so so glad that france vs switzerland was a draw.
i was so gan jiong towards the end la. was just waiting for the game to end so i could message my bro to tell him that he was WRONG.
HAHAHA.
he wanted to bet on france but i didnt buy for him.
now i dont dare to msg him too much tho its free with internet sms. cuz he always replies even though its not necessary or when i ask him not to.
and its 50sth sg cents per sms from UK!
but i think lotsa people lost their money on this game. odds were down to 1.sth for france to win.
during the second half the referee was having fun giving out yellow cards i think. funny.

aiyoh. all the financial assistance schemes require so much work.
so ma fan. somemore must repay with interest. and im afraid that if i loan from the bank, and by some unforseen circumstance i cant repay before they start counting interest and if the interest is qt high at the time i graduate... it'll be quite cham.
since it is so, i might as well not loan anything yet.
only if im really short of money by some unforseen circumstance again (lol) in the 2nd or 3rd year of education, i can borrow then. right?
NTU bursaries only open in august. and in order to qualify for a bursary, i have to take up a loan.
actually i dont like to owe people money. but bursary who dont want? and i think im quite needy, but also not quite. its rather difficult to explain.
so what now?

anyway, my phys ex-tutor called me just now asking for prelim papers and TYSs.
lol. i came up with a grand total of THREE prelim papers, all of which were chemistry ones.
that was how little i bought. and why i bought them was because it was COMPULSORY.
and amongst the mess i found some GP papers...
shall type out my best essay and best AQ just for remembrance's sake. (ok, im too free alright?)


AQ on Choice.

I regard the increased degree of choice as broadly beneficial. Although Tim Parks has qualms about the advantages of choice, I still believe that it is just an overly pessimistic view.

The reason why I say that the increased degree of choice is beneficial is that this is what keeps the people living and technology advancing. If we did not have the right to choose, there would not be any stimulated "invention and production" and thus the world will become stagnant and too much for us to bear.

God created humans differently solely for its own sake. With the increased degree of choice, we can seek to make ourselves unique and different from each other. Our ideals and aims in life will then be different moulding us into very different individuals.

Naturally, people do want to be happy. With increased choice, we can dictate our lives in the way that we want making us at ease with our lives. Democracy in the government as mentioned by Sherborne has led to people being able to choose how the country that they live in is governed. Therefore, they will be able to lead more substantial lives.

Being able to choose moulds and shapes one's character. being decisive is important and we cannot rely on other people to make decisions for us all the time. A strong-minded person is regarded with respect as compared to a fickle-minded person. With increased degree of choice, many of us can become that strong-minded person.

Tim Parks says that if we were "determined by fate rather than choice, we would not be so discontented". However, i beg to differ. Whether or not we are contented is actually a choice in itself. Whatever the choice we make, we decide our feelings towards it. That is why increased degree of choice is helpful rather than harmful. He also says that "I am here, like it or not, because i was born to this" Is it not then with increased choice can we change this? It is just a matter of whether or not one believes in deciding his own future, it is not a no-choice option. Thus, this reiterates my point that having increased degree of choice will actually make us better off.

From my own experience, Singapore is prosperous and growing day-by-day. The reason is that we have in tow a democractic government which allows the citizens to make choices about how the country is governed. If there was no choice, we would be suffering under the complete control of an authoritative government.

In conclusion, I believe that increased choice makes our lives better. It is what we choose and not our fate that makes each one of us different from another.


Essay Q: There is little value in watching television today. Do you agree?

The evolution of the television has been taking place throughout time from black-and-white screen displays to coloured ones and now, we see in abundance plasma and projection televisions. Some people have said that spending time in front of this "goggle box" greatly devalues one's life. However, I believe that watching television is valuable.

Firstly and most importantly, watching television has its value as it greatly increases our general knowledge. In comparison to other avenues like the Internet and the newspaper, the television is by far the most efficient as well as effective method. News programmes seek to deliver to the public the most recent and up-to-date news. To cite some examples, we have "Channel Newsasia" in Asia, "CNN" in America and the "British Broadcasting Corporation" in the United Kingdom that provide people round-the-clock news updates. In addition, the audience can also gain knowledge from documentaries like "Mostly True Stories" on the Discovery Channel and Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet. These documentaries often last for only half an hour but the knowledge that we gain from them can certainly last for a lifetime.

In addition, watching television adds value to our lives by helping us to understand the real world. For students, it aids in preparing us for the non-schooling world complete with office politics and nasty colleagues. Reality TV shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race portray the true characteristics of humans which are sometimes unappealing. Thus, we can learn that people do change under stress and greed and this serves as a warning to us. On the other hand, we can also emulate the good qualities like perseverance, determination and strong willpower which will be largely beneficial to us in the long run. Also, television serves as a atark reminder to us. For example, Boiling Points on MTV brings out the fact that Americans are generally people with good tempers and it takes a lot to antagonise them. This fact reminds the rest of the world that we should seek to improve our temperaments in order to achieve good returns in this rapidly globalising world.

Furthermore, TV shows are valuable such that they display to us the importance of all-roundedness. Not only that, the harsh reality is that even if we do well academically, it does not gain us instant success. In the show The Apprentice, we see that a high school debating champion actually lost to two women. By right, he should have been able to defend himself effectively but instead the otherwise happened. In entrepreneurial shows like The Battle of the Best, we see that business does not always mean having knowledge of economics. Smooth talk, quick thinking and people relationships are also important. More often than not, textbooks and universities do not allow us to learn such traits. Instead, TV adds as a supplementary to theory. In the National Science Championships 2005, we can see that having a vast sea of knowledge does not garner success. Also coming into play are fluency, articulation, the ability to convince and practical work.

However, there are definitely shows that devalue our lives by exposing us to agressiveness. Many violent TV shows have negative impact on their audience, especially on the youths. Statistics have also shown that people who watch violent TV shows are more prone to commit crimes of violence. I cannot believe that a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) production, the Summer Slam actually featured wrestlers competing for the custody of a child. This may affect the audience negatively.

In contrastm TV shows also decrease the importance of our lives by draining our energy due to watching senseless shows. Some shows were created purely for entertainment purposes and do not teach their audience anything. Such an example would be "Shopping King, Shopping Queen" which is a Mandarin variety show in which the comperes go around shopping. Often dotting the script are air-headed comments. Such programmes with no benficial substance do not increase our lives' value.

In conclusion, TV today can be said to be easily accessible. We cannot say that watching TV has little value, it is only certain TV programmes that provide little value. If one is able to make wise choices on the types of TV shows that he watches, watching TV is definitely a valuable thing.

PHEW. that was long....... tired.

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