Very good rebuttal

I came from NUS and when I read the article in the Straits Times stating that "NUS has beaten Princeton and Cornell" in social sciences I couldn't help but read it with disbelief. Now at least I'm not the only one who doesn't agree. The following rebuttal (taken from Scroobal from Sammyboy forum) really takes the cake and I totally agree with it.

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I think it is a sparkling testament to NUS and the country.

It is no surprise as we have repeatedly achieved high accolades in the various disciplines that have been unanimously identified as Singaporean in nature and in form.

Singapore remarkable credits include the nobel prize in a number of fields. Our Patent applications flood the Patent office around the world. We discovered the cure for aids, sent women to the moon, changed iron to gold and found the holy grail. We invented the tissue paper, the condom and the printing press. Our latest invention is Newater and the product name won the award for most innovative branding name in the history of marketing.

Our automobiles ply the O'Bahns, the expressways and the turnpikes of the every city in the developed world. Our trademark highrise apartments caricatured by lift lendings on every 5th floor is the bedrock of modern town planning and found in many parts of the world.

We taught the Chinese in PRC how to develop their econmomy, their townships and their superannuation for their old age. Our deeds are now adopted as part of the English Language by the entry of the word "Suzhoued" in the Oxford Dictionary meaning "screwed by peasants"

We changed the face of aviation by developing the the world's first Vertical Takeoff aircraft called the Harry Jet. We sell submarines to Sweden, we teach US pilots to fly supersonic jets at Luke Air force base. Our Shipyards launch the largest ocean going passenger vessels and our naval architects designed the hovercraft.

Our world class universities receive scholars all over the world that for the lack of space we send ours to Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Oxford and Cambridge. Works of our academics are published in distinguished journals like the New England journal of medicine, the New York Law Review and the Oxford Journal of Nuclear Physics. We wrote the book about Plate Tectonics, assembled the human genome and pioneered foot reflexology. We discovered the most elements in the periodic table and predicted that the world was round.

Our alumni include the secretary general of the United Nations, the Prime Ministers of many countries, the Pope, the Ayatollah of Iran, astronaut Neil Armstrong, Steve Jobs and at least half a dozen CEOs of Asia Fortune 500 companies.

Yep, we are indeed better than Princeton.

ps. we unfortunately are still trying to pick out a national dress.

Tolerance

It seems in this world the more we progress the more we become intolerant of other people. I'm not only talking about sexual diversity but also of language, race and creed. This is happening everyone, even in the places where all people are considered equal. I’m talking about the Church here. Every time the Christian church makes a notice about gay rights and so on, I get worked up about it and then get sad, realising that the one place that I was suppose to feel safe in not there for me at all. I wonder if this is the church the Christ founded.

I’m a cradle Catholic and from the time I realised that I’m gay, I’ve felt nothing but God’s love for me. I became very spiritual and really love the church. The church, not the hierarchy. I couldn’t care less about the hierarchy, which is the Vatican, the people who can never seen beyond their own noses. I personally feel the hierarchy of the church is like the Pharisees of the Jesus’ time. I know a lot of religious rights people who would crucify me because of this but to say the least, I don’t really care. I believe that if my God is as petty and narrow-minded as they are, then I don’t think heaven would be a place for me. We can actually throw away the hymns that say “God is love” and etc. as apparently these churches believe that God actually hates some people.

Can you believe a church that doesn’t learn from its own mistakes? The chuch believed that the Africans who they believed were the spawn of the devil (this is recorded in the Catholic church achieves) on account of their skin colour, the burnt women on the stack because they believe that they were witches, they the protestants were cults of the devil because they broke off from the ‘true’ church, places Galileo under house arrest because he said the earth revolved around the sun, etc. Up till today, the ‘Pharisees’ in the Vatican and its hierarchy still think they are infallible.

I have a feeling that people are not happy until they can discriminate against some people or another. It was the Africans before then the Jews, the feminist and now the GLTB community. Well, all I can say it is a privilege to be able to know the ‘evils’ of discrimination. If I’m not gay, I wouldn’t be able to see the world as I see it now. A place that is beautiful but ……

People have to start realising that being spiritual and being religious are 2 different things. A country that is ruled by religion is a country that is doomed to fail. Europe is the best example, a continent that allowed the Church to rule. Where the rich were exalted and the poor stepped upon. It is only when they separated church and state, i.e. became a secular government, that we see society progressing as it should. We all know that the darkest periods in the history of Europe was when the Church ruled it.

I believe the site www.tolerance.org really is a wonderful site. Also this www.soulforce.org which believes in educating people and that the enemy is not the homophobes/heterosexist but untruths, really wonderful site. Really have to be a saint to love the people who hate you.

There is a book by Philip Yancey, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" (ISBN: 0310245656) It is a book that lots of churches hate (the truth hurts I always say). It is not even sold in the Catholic bookshops in Singapore! It takes about the church being not being the grace giver that Christ was. Churches tend to pick and choose the ‘members’ that they want. It is really a wonderful book, I would ask all who are interested to read it, it would really open your eyes about the state of Churches in the world and the hypocrisy involved.

The next day

Another holiday and today I really love it. It is my own day, unlike yesterday.

Went to gym to spin today. It was really great. I do think that this spinning instructor is cute, though a lot of people would disagree with me. It really makes me realise that there is a ‘type’ of person for everyone. T and I have so different taste in men that it doesn’t seem so amazing that we find each other attractive. Of course there will be some people that we agree is cute but most of the time we don’t. I love diversity and celebrate it. Okay, digressing again, well, I teased him a lot today (the spinning instructor not T). Hehehe… most of us would agree it is flirting actually. It was really fun.

After a long break, spinning today was really wonderful. It got my body moving again. Even though this morning I wanted to skip it. :P

What happened to T? Well, the first day of the Lunar New Year is always a time for family to get together and his is no exception, hmmm… I would how many ‘marriage’ questions he had.

Meeting him later today to watch ‘Constantine’.

......

Not a bad show but there were so many ‘teachings’ that were Catholic in nature that I wonder how many non-Catholics really understand it. I was translating the Latin parts to T, it was fun, hmmm… at least I can still remember some of my Latin. He was actually surprised that I knew Latin. It is not a movie in the ledge of ‘Spiderman’ but it has its merits.

Happy Lunar New Year... sort of

The first day of the Lunar New Year.

I never really enjoyed the Lunar New Year pass the age of 12, to many people and too much hob-nobbing around with family. Family, I will add who don't like me. Family politics. But then again that is my paternal side. My maternal side loves me. ;)

We had only 1 person to visit and that is my maternal aunt. It is rather fun to be there but I always wait for the dreaded question, which all GLBT people hate, “when are you getting married” ahhhhhhhhhhh…

Living in a society like Singapore, where the older generation doesn’t seem to understand that being single is okay, is really frustrating sometimes. Especially, it seems that they seem to want to marry everyone off. Of course I know that they have my interest at heart, but they just don’t get the fact that I can still live without someone in my life, who would I need a woman to take care of me? Or why would a single girl need a man to take care of her?

But then again, they have no idea I'm gay and that I'm already spoken for. Which actually is the sad part of any GLBT's life. We can never share the job of finding a boyfriend or girlfriend with our family. Most of us in this 'asian' society would never want to tell.

I do know of people who believe that being single in okay. A lot of my friends (straight, GLBT) who said that they would like to find someone to just grow old together, be it a lover, husband, wife or even a very close friend. I think that is the basic things that we look for when we want to find a partner in life, just someone who will grow old with us. That is the thing the world doesn't understand, it has nothing to do with sex but intimacy, the fact that we want to love and be loved in return by someone. We are no different from our straight counterparts, only difference is that we fall in love with the people of the same sex. Of course the religious people would have lots of things to say against this but that is for another time.

Well the day ended and I’ll still alive. Thank goodness tomorrow is my own day.

Up and about

Thank God, I'm well again, even though my throat is not really back to normal. My body is though and that is good enough.

Last night was the lowest point in my sickness. Could only meet T for a short time and couldn't even keep our plan to be intimate that night. Felt sick and could only think of sleeping.

Well, I'm really happy that this flu has officially passed. Now to get by voice back to normal.

Okay of sorts

Went out with my Australia friend today. Not really 'up and about' quite yet but I made this appointment ages ago and after not meeting him on Sunday, I should try.

It wasn't bad, except I keep wanting to lie down and sleep. :P

I still have a bad throat, so was struggling to talk.

Was so glad to come home and rest my voice. Really not well, going to sleep already and it is still so early.

Things are starting to look up

I'm so bloody bored at home. I've finished reading the book that I had (only 1 book!) and I'm just surfing the net and doing goodness knows what.

I'm the type of person that CANNOT stay at home for more than 1 day at a time.

As all can see, I’m actually much better today. With 2 days of sleep (slept almost 18 hours a day) I’d better be better or there is something seriously wrong with my body. Well, I am thankful for this sickness actually (Thanks Lord), I realised that I’ve been taking my health for granted, never thankful for it but took it for granted. How many of us are like that?

I’m not the type that falls sick easily. The last time a bug hit me was about 4 years ago and luckily I caught it early so it lasted only a day but this time after 2.5 days, I’m still not up and about as yet. There is still some lingering ‘sickness’ floating around in my body. At least tomorrow I’ll be able to get out.

Gosh, this sickness really got me. I’ve even lost my libido. Which is so sad. I hope it didn’t leave me permanently, that would really be terrible especially in a gay man’s life, a gay man who has a boyfriend’s life. Hehehehe…

One thing I realised is I do miss T a lot when I don’t get to see him. I think the best times I have are the times we go on vacation together. Being with him 24 hours a day is great. I hope that one day, we can live together. Gosh, I’m so nostalgic today, hmmm… really must see T soon or I’ll be totally bonkers with nostalgia and this journal will be SO boring.

I REALLY, REALLY HATE THE FLU!!!

Woke up feeling worse than yesterday, which mean I really do have to visit the doctor.

......

Well, the doctor gave me 2 days sick leave and I refused antibiotics. I really hate what it does to my body. I really believe that my body should be able to fight of this infection by itself without antibiotics. Yes, I’m a researcher who believes in holistic medicine very much like what the Chinese believe. Little do people know but in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) the medicine you take in does not kill the germs, viruses, etc in your body but it boosts or strengthens your immune system to fight it off, that is the reason why TCM is never a quick fix, it takes a longer time for a person to recover from a sickness using TCM but the upside is that the immune system is stronger now and is less prone to the same sickness.

Hmmm… I seem to be rattling off a lot on this. Must be the drugs taking effect. I’m high, hehehehehe… stupid antihistamine.

Well, this would be another day of sleeping. Gosh, talk about overdose of sleep.

I HATE THE FLU!!!

Woke up and didn't feel right, had a sore throat. Not a big deal but as the day progressed (and I'm counting in hours here), I realised that my body was becoming rather hot (and not in the good way) and I was getting a temperature, I presume it was the start of flu. Tried hunting around the house for a thermometer, it's so odd, I know I had one and that the government gave us one but I can't find it anywhere in the house. In the end, I just took 2 Panadol.

I'm just so pissed off about this. I was so up and running yesterday and today. It was a great week for me. aaarrrrrrrrrrgh! I have a friend down from Australia and we were suppose to meet, I had to forget about it. Also told T about it. So the 2 of them decided to meet up and I was at home nursing a flu.

So slept for most of the day, taking 2 Panadol every 4 hours.

Hope that I'll be fine soon. Tomorrow would be great...... Lord you listening to me? :P Hehe… so demanding.

HAPPY 2005?

The New Year, so much grief.

This would be one New Year, which will be recorded as the biggest natural tragedies to befall men.

Recap:
On 26th of December, A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the island of Sumatra in Indonesia struck at 0800 hours local time on December 26th. The massive earthquake generated a tsunami that has claimed lives in excess of 100,000 across countries including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, the Maldives, and Somalia.

Even though it is not the biggest but it is the one which the world knows about. This is one time when the global village is becoming a reality.

I was talking to T the other day and said that this is not the worse disasters that we have come across in the history of humanity but it is the one that the world knew about almost instantaneously and the world was shocked and grieved with the people. The mass media, whether the internet, television, etc has brought this closer to home than previous disasters.

So this year, all New Year celebrations were toned downed all across the world. Those countries or cities that still had it had a minute of silence to remember the dead and their families. It was the first time the world has grieved together. The first time that the world was together as one in this.

Even as we enjoy this day and welcome the now year. Let us all remember the people that died in the year 2004 due to no fault of their own. The people who have been murdered in wars and hate crimes. The people who have been killed due to accidents and disasters.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This would be the 2nd Christmas T and I are spending together. It is so nice. Last year we were also in HK spending our Christmas together. Talk about history repeating itself but I'm not complaining just enjoying the every moment we are together.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our anniversary. We actually met in beginning of August 2003 but got serious only around 10th of December 2003.

T is at Batam with his company.

We had a nice celebration last night, went to this quiet Japanese restaurant near St. Andrews Junior College for dinner. Great food, we had a Japanese paper steam boat. Yup you read right it was a paper steam boat, the container was made of paper. It was interesting. 3 Japanese men ran this restaurant and only 1 of them could speak English.

After which we had a nice walk and chat around Mount Faber ending up at the SAFRA Mount Faber near there. Where we had hot chocolate. It was a nice way to spend an anniversary.

Looking back it the past year, I realised how much I've change and him too. It started off being a one sided thing, where I was so totally smitten by him but he was new to the dating and relationship scene, so was rather non committal. But now, our love for each other has grown so much and we actually can't imagine us not being together.

I'm happy now, much happier than I've ever been with any of my previous boyfriends, though things are something difficult, we have really learnt to accept each other's idiosyncrasies and stubbornness and compromise, really compromise. Wow, never know I could be less pig-headed and compromise ;). One thing I've realised that I've got rid of my baggage left over from my 1st boyfriend, A. He was suffering from depression and had this thing about 'breaking-up' with me whenever there is a situation he can't handle. I was left with the baggage of my boyfriends doing that if I disagreed with them or had a situation with them. Was usually worried if I really showed my true feelings about a situation. T has made me discard that last piece of baggage, he would really try to work things out with me, no matter how painful or difficult the topic or situation is. That has really made our relationship stronger. And after a year, there was not once he every wanted to 'break-up' because of anything but have always used 'work things out'. To him there is no such thing as a situation that cannot be talked out and worked upon.

Birthday

It is T's birthday yesterday. I booked a room at a hotel in Sentosa, got some scented candles and massage oils. No present though but I did get him a card that declares how much I really appreciate him being my boyfriend and how much I love him. Yes, I know it is tacky but hey it is still rather romantic, in a way.

Okay have to leave the office early to get to Sentosa to prepare everything.

Gosh, it took me ages to get there. First off, it rained very heavily and I had to wait for the rain to lessen (hmmm… might be grammatically wrong), then the stupid bus took ages to get there. The bus driver much have been way ahead of schedule, he practically stopped at every bus stop even though there wasn’t anyone waiting there. Fed-up, fed-up, fed-up.

Got to the hotel rather late about 4:30, Didn’t have much time to do much, left at 5 to meet him in town. Was almost late though, thank goodness I took the MRT or I would really have been late.

Went for Tamadae for dinner and it was good the dessert was even better, he really loved his chocolate thingy (which as you can tell, I have no clue as to what it is called).

We strolled along the river and went to Harbour Front and spent rather a long time there, so that we can catch the free shuttle bus to the hotel, yea, yea very cheapsakate.

The hotel was old and rather dingy but we had a very big private balcony so it was really cool.

That is all I will write in this journal. Private matters will not be written. ☺

The first entry

This journal is opened for me to just place my thoughts about certain things that are happening in my life.

I'm a gay male Singaporean living in Singapore and it would seem that there are lots of stuff in this country that I can write about. I'm trying not to make this journal into a drama queen site but trying to keep it simple and hopefully sane.

I don't know who would bother to read this but if you do, enjoy. If you are homophobic, read this with an open mind and you might realise that we are people after all; if not, please don't bother reading at all.

Oh yea, T is my boyfriend, so his name will pop up once in a while.