Hyperinactivity.
“Eh... Why isn’t there such a term hyperinactive ah?” That was the start of a profoundly meaningless discussion between my classmate Darren and I. About what exactly? I don’t remember. I don’t usually remember what I say because what I say doesn’t actually go through my brain in the 1st place. So the memory function doesn’t exactly work if what I say just comes out. In any case, this has still got nothing to do with hyperinactivity.
What I understand of the word “Hyperinactive” is that first and foremost, it is the opposite of “Hyperactive”. “Hyperactive”, according to dictionary.com means “unusually or abnormally active”. Which happens with people sometimes. They become the equivalent of a deranged starving great white shark on heroin, on 2 legs. Pretty scary. And this leads to the inability to sit still and listen in class. There is also unusually short attention spans of 0.043242milliseconds before the hyperactive subject searches for something else to grab his/her fleeting attention.
So by turning the word “hyperactive” around, you get the meaning of “hyperinactive” right? WRONG! “Hyperinactive” does not mean “evitcarepyh”. You get the meaning of “hyperinactive” by turning the meaning of “hyperactive” around. So “hyperinactive” is something like “unusually or abnormally inactive”. And it happens with people sometimes as well. In cases of hyperinactivity, people become the equivalent of sloths on sleeping pills lying on a luxurious king sized bed. Thus there is the ability to sit still, long after class has ended. But no ability to listen, unless somehow there is the existence of hypnopedia, where then the hyperinactive person is sure to score full marks for any test. Provided he still moves.
Causes of hyperactivity are sometimes neurologic(meaning to do with the brain) or psycologic(meaning to do with the brain). Not so hyperinactivity. Well known causes of hyperinactivity include boring lectures by boring teachers, assignments etc. Well generally school. Realising that examples are needed to prove my point, I shall give some of them. Also realizing that since Darren has given school based examples, I should too. In fact, I shall just use his examples in my own words and examples. Which means my own examples based on his.
Example 1-Hyperactivity
Imagine a classroom setting. It is a GP double period. And you have an assignment. So being hyperactive, and having an extremely short attention span, once the teacher says “You may begin”, you skim through the questions at breakneck speed, almost breaking your neck in the process. Then after 4 seconds, you decide that it’s too boring and decide to look at what everyone else is doing. 6.43 seconds later, after seeing what the whole class has done, you decide to get back to doing the paper. However, upon seeing your pen in your hand, you decide that it would be fun to pretend to be a drummer and spin your drumsticks at an adoring crowd. You drop your pen on the floor, bend down to pick it up, then realise that an ostrich sticks its butt high up in the air sometimes and pretends that it is a tree. So you do that too. And feel a sharp pain on the top of the tree(your butt). It is the teacher.
So you get back to doing your essay. And you look at your pen and paper and decide that it would be nice to draw a picture of Optimus Prime vs Megatron in the episode of TRANSFORMERS TM you watched yesterday. And while drawing, you decide to carve out a sculpture on your 30cents rubber with a metal ruler. Bell rings. You end up with a beautifully 3cm mini sculpture as well as a picture of Optimus Prime vs Megatron that looked like it was done by the creator of transformers. You also end up handing in a blank sheet of paper that says (your name is Jimmy Tan for example) “Ji” with not so much a drop of pen ink anywhere else on the paper. Your teacher praises you for keeping the paper so fresh and crisp and clean. But you get 0.
Example 2- Hyperinactivity
Same scenario. Except this time, once the teacher says “You may begin” you start. To sleep. Your eyelids suddenly become made of lead, so does your lower lip, as your mouth slowly but surely, opens, revealing the majesty of the leftover vegetable bits on your teeth, and a cascading waterfall of drool beautifully emerges from within the newly opened cavern.
You suddenly see yourself in the sunny beaches of Hawaii, drinking cocktails, frolicking with beautiful women and strumming your ukulele. Suddenly the weather changes. It starts to rain and a streak of lightning flashes across the sky, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. You are drenched in rain. Wait. Rain? Thunder? You lift your head up, finally awake. You are wet alright, drenched. In drool. Thunder? You turn up and see the face of the teacher, hand on the table. Waiting to collect your script. You look at what you have written. “Jac” with an ocean of funny liquid at some spots of the paper. You use that to clean off your drool, write Jackson Lee(That’s your name) on another piece of paper and hand it up. You see a piece of paper similar to yours. Oh it’s Jimmy Tan’s. He has a 3cm mini sculpture. You WERE a sculpture until not long ago. Both of you get 0.
As the examples have probably not given you much insight about hyperinactivity anyway, let’s just say that overall, hyperinactivity is suffered by most of us, though not as serious as in the case of Jackson Lee. How many times do we lose focus in class, falling asleep or busy ourselves doing other things. Amongst other things, I’d like to point out that “hyperinactivity” was the result of ironically, two too overly active imaginations. As such, whatever I did point out above is not theoretically and not scientifically proven. Therefore, please do not take it seriously. If you did, maybe it’s time you see a psychiatrist.
justin.
the human fear of the unknown.
Put yourself in this situation. It is 3.33am in the morning (no significance, just coincidence). You jolt awake from a nightmare. It was about you sitting in a room full of Wei5full’s photographs on the walls, with only siew mai for food and the solitary window showing scenes of acid rain corroding someone’s face. He looks familiar. But you don’t really know who. You look around and decide that you must either suffer or die. You decide to kill yourself by banging your head on the wall. You charge towards the walls but before you reach it you have already collapsed due to looking at Wei5full’s pictures at too close a proximity. You wake up. And you need to go to the toilet urgently…
You trudge down to the toilet, cursing the water you were drinking before going to bed. Then you decide to curse the potato chips that made you drink the water. Then suddenly you think about your nightmare. Your spine starts to shiver and you look around to see if any elements of your nightmare might just come true. As you approach the toilet, you freeze. The lights of the toilet are off, the door slightly ajar. Your mind automatically shifts to thinking what might be behind those doors. Why is it slightly ajar? Is the nightmare not over yet? Then you comfort yourself, telling yourself you already know what is behind the doors. Still, you flick on the lights before slowly opening the door, an on seeing a familiar sight, calm down. Your fears were nothing but a result of overimagination, just like this post. Suddenly you let out a bloodcurdling scream. You saw something flash across the corner of your eye. You turn to face your fate…
It was a lizard.
See? Something so trivial like a lizard in a toilet during a bathroom trip can be turned into a horror story. Just turn up the eerie music, blur the cameras and some shaky cameramanship, with no narration. Let people come up with their own version of the story. Why is this effective? Because somehow, we fear what we don’t know. Why? I don’t really know. It must be inborn in us. Since we fear what we don’t know, we try to use science or religion to give things reasons. It comforts us. We “know” what is going on once there is evidence on how and why something happens, what the thing is et cetera. Sometimes, I feel, there is no need to try to understand what is beyond us, things like ghosts and the supernatural and the likes, Physicks, Chemystery, Maturdmatics. Do what? I am not the solution come up with-er.
There is always another side of the coin though. Without this curiosity or “need for comfort” in “knowledge”, where would we get what we have now, new inventions and such. I think that some of this understanding in Physicks, Chemystery and Maturdmatics along with some other things might be useful. But think of how much we are destroying the world with new inventions and the “progress” of science.
However, this might yet be a good thing. Maybe after this post, one might discover something new about humans. The innate human ability to come up with such a huge pile of nonsense that is so out of point that it actually makes some sense with such a trivial inspiration. My inspiration for this post was stepping on a cockroach in the toilet when I did not turn on the light.
justin.
How about the power to move you…
This has been the fourth day of an eventful week in school for me. More eventful than any week I have experienced in my 12 years prior to this. As it is, for the past 3 days, I have seen the VP twice, seen a battlefield once and various other things. Today, after getting all my results, the feeling is seriously hard to put in words. Probably just “fucked up” sums it up. But there is worse to come. After all, we never get off so easy. After learning that there might still be a chance that we might get kicked out of school after prelims, we had PE lesson.
PE lesson is a lesson enjoyed by some, dreaded by many. Quoting myself, some people are born to be fit, some train to be fit, others just do not see the need. Surely, a PE lesson helps in giving us a more holistic education, even though what our society seems to be concerned in is how many A’s one gets on a piece of paper. I sincerely believe that this holistic education thing is only the ideal situation. Realistically, think ugly PE teachers with a face closely resembling a building corroded by acid rain who decide to punish you by making you stand in the middle of the field and not giving you any chance to explain why you were not in PE attire.
Then it comes to a crucial question that is hard or impossible to answer. Why? What is the purpose behind those actions? What justification is there? I think that for matters that are supposedly official, one needs to justify his actions. Inability to do so would lead to a lack of respect towards the person. Things like shouting in a students face while contorting ones own horridly ugly face require justification. Shouting things like “I will make your life miserable from this day onwards. 3 problem kids who think they are above the law.” What exactly did the student do to require such treatment? What is the real purpose PE teachers want to push us so hard? For our own health and fitness? I suppose not. For the schools TAF Gold award so that they get a pat on their heads? Probable. To get back at their students whom they nurse a grudge against? Also possible.
Justification complicates the power of what a teacher is able to do to a student. Which also explains why our punishment was changed from detention everyday, to standing in the sun until the end of school, until standing in the sun until 5 minutes after break and make-up PE lessons. He is answerable for his own actions.
Then another crucial question. Why does the problem always lie with the student? Why does the teacher not think why a student is so determined not to go for his PE Lessons? Oh no it could never be the teachers fault. After all they are the authority and students are supposed to bow down to them and submit to them like mice. Perhaps not. Perhaps not. He does not think. Shouting in an authoritative voice does not show who’s boss. To lead and motivate, one needs to command respect. If respect is given, it will be reciprocated. If disrespect is given, it will also be similarly reciprocated. I for one, am not appreciative of being treated like a lesser human. I have a brain and I can think. I have my own principles. One of them is never to bow down to people whom I do not respect. I treat people the same way they treat me because that is what they deserve. Failing to get respect is the biggest failure.
Then it comes to purpose. I digress a little, but I was discussing with Johnson during Econs lecture. Success. What exactly does it mean? Financial stability? A stable job? Most Singaporeans seem to think so. As Johnson says, a straight road is the fastest road to success. It is paved out for you by the Government. I understand but I disagree. I believe it is much more than that. It is living your dreams or die trying. Idealistic. In the real world it is not easy. It is never easy. But why conform? Why is there a need to believe that rules are set in stone? I believe it is nothing more than a mere guideline to morally correct human behaviour. I believe that rules can and should be bent, even broken to fit the situation. Without rules, the world will be in a state of anarchy but with too many strict, inflexible rules, why not build robots?
After all this, PE lessons are but a minor distraction in this big thing people like to call life. But any minor distraction needs to be resolved before it becomes a whole lot bigger. “A stitch in time saves nine” as they say. What to do now? I do not have an answer. Perhaps the best way to solve the problem is long term. Or maybe it will never go away and the years of students following these 3 law breaking students will all suffer that insufferable fool.
Then comes the question of the purpose of school. I have come to the conclusion that it is, and will always be, a necessary “purposelessness”, as ZhenYu puts it. What we are working for in school is nothing more than grades to get us to the next level of education to get more grades. In the Singaporean society, these are what counts. And as Johnson says, you are this close to the A Levels. Is everything worth giving up on? Perhaps. I might not feel it at this time but there may come a time I will. Then I will go off that straight track to success. There may be a time when I might be converted from idealistic youth to cynical adult. I hope it never comes. While I am still an idealistic youth fighting for my dream, which I have a vague idea about, let me end off with a quote from Buzz Lightyear.
[Quote]TO INFINITY AND BEYOND[Unquote]
justin.
fuck school fuck you. [just for the sake of an almost rhyme]
Today I got back CT results for Econs, GP and Geography. I can say that it was a disaster, not unlike war. In fact, my papers were not even red with pen ink. Because there wasn't need to write much anyway. Just a cross. There were some pages however, which were so red that they wouldn't look much out of place during a clash between the Spartans and Persians in 300. I questioned the use of an examination designed to leave very few survivors.
Econs for example, had people who passed belonging to the top 15%. None of my business anyway. I was nowhere near to passing, subpassing or getting a decent result. I got my lowest ever result for GP. Also nowhere near to anything decent. My essay was deemed out of point, which means that it is not in agreement to the pre-set points. I asked ozy about it, and he explained to me that I have to link every paragraph back to the topic. He also told me that Singaporean teachers are very arrogant, and expect us to write an essay that force feeds every detail down ones throat. Why arrogant? Because they look down on Cambridge examiners' ability to infer. I nodded in agreement, even though I was talking to him on MSN.
As for comprehension, the main grouch was the need to paraphrase everything. I was badly penalised for lifting from the passage. As my teachers says, "If you cannot paraphrase, you are merely a parrot." I think that if I can paraphrase, I am merely a parrot who knows more words. In other words, why is there the need to paraphrase? I do not understand, perhaps never will.
I passed Geog whee!
This point here was also brought up by Zhen Yu. What is so interesting about studying? Perhaps the answer lies in the black hole. I am lazy to type it out. And if this system is flawed as I believe it is, what is the point of excelling in it? Being good at something bad is not good is it?
justin.
Today is Monday
Today is Monday. Today was a rainy day. Rainy days are not a good start to the day if you are reading a literature book. However, this rainy day was pretty much okay except for one thing. Which happened after it stopped raining.
Somehow, school vice-authority decided that my message to our junior class needed censoring and the author of that message needed an earful of "good advice" about pride about the school. The original message was
"Hello J1s, it is too late for you to change school now. So might as well enjoy yourself here in CJC and make good use of your time. Enjoy yourselves more. In fact, just enjoy yourselves!"
And through this, I finally understood why there was male balding. It was not about medical conditions. It was about the penchant to think. Sometimes too much. Thinking is a good thing. Thinking too much makes you stupid. And so I got a lecture about lack of pride in my school, myself. And about how "it's too late for you to change school" shows that I don't want to be here. And about how 500 plus students are on the waiting list to enter this school. "Okay," I said, being an agreeable person "But I do believe you are thinking too much. This is meant as humour."
He told me in his own words "This is very SERIOUS HUMOUR!" whatever that is supposed to mean. A result of thinking too much I gather. And so he proceeded to tell me to change it to something that is better. Since he thought that my original message lacked pride, I borrowed a bottle of blanco and proceeded to blanco every single word except "Hello J1s". The final message was something to be proud of.
"I was told to tell you to take pride in your school, your uniform and your work. Enjoy yourselves. I hope you do."
Well, I did convey to them whatever was conveyed to me. I hope the vice-authority is proud of me.
justin.
PS: I thought that message was supposed to be from J2s to J1s. Why does it now seem like it's from J2s --> JS --> J1s. Censorship I guess. Don't they just love to control everything under the sun.
title.
This is the time, the March holidays, when hours pass like years and yet days fly by so quickly. It's very ironic how one wishes to slow down time and extend the holiday and yet in the extended time, there is mostly nothing to do. For me at least.
Anyway, just watched 300. It's very nice no spoilers.
justin.
and this is when preconceived genius comes into play . [I am a robot. You are a robot.]
And so here come the March holidays. A weeklong holiday which occurs in March, long enough to damage your brain but not long enough to do so permantly. It is probably supposed to let one ponder over their extremely poor CA results because CAs occur right after Chinese New Year and there is technically no way of getting good results. But people don't do that. They usually spend the whole time playing or doing basically anything other than study or think about results. Especially when they haven't gotten it back. This is also a period when the brain becomes too lazy to think. And when this preconceived idea hiding somewhere within the deepest recesses of my brain as lost as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon emerge, finally seen after more than 2000 years.
This idea came up during GP, a period of active discussion where the brain takes an hour long break. That particular GP lesson was about something I don't particularly remember but it had something to do about Singaporeans living in an artificially created environment. An air-conditioned nation. So me being me thought that it was similar to World State in "Brave New World" by Huxley, which I never read. So Singaporeans are preconditioned to fit in the mechanism of our little tiny island state and help push its efficiency and turn it into one of the whatever our leader has in mind. And this is really and irony.
First of all, by encouraging this mechanical efficiency, individualism and creativity is stifled. Efficiency gets things done but it also promotes stasis. There are no fresh ideas, no breakthroughs. Everything is a routine. I realise that our leaders have realised it. So they try to change it. They try to unrobotise Singaporeans, you, me, him, her, that uncle who smokes 20 sticks of cigarettes and gulps down whiskey while complaining of a sore throat and that auntie who bargains to get another 5 cents off that bunch of towgay in Tiong Bahru Market.
This is done by encouraging creativity. "Think outside the box" is the new mantra, among many new mantras. I believe it is a little incomplete, like a Backstreet Boys song. I think it should go something like "Think outside the box, but within the circle in the box."[phrase kindly donated by Zixiang] Whatever that means I do not know. It probably means confusion, which is what it is anyway.
And so we go on living on our nice little island-garden-city-state like the inhabitants of the matrix, which I compare to us because of the preconditioned environment. There is not much link but there isn't much link in this entire post anyway. How I came up with this during GP is as lost as some other idea I came up during GP and as hidden as the tomb of Alexander the Great. Thank you very much.
justin.
a pain in the ass.
If you are reading this, you probably know me quite well. Probably well enough to know that I am overweight. Probably well enough to know how I feel about being overweight. Probably well enough to know that I do not appreciate it when people treat me like shit.
In any case, let me reiterate my stand on fitness. Some people are born fit. Some like to train so that they become fit. I am neither. Therefore, I do not like people who make a big fuss out of me being unfit. I am comfortable with it. So who are you not to.
I do not like people forcing their opinions on me, especially if they are of negligible importance in my life. Such as PE teachers. I do not like people who believe they are big enough to make me change my own principles, especially if they are of negligible importance in my life. Such as PE teachers. I do not like people treating me like dirt just because I am unfit, especially if they are of negligible importance in my life. Such as PE teachers.
I believe schools to be academic institutions. I believe the main aim in JC is to get a grade good enough to go to a university. I believe the main aim is not getting a gold in a NAPFA test so that I don't have to go to the army one month earlier than the rest. I am not one who loves studying but that is what I believe.
Some things were said to me while I proved how unfit I was during NAPFA. "Your 2.4 timing is horrible. Even girls can run faster than you. You should be ashamed of yourself." Let me ask why am I supposed to be ashamed at myself just because my 2.4 timing was worse than a girl? Does having a superb 2.4 timing make me a better person? I think not. Does saying that make you an asshole? DEFINITELY.
"It's for your own health. By your rate of putting on weight, you will be extremely obese by 24, 25. You are carrying at least 12kg more than your acceptable weight." And may I ask why is it any of your business that I become an obese person at 24, 25. And how it is any of your business if I collapse of heart failure tomorrow because I have clogged arteries? I chose the path, I take the responsibilities and consequences for it.
"Come for morning run at 7am everyday." And I don't have to do anything else other than keep my weight in check? I don't have to study and I can afford to sleep at 10pm every night to wake up in time for your 7am morning run? Good on you.
So from the above, I gather that some people have the perception that fat people should feel very ashamed of themselves because of how they look and how unfit they are. And how fat people have less human rights since they have to go through all these extra shit. Well, I am having none of it. Fat people are also people. Fat people have brains. Fat people can think. Probably much better than some other people who definitely has an issue with unfit people.
In a perfect situation, a PE teacher is as such because he wants to let students lead a healthy lifestyle and wants to educate students on the importance of good health. A more realistic view is probably that he does not have the mental capacity to take on any other job that wields such power. He could probably wield the toilet brush or broom. But what is that compared to the power over unfit students?
I am unfit therefore I will suffer in NS? I would rather suffer NS than suffer your self-righteousness and your wrong principles. Morning runs? Count me out.
Let me know what happens. A meeting with the authority? Suspension? Expulsion? Bring it on.
justin.
p.s.
darren is a roxzor and a lolerboy with exceptional influence in my life because he is a very roxzor lolerboy of exceptionality that is influential in a world of roxzors and lolerboys that are negligible. so therefore negligibility and roxzorism are a by-product of lolerness, which is actually a sub-product of exceptions.
hence, darren is a roxzor lolerboy of negligible exceptions.
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
no more suitable time for this song. this is like the third time i am posting this but i dont care. IN CAPS THIS TIME!! SHOUT!!!
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH A STORM
HOLD YOUR HEAD UP HIGH
AND DON'T BE AFRAID
OF THE DARK
AT THE END OF THE STORM
THERE'S A GOLDEN SKY
AND THE SWEET SILVER SONG
OF A LARK
WALK ON THROUGH THE WIND
WALK ON THROUGH THE RAIN
FOR YOUR DREAMS BE TOSSED AND BLOWN
WALK ON
WALK ON
WITH HOPE IN YOUR HEART
AND YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!!
JUSTIN. [NO SMALL LETTER SIGNING OFF TODAY CHEEBYE MANURE]
FUCK THE CHEEBYE MAN U!!!!
FUCK THE REF!!!!
FUCK CRISTINA RONALDO!!!!
FUCK !!!!!!!
MAN U SUCK COCK !!!!!
FUCK THE REF MOTHER CHEEBYE!!!
NABEH PUBOR!!!!!!!!!!
