to Singapore for fighting on and giving it all they've got despite being really thrashed by the liverpool players. One watching the match could easily note the difference, especially in speed, of the players of both sides. It really was a contrasting difference.

Ohh well, things happen. Its alright Singapore, use this as a learning point and work hard towards the next match. We all start off with a couple of failures, but what really matters is we don't give up in climbing up that ladder of success. Well done Singapore for this aspect.

As for Liverpool, yes congrats, you beat Singapore fair and square. Your much needed confidence boost is here. Don't you just love that familiar feeling of happiness and satisfaction after having lost to Manchester United in the Premiere League not too long ago? :)

Solar eclipse

One of the disadvantages of living in Singapore, clearly, is the fact that we do not get to experience the things the other parts of the world get to experience, and a good example would be the recent solar eclipse.

There they were all enthusiastic about this phenomenon that occurs once in a blue moon and here we all are living our daily lives as usual cause well, it was not even able to be witnessed in Singapore. At around the time the eclipse occurred, I was in a meeting which ended about 3 to 4 hours later.

Awesome =X

Anyone managed to catch the solar eclipse?

New hobby!

A new found hobby, PHOTOSHOP! =D

Picking up new things can be rather annoying when you don't get it, but when you finally do the feeling is just indescribable. That being said, I still have alot to learn before I reach world class status.

Bleah, cya guys!

Never take someone for granted
Hold every person close to your heart
Because you might wake up one day
And realize you've lost a diamond
While you were too busy collecting stones

Rejected...again

My theory all this while has been true afterall. NS DOES close many windows of opportunity for us all involved in it and it's really annoying to know this.

I was originally selected as an emcee for the Youth Olympic Games but now they sent me another mail to 'reject' me and inform me that they have posted my name to another department to help out. Yes, I'm still in the Sports Department itself, but I have been denied perhaps what's seemed as the most prestigious role in YOG for me, being an enthusiast in the area of emceeing. The inability to commit myself thanks to my hectic schedule in NS was perhaps it.

Man, this six months has been really horrible, perhaps one of the darkest moments of my life ever I must say. There are times I really feel like just giving it all up but I will fight on. I need to brave through this, strong. In everything that happens there must be a reason. Yes, there must. Maybe in all that has happened, there is a silver lining and I'll emerge a stronger better person.

At least if you post me to the disc jockeying department I promise I won't be so annoyed

ASIAN YOUTH GAMES 2009

And another memory was created. Asian Youth Games 2009 was awesome, and though I didnt manage to help out in the closing ceremony, well I was part of the opening ceremony! It didn't feel like work though, with the presence of those I love around me making the entire process enjoyable. Interacting with the foreigners as I ushered them to their seats and back was also a really cool experience as I managed to learn more about their varying cultures which impressed me alot. Of course there was this huge language barrier stopping us from communicating further, yet we countered this by using hand signs as well as basic english. When the heart wants to do something, it will find a way about the obstacles hindering it :)

Some pictures from the event itself:



Nasrul and Michal! I'm really proud of my two flag bearers representing NCDCC :)



Trevor! I kinda like this shot, it shows two people looking towards their futures with full of anticipation.



Syahir and Prakash!



My dearest senior male HO's! It rocks having them around.





Sakinah the female HO! Her jokes lighten up the day, and without her around I dare say that work would not have been as exciting and fun as it was that day :)





And the 2 pictures I took with my Asian new found friends. I'm missing them already!

Newfound friends made, and the bond remains there forever to come

I'm in need of music therapy. The many things I'm currently handling are enough to make me suicidal =X

And I just realized I havent been listening to the radio as much! Its about time I started don't you think so?

DRAG ME TO HELL

I have long been waiting for a movie to freak me out beyond wit's end. The last movie to do that to me was, well, exorcist, and the rest of the movies that came after were just prain lame. Today's mindset of a horror movie is simply ghosts, pontianaks, skulls that go around chasing after people and we have seen way too many of such scenes to actually be scared, hence contributing to the failure of horror movies nowadays. Come on directors, wake up your ideas.

That was before Sam Raimi entered the scenes with Drag Me To Hell. Personally when I first heard this title, I was convinced it was another failure attempt at a horror flick, but after seeing how reviews gave it so much credit, I was determined to give it a watch myself.

The experience, my friends, was simply one of a kind.

The director definitely knows how to make good use of his genres to come up with an amazingly unforgettable movie. For starters, the ghosts inside this movies arent actually your normal floating females and skulls, but rather, an old woman.

Yes you heard me, an old woman whose back for vengeance biting people with her false teeth. As ridiculous as this may seem, it was true. I don't know why, but I personally get more fear and excitement watching horror flicks with old women and witches being the ones scaring people. They do a way better job than anyone else, probably because of the chilling aura surrounding them as a result of us hearing freaky stories about witches and all back during our young days. They are more despicable, they kill.

Another thing which amazed me was the fact that this movie was not all about horror. Can you imagine yourself both laughing and screaming during a horror flick? Well I thought this was impossible too, until I watched this movie. It's a dash of comedy while the rest are specially reserved for the horror scenes. You'll never know what to expect. One moment you could be laughing out loud due to the hilarious scenes and the next second you'll choke as your laughter turns into screams of fear due to the sudden appearance of a horror scene.

Finally, it actually gives you a test of your morals. The director made the movie in such a way that the victim was faced with many morally challenging questions that would be bound to make you think and reflect upon what you would do if you were given the same position.

For example, if you were given a cursed object and told that you would be haunted all your life unless you have it away as a present to someone else who would suffer for you, would you then do it to save your life? Are you willing to let someone else suffer and die in exchange for your own life?

Don't ask me, I wouldn't know what to do either.

Watch it guys, it's definitely worth your money for all the goosebumps and exciting opinions you're going to have by the time you step out of the movie theatre. Beware, this movie is going to drag you out of your seat :)