THOUGHTS
Monday, March 28, 2005
I’m a banana.
A banana in a durian city, surrounded by people who are often coconuts.
Ok enough with the fruit salad shtmick. I’ve come to the conclusion that im a banana, as well the majority of the English educated Singaporeans, yellow outside but white inside. The anti heartlander, where chilling out means grabbing a mocha frappe at starbucks Holland v or going to play golf with dada. Being rich does not mean you’re a banana, however having lived through close to 10 years of “branded school” education, I have to admit that we have a sort of elitist aura around us, and don’t really know much about the other 75% of the teenage population. In other words, we’re freaking smart, but we’re kinda ignorant as well, our pampered selves being shielded from the middle class by the fence in 121 Dover Road. You can’t really blame in on education, but rather the environment that we grow up in certainly plays a part in influencing our perception of Singapore, as well as the people around us. I’m not stereotyping guys and girls from the so called well known schools to be pampered, well heeled and fed with a silver spoon, heck I’m one of em myself! However, after a series of unfortunate events..well not really but after some stuff I have observed and experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that as we grow up in a protected environment such as ACS(I) (thank you teck chin), we tend to be somewhat nonchalant and even passive to some of the issues faced by Singaporean teenagers beyond the fences of 121 Dover Road, Blackmore Drive and Waffles Institution. For instance, when was the last time we knew of a classmate who couldn’t afford to pay his for his school uniform or school books? When was the last time you knew someone who got beat up by his ah long san(I think) gang for staring? And by beat up I don’t mean getting taupoked ;)
Recently, I’ve found myself to be befriending quite a number of heartlanders, or as the stereotype goes:- “neighbourhoot” school people. Oh btw if ur wondering, for every 2 scenes in Heartlanders that Vincent Ng shoots, he uses one tub of gel Hehe. I should know right?;) These friendsters have sorta shown me the differences between an independent (and damn rich) school and the rest. Of the world.Guys like jon and earnest from church, my homies, haha although they’re from a neighbourhood school, there’s absolutely no problem hanging out with em. The dunearn band dudes, wacky bunch man… The point is, im no saviour of local souls or what, but widening my clique group has certainly done me more good than harm.
And why the sudden ramblings on local kids vs English educated kids? Well today was a reality check for me, that my perception of Singaporean teens have been rather cloudy till now. Before, I admit I used to think that all bengs were just good for nothing slobs, going out with their lian gerfren, going to Far East Plaza to drink Bubble Tea and look stupid. Well that may be true, =) but as I said, today was a reality check for me..
Was at Plaza Singapura with Blt today, filming all sorts of funny stuff. We were helping each other with our ISOs, his on freedom of speech and mine on the globalization of Mcdonald’s. Oh by the way we went to the speaker’s corner ala Hong Lim park, and it was quite comical. As always, “ The only thing that grows out of Hong Lim Park is the grass.” Haha
Anyway, after our filming we sorta took a break and went to the arcade on the 7th floor. As most of you know I’m a marvel vs capcom 2 junkie. Don’t laugh. You have your dota, I have my mvc2. Hmph. It’s not that gay. Yea so I wanted to practice the magneto rom reset combo, which sorta goes like:
.lk+im, j.fp, hypergrab, c.lk, c.hk into rom(sj lk, lk, addf lk lk)/reset into shockwave/dhc to Hail..Oh veering off topic but for those who wanna really see hardcore marvel players, go to www.shoryuken.com/forums or www.zachd.com/mvc2. all i can say is these guys mean BUSINESS.
After Brian left, I was finishing up my game when this group of bengs and lians came up to the arcade cabinet and without any fair warning, plonked their damned token into the slot and started gesticulating rather loudly. One grouse I have with this is that Arcade Etiquette states that “ Before Onest Inserteth Thy Coin Into The Coin Slot, Onest Hath To Asketh of Ye Opponent’s Permission” and they certainly didn’t do that. Ok not being proud here but I won.
. Hehe excuse me while I indulge in a moment of self indulgence. For those who don’t give a crap about marvel(which is the whole of Singapore) skip this part, but for those in the rest of the continents that actually care.. I used MSS-A against his iceman cable capcom. 13hit XX Tempest XX Hail did the trick with his first 2 chars, and im proud to announce that for the 2nd time in history, my DHC of death worked! Yay. Storm 1234, aduf 1234, La, La, LS XX HSF XX roundhouse , fk,fly, fk, unfly, 1234, rocketpunch .Wheee..
Oh that’s when the trouble starts. As the 2 marvel cabinets were linked, they were all staring at the other guy’s side. Then after the "KO”, the guy was cursing and spewing hokkien expletives. Then he got up, slammed his stool on the floor, cursed some more , then he made off. However a few of his mates still stood there and gave me the most idiotically violent stare ever. Dude, it’s only a game man… But no, the guy came back with his cronies and slammed another stool into MY stool. As in u can imagine, this group of 7 bengs and lians crowding round my cabinet. One guy actually whacked my joystick. Woah. I wouldn’t say that I was incredibly freaked out, and I wouldn’t say I was as cool as a cucumber. After the slamming, the guy took out another token and almost put it in, but his friend stopped him, saying sth like u’ll surely lose one ah. Wait till he zhao then play. So he came up and said sth like “ even if you win the next round ud better get the !#$@# out of here.” In Chinese. I was like erm okkkk..
I was calm. But I was worried.
I mean what would u guys have done if you were me. I left the arcade after that. Actually I wasn’t surprised that he was pissed or stuff, but even now it has dawned on me that I could have been in danger. Not over dramatizing the whole issue, but I believe that why I was kinda shocked was because that I didn’t think that this whole beng lian gang thing would actually affect me. Remembering the Play E Smack K advert which we so lovingly make fun of, it’s what it is to us, another random form of entertainment. But how many of us know that the gangfights, the drugs and all depicted in the advert are evident in reality. Of course we know that there’s such stuff in Singapore, but I guess sometimes we( im speaking on personal experience) might take for granted the protection we have, in school mainly. English educated school kids get into trouble as well, but for me, I haven’t really experienced something like that before. Well it may be just my “innocence” and naivety, but the truth is that, life isn’t all a bed of roses for us English speakers.
Earnest once told me of this gangfight that involved one of his classmates. I laughed it off, saying that that only happens in Jack Neo movies and stuff like that.
Nah, it happens in reality too my fellow bananas.
Delivered at 2:29 PM;
hello, I have officially succumbed to the blogging craze. Yes, finally. But guess what, eeyuurr.. I hate blogs. I hate the word blog, and all it entails. No, im not kidding...I really can't stand blogs.
A blog, or a contraction for a weblog connotates sex, violence, drugs and the Occult. Oops that was rock music but anyway from what I see a blog was originally intended for one to express his/her ideas in an unrestrained manner. brianleetanfreedomofspeech anyone? I'm an advocate of that. I love the Eeengrrissh language and expression, sometimes one more than the other, but I immensly dislike a blog to be the bitch corner of the internet. Seriously, I may be offending lots here(but thats the power of the internet), but the reason why blogs are put together in the same category as bubble tea and hello kitty and tamagotchi and other temporal fads is the fact that you can slander, sue, praise, lie about any person or inanimate object you wish to, and guess what....
*drumroll*
you don't get caught. Now excuse my cynicism of blogging but i, a lonely traveller on this lonely planet has come across tens and thousands of blogs(maybe slightly less) that have zero intellectual material and a gazillion amount of bitchfest material. If it was true, 3/4 of the world's bloggers would be teenage girls at a slumber party, at the same time. eek.
Anyway, just realized this is a freaking long entry compared to the "he like dat onez ilike that horz larhx harharx hiaz" type of stuff but ill make my point.Not to appear pompous or higherthanthou or anything, but I seriously hope that this intellectual endeavour would remain as that. Even now that im typing this when I should be doing some biology thing..(hmm) I am awestruck ever again at the power of words and the power of the internet, combine the two together and voila....
you get a GOLB.
No kidding, a Golb. The most powerful thing on the internet, right above viagra and genital enlargement pills.Golb- Noun.An expression of one's inner thoughts and honest feelings, without the intent to discriminate(sorta), slander and demean anybody or any inanimate object.
Let the Golbing begin...
Delivered at 1:18 PM;