Nothing profound can be said about death?

Two major student deaths just occurred in Singapore recently. First a student at Nanyang Technical University stabbed his professor for giving what he believed to be an unfair grade, and then killed himself. Then an American exchange student at NUS, who was living in my dorm, died from undeclared causes, possibly alcohol related. The latter story was a shocking one, as I've never really thought about what to do in an emergency in a foreign country before. The guy who died had another exchange student with him at the time of his breathing difficulties and collapse, and I'm sure the guy with him was fairly panicked about what to do. Who to call for one? If I was there I think I'd be completely useless, and out of idiocy just dial 911 on my mobile and hope that number works here in Singapore as it does in the US. But no, it's 999 for police and 995 for the ambulance, which I just found out now. Anyhow, it sounded very tragic for his friends and family, who probably felt helpless to save his life. And that's all I can say.

I will now recount my midterm/lab stories for this week. These were very special midterms/labs, because they were the first ever that I completed for a grade outside the US... and they ended up going pretty badly I must say. The very first test was one of those horrible tests where it's all true/false, and if you have to guess on the answer, you get no points for leaving it blank and -1 point for answering incorrectly, so you have to weigh the risks of answering carefully. Sign that I wasn't taking the test in the US... in the middle of taking it we heard a Muslim prayer call from outside... too bad Allah didn't help me out on this one. I answered all the questions out of confidence, but got 6 wrong out of 25, so the final score was 13/25, about 50%... yikes.

The second test I took was also an embarrassment, because before the test the prof was telling the class that American universities are supposedly more difficult than Singaporean, because they assign graded homework every week *gasp*! And he checked with me to make sure he was right, and I responded as weakly as I could... because I didn't want to be considered the "badass" in the crowd... sure enough, I was the last guy there to finish the test, because I couldn't for the life of me answer one of the critical questions :( ... Utter disappointment representing the big, bad U.S.A...

Profs are also much less trusting of students taking their tests than in the US, although coming from Rice with our take-home, Honor Code pledged tests, I'm used to quite a bit of trust even compared to my own homeland. But here the professors are very controlling of the allotted time, and they make sure absolutely nobody is sitting directly next to another person, to prevent looking at each other's papers. I actually don't know, PLEASE TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT AS I'M PROBABLY INSANE, but maybe I prefer the non-Honor Code style. They say that Rice is a small school that can afford to institute the Honor Code because pretty much everyone knows each other, and such a close-knit community should feel a sense of honor and pride in being part of the tradition. Therefore, we are a "free family" in some ways. But Rice is growing in size, and competition is fierce in some classes, so unless we really ramp up our "family values", who's to say everyone is on the same boat? NUS could never afford to use the Honor Code, it's just too big and every student feels a ton of pressure from all sides to do well. But yes, I do love being able to take my test whenever, wherever I please, it's a priceless luxury. So for now I'm not belligerent against the current policy.

Another freedom vs. security story (in the spirit of Benjamin Franklin's famous words, "A society that desires both freedom and security deserves neither and loses both", which I remember not from U.S. History class but from Civ IV the computer game). A few days ago I visited the NUS Student Lounge in YIH, which is a nice lounge with a pool table and comfy chairs, but also very tight security. The door to the lounge is card-access locked, and inside there are security cameras watching every corner of the room. To me, card-access makes perfect sense, we even have that at Rice to keep out hobos from the street and other unwanted visitors. But high surveillance? Is that necessary? I was told earlier by a native student that they actually put those cameras in there because they simply don't trust the students to both take proper care of the facilities or from even having some rebellious meeting in that room where they could discuss the need to overthrow the government or something. The rumor is that you will be punished somehow for even having a traitor's conversation speaking ill of the authorities in there, but I don't knooooow if that's fact. The picture in my head is Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew sitting in his living room in his bunny slippers watching some NUS student in the student lounge picking his nose on the television, making sure he at least isn't chewing gum or carrying durian... seems unlikely. In my case, I ended up being very glad there were cameras. After swiping my card to get in, I didn't put my wallet back in my pocket and just put it on the table in front of me where I sat. So as you can predict, I forgot it when I left, and didn't realize that I did until more than an hour after I left. Panicked at the time, because I was envisioning in my mind those really annoying emails that I always get from the Sid Rich listserv about some idiot (like me this time) leaving their iPod, wallet, cell, w/e in the Big Room (our version of the student lounge) and losing it, I ran from halfway across campus back to the lounge in the faint hope of retrieving the wallet, which I had just loaded with a new fat stache that I recently exchanged from US$... damn. To my complete surprise, when I came back my wallet had just moved from the table to a chair, where someone was sitting next to it reading a newspaper. I don't know who moved it, but I thanked the person there just in case it was them, and checked the contents: everything was still in it. Wow... what a relief. It seemed like a miracle, until I remembered those cameras. If someone had stolen it, the act would probably would have been recorded from 2 different angles, giving clear identification of the culprit. I don't assume it was this actually this deterrence that saved the day, maybe students here just have moral backbone, but regardless I was happy there was a safety net for me that time. Which leads me to conclude, what is liberty without security? In the US we are always complaining about terrorist watch and surveillance of our own citizens' activity, since that's infringing on our "personal freedom". But what is freedom from government oversight if it does not include freedom from criminal abuse? There is no such thing as freedom in a non-ideal society, just a choice between authority of the elected thug or of the opportunistic thug. So I think Benjamin Franklin was right, but only in the sense that there has never been such thing as complete security or complete freedom, only a messy hodgepodge of both. And I myself would have lost a lot of Benjamin Franklins that day if otherwise...

By the way I am not espousing Singapore's authoritarian government, but they shouldn't go without credit. For an inspirational anti-terrorist act in Singapore, read online about the Singapore Airlines Flight 117 hijacking at Changi Airport... miraculous.

Ok where was I before this rant? Yes, midterms and stuff. So I'll mention the assigned lab. In essence, it was painful. The first lab I had was actually kind of cool, because it was in the lab that I do research for. The second one, in Power Electronics... ugh... 1) I didn't show up with the right pre-lab materials, so that automatically docks off like 25% of the lab grade, which is 10% of overall grade, 2) It was extremely tedious and I didn't learn anything, 3) It was covering material we hadn't covered in lecture, but were expected to know by watching the previous year's webcast lectures... wtf, 4) the lab technician had a really strong accent, so I understood nothing he was saying, yet he still really liked to talk to me thinking I understood him so he would blabber to me incomprehensibly for like 10 minutes straight when I'm supposed to be doing the labwork, while I just nod like a bobblehead, 5) the scheduling is really messed up, and I mistook when I was supposed to do this lab, which ended up being at the same time as a midterm I had to take, so I had to reschedule to another time that overlaps with a lecture I'm supposed to attend, but I guess midterm is more important than lecture...

Yeah, I hate the electronics lab. Tough tests I can endure, but gruelling, confusing labs are the worst. Oh also, people here tend to have a real issue with my cursive writing. They all write in ultra-clear, clone-like print that resembles the careful precision used to write Chinese characters, so naturally reading my scrawling cursive is like a foreign language to them. I've resorted to sometimes drawing, because I do like doodling, and so whenever there is a lab procedure that I have to copy, I usually supplement it with a comic, like this:


Yes, that's a silicon wafer taking a shower, in RCA I, RCA II, and DI H2O, to illustrate the RCA process. Then he dries himself off with a N2 blowdrier... actually let's say that's a "she" not a "he", there's just something mildly conspicuous about drawing a man-wafer in the shower. It will be interesting to see if they will take off points for this; in the US I usually get extra points for trying to show some humor, but here I really don't know what they'll think... but I can afford it because I'm an exchange student SUCKERS!!! HA

And in continued celebration of being an exchange student, I tried playing rugby a few days ago as well. I have to say, I much prefer it upon first try to American football. To this day I don't know all the rules of football, all I know is that in tough times like these the NFL is a lifesaver in terms of providing employment to some of America's best and brightest. So I'm one of those dorks who prefers the Superbowl commercials over the actual game itself, because I really can't relate to the game strategy. But rugby seems decent, maybe I'll play again. Granted this was touch-rugby, so less violent than real rugby.

I feel a last rant coming on... so brace yourselves. This has nothing to do with sport, school, or politics... but love and sex! Yes, the knitty gritty stuff!... actually no, I really can't say much. But I will give my brief observations. Here's the general equation: Love in Singapore = Dating in school (don't graduate without a diploma... or a partner!) + finding an acceptable (not just for yourself but usually your family weighs in as well) partner + getting hitched, which is usually denoted in daily conversation by "Did you hear la?! They (the couple-to-be) are applying for HDB* la!" + having babies + continuing the cycle as shown. *"HDB" stands for "Housing Development Board", which is Singapore's subsidized housing authority. They have really cheap housing available for such an urban city, but you usually only apply for one when you are starting your new family, hence when it's time to get married. You might think that this is a pretty mechanical, straight-forward process, but hey at least it beats the formula of love in the US, which today might = get drunk/high in school + get a girl pregnant (and avoid being shot by her Dad) + having babies and/or abortions + applying for our own version of HDB, or government aid to keep the bank from foreclosing your home + getting a divorce + continuing the cycle as shown. On the other hand, arranged marriage here has pretty much phased out completely, so free love is all the rage here at NUS... but it's not obvious to the careless eye. There's definitely no PDA or anything (you're also not allowed to have someone of the opposite sex in your room unless the door's open, subject to $100 fine or more if disobeyed), so you have to delve into the local gossip to see the love triangles, the romance drama, and webs of relationships. Not that I have, I'm not here to act as Chief Investigator in these matters, they're best left to themselves.

And yes, as today's trend goes, Asian girls with white guys is still more than a perfect match in the eyes of just those who are either Asian girls or white guys. White guys are of course very outnumbered here, but those who survived the journey here are free to choose as they wish. Not really, I exaggerate, but it is definitely prevalent, not just in Singapore but especially tourist hotspots like Thailand, although a lot of what goes on in Thailand is unmentionable. I'll just say that in Singapore, while taking a tour with Dad while he was here of the famous Raffles Hotel, we saw these two white guys sitting at the bar going through pictures (without trying to hide them or anything!) of scantily clad Asian girls, presumably prostitutes or something along those lines. They were obviously in town for more than just a Tiger Beer or a Singapore Sling, although I suppose the latter could mean more than one thing... haha that rhymes.

Can you really blame either party though? I mean, at least the white guys are attempting to learn a bit of a culture other than their own, and this is much better than some I've seen, like this American guy at the Bangkok International Airport who vehemently refused to let the Asian security guards to put his spare change and cell phone through the X-ray machine because he thought they would steal them... Seriously, at a big international airport's gate security? Your spare change and cell phone? Alas, they ultimately had to just take him aside because he was slowing everything down; I hope they just offered to put him through checked bags so he wouldn't have to take out his pennies. So at least the white guy with Asian love in his eye doesn't fear Asian culture and society, he just might misunderstand it... unless he objectifies it? I don't know actually, it's a tough call. And for Asian girls, is it their fault that white guys, proportionally to the rest of the world's population, have stable backgrounds and finances? No, but that does objectify the idea of finding love. I just refuse to believe it's merely fetish, there must be a deeper historical or psychological association than that.

As for Asian guys and white girls, cheer up! You're practically made for each other, because while both your counterparts are busy spurring a global stereotype, you're free to make each other as happy as you please! You might say, come on Ryan, it just doesn't work that way... and it does seem to me sometimes that Asian guys in Asia are often only into their own kind, and white girls are seen these days as the "Butches" as far as chicks go... a.k.a. femiNazis, but you should all be above the stereotypes that you think are putting you at a disadvantage. Live a little, and heck look at my parents, things worked out for at least one Asian dude and one white gal, if you ignore the fact that they spawned a demented, twisted child.

In my own interests, I can't say which I would prefer in a woman... on one hand I'd want someone who is on my level of intellectuality and can win debates with me, but on the other hand I'm pretty masochist, and would love a charming housewife. In the end though... I'd be open to the femiNazi, if she really was the right person who could connect with me on all the right air frequencies... but hey! take that with a VERY small grain of salt as well, heck not even a grain, like half of a salt molecule, either the Na or the Cl. I really enjoy good food, and there's nothing in the world like a person who loves you that can COOK too. And who knows how senile I'll get with age, things could get ugly.

Ok laaaaa... time to do more studying and work... I've blogged my brains out for tonight. Cheers!

Oh but you've probably all seen the "I'm on a Boat" song by SNL (the same group that did equally funny "Jizz in my Pants"), but you have to see it if you haven't... hilarious:

(not embeddable, but has HQ option so sound is much better):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_YlkEUOonI