Wednesday, February 22, 2006

dive pics (17-19 Feb)

i didnt want to post them. but. what the heck la. share the love and all that right.

the fish:




and the scenery:

wen was dreaming at 10:30 PM

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Tuesday, February 21, 2006

a post to clear the air (and my mind)

a serious post for once. just because of an email that triggered a whole string of events.

life's full of grey areas. there's no moral absolute, no clear right and wrong. given the proper perspective and argument, everything makes sense, in a twisted sort of way. as is the case regarding shark's fins.

i mean, okay, people are against eating shark's fin soup, cos there's shark's fin inside, and as much as it's a chinese delicacy and all, it's really sad that chinese eat everything and anything under the sun. as long as it's alive, eat it. disgusting too. so why do we draw the line at eating dogs, cats and bunnies (ok, they might do it elsewhere, but i'm pretty sure most people in s'pore don't) but we merrily consume shark's fins in great quantities at banquets? oh wait. cos the shark's big and bad ala jaws. hello, that's just one shark, the great white. for every great white out there, there's a dozen other species that are pretty harmless. not that the great white's really as bad as its made out to be.

but it's just wrong somehow. the shark's definned, and tossed back into the sea, unable to fend for itself or even move. pretty much dead. i mean, i can justify eating fish and other seafood, cos i eat the entire thing, but shark's fin is just pretty much tasteless (unless you're trying to tell me you're that much of a food connoisseur that you can actually tell the difference in texture) and you waste the entire shark for just a mere fin. at least if you eat the whole damned shark, maybe it's justifiable somehow. but then, there're more fish in the sea than sharks. so you'll run out of sharks sooner than fish. sometimes i just wonder at the sheer idiocy of it.

but then again. there's always the flipside to it. if you refuse your bowl out of sheer principle, some 'kind-hearted soul' will just help you with it. and what have you proven? that you're noble. somehow, such 'nobility' doesn't change the world. it'd help more if you were more proactive, and actually tried to persuade people not to even order the dish. but hey, we're all apathetic singaporeans aren't we. not that i can even really justify not eating the dish. if you refuse, it's not going to stop the restaurant from ever serving shark's fin again. and furthermore, it's right in front of you, the shark's been definned, not eating it would mean that food is wasted. doubly sinful? perhaps. go figure.

then the whole issue of fake shark's fin. can anyone really tell the difference? maybe. i know i can't. so anybody can tell me anything, and all i have is his word to rely on. and does eating fake instead of real shark's fin make it any better? it's like vegetarians eating mock meat. if you want to eat vegetables, eat it. don't eat a mockery of what you can't have, it just demeans the whole process somehow.

but then again. what's wrong with eating shark's fin if the rest of the world is doing it right?

sigh. sorry for the whole rambling process. but this is my blog. and i can post whatever i freaking like on it. don't worry. i think this won't ever happen again. i was just trying to convince myself. or a friend. i'm not sure anymore. but somehow, i think i'll stick to being a principled fool from now on. so do stop me if i ever reach for shark's fin. or guilingao for that matter. poor turtles.

wen was dreaming at 10:28 AM

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Monday, February 20, 2006

the sweet rush of freedom

i love diving. for a period of time, you just leave the world and its worries behind, and dive. it's the perfect lifestyle. save for the fact that you need money to enjoy that life, and in order to get the money, you need to work, and work's what you're avoiding when you go diving. i'm not making much sense huh.

anyways, just back from my dive trip (which was great, as always!) and i'm awfully sunburnt. but damn fun! first dive trip of the season, aur was how empty la! and half the comm went up, which just increased the fun/craziness level. throw in exchange students, friends of friends, and things just got really comfortable. add in island music, with a dash of oldies and love songs, and you have a perfect mix. (photos of island happenings to follow, if i manage to procure them)

it being just the end of the monsoon, the water was still a little choppy, couldn't really do the dives out in open sea, so we kept to the sheltered bays...but that's not to say that we didn't see much! and it thankfully remained sunny throughout, so life was good. although the water was freezing (i don't know how people do dawn dives la! oh wait. they have wetsuits....) anyway, as always, i hate to report everything that i saw and what went on, it's why i keep a dive log. so photos will follow if i remember to post them.

wen was dreaming at 12:38 AM

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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

happy valentine's day

if ever i fail at being a law student, i think i'll go into baking or sell flowers.

happy valentine's day.

and now, back to my memorial.

p.s. i don't think it's shameless plugging though. and besides, it's one of the rare times i've actually read anything newspaper-related this year that isn't a compulsory law reading *grin*

wen was dreaming at 1:24 AM

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Monday, February 13, 2006

hearts, roses, and pretty pink thoughts

the title says it all. pretty much. it's vday again (soon), and inspired by an article i read in 8days (pretty much the depth of my general reading materials) i will now present a list of 10 things single people can do on this much-commercialised day(or night) of such great romantic import:


If all else fails, find some random hot chick and ask her out, hoping against all odds she's single and the big hulking guy looming overhead isn't her boyfriend. Alternatively, be happy you aren't racking your brains (and draining your angpow money and wallet) in this festive period.

But seriously, after today's (well, technically yesterday) sojourn into the world of bouquets and cookie baking, i've decided that i) i'm staying away from cookies for at least half a year and ii) i finally understand the unfathomable attraction girls have for bunches of roses. it's all about the presentation! and there's something to be said for an entire room filled to the brim with roses. hopefully someone took a photo, then i can post it up here. because somehow, i think seeing so many roses all wrapped up prettily all together in a room is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. as is a bouquet of 99 pink roses. (well, unless you open a flower shop. or have a really rich boyfriend) but i have to say, roses are awfully short-lived in our climate! and as i told my friend the other day, my girlfriend is never getting any roses from me in future (assuming i ever get one)

not that i'm against vday, of course. it's a lovely thought, to have a day dedicated to love (although the commercialisation is questionable and detracts from the mood greatly) and it's nice to believe in romance and love-at-first-sight. i mean, no one really knows how vday came about. there're loads of theories about it. but ultimately, it all brings us back to medieval romance, young love, meetings by moonlight and secret trysts, and for a moment, drives away the dull mundanity of everyday life, to replace it with something magical. and that, (despite the commercialisation and advertising and money to be made) is something worth cherishing.

In other news, singtel dealers (not the main branch) really suck. and ought to be shot. many times. with something very sharp and painful. where it'll hurt like hell. but more on that another day. if i feel like it.

wen was dreaming at 2:20 AM

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Thursday, February 09, 2006

of half-truths and lies. and some fairytales

school's been busy. not busy-notimetoeatorsleep-busy, but more of busy-wherehasallthetimegone-busy. don't ask me what i've been up to, i don't really recall myself.

two things remained etched on my mind though, namely gambling, and marketing. two forms of making money. although i must state for the record that i absolutely abhor accounts.

anyways, LAWR (legal writing) has been teaching me so many new things lately i just had to share it. like how our innocent childhood fairytales aren't what we thought them to be. and ethics and morals for lawyers (i skipped that lecture though) as well as how to write persuasively.

firstly. we're all familiar with snow white and the seven dwarves. well known childhood fairy tale. everyone loves snow white, we all hate the evil stepmother, and adolescent girls dream of prince charming. but hey, maybe the evil stepmother wasn't that evil after all! she only tried to kill snow white cos the mirror kept telling her how pretty snow white was compared to her. and seriously, someone who talks to a mirror all day long and actually starts listening to what the mirror says (magical or not) really needs some help. and prince charming...well, let's see what he's like. random handsome young man comes riding along, sees a dead young girl in a glass coffin and falls instantly and madly in love with her. i don't know about you, but i suspect most girls wouldn't exactly be thrilled with a guy who's particularly enamored of dead young things. oh, and i do apologise for irrevocably dashing the dreams of all the girls out there. (but this is, after all, merely one's perspective of events)

next, we learnt about persuasive writing (note how i skipped the lecture on ethics in lawyering) it was basically the story of the three little pigs. told from both sides. for those who haven't heard it before (where have you been all these years??), here's the summarised version. 3 pigs, 3 houses. straw, stick, brick. big bad wolf, tries to come in, huffs and puffs and blows the house down. eats the pigs. save for the clever little pig in the brick house. but hey, here's the wolf's version of events! wolf was having a cold, and kept sneezing. poor chap sneezes rather violently, and might sneeze himself to death, so he rushes for help. all he sees is this run down shack of straw, so he knocks on the door for aid. no reply there, so while knocking, he's seized with a sudden onslaught of sneezing. and promptly sneezes the house down, killing piggy in the process. same facts, different version of events. really screwed up renditions of fairytales.

bottomline: lawyers never lie. they merely write/speak persuasively.

reminds me of a line i once saw in a sandman comic: "writers are liars"
but that's a post for another time.

wen was dreaming at 10:30 PM

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