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I want to evolve!
I want to evolve!
I want to evolve!

Interesting Article

Reading newspapers is like a box of chocolate. You never know what you are going to get. This line sounds familiar? Ok. Most people my age may not read newspapers (The Straits Times or Lianhe Zaobao. Not the Newpaper or Chinese tabloid papers, which in my opinion are more interested in maintaining readership by publishing sensational news, though these can prove to be interesting reads as well.) every day or even read newspapers for current affairs at all, preferring the web or adopting the "I got better things to do attitude" (Perhaps they do have better things to do. Who knows?). Ok. I digress. This post is not about trying to convince you to read the papers. Whether you get read the news or not, where you get your news from is none of my concern.

An article carried on "Saturday" section of The Straits Times today was about why locals are not getting dates. A perpetual problem I might say that evades the Government's efforts to solve it. No. This piece is written not by any Government agency, but by two university soon-to-be graduates. In it, they attributed this sad state of dating life as being to due 1) Leave it to Fate attitude 2) Unrealistic expectation 3) Lack of knowledge on approaching a date 4) Parents "reaping fruits of labour" when they convinced their children to concentrate on studies and work. because they (incorrectly, I might add) believed that girls would come looking for accomplished men later on 5) celebration of singlehood.

Well, I would very much like to leave it to Fate as well. Then again, things do not happen if you do not put in effort. Even for something like lottery, if you do not take the effort to mark the betting slip, you cannot expect to win even a consolation prize. (For the record, I do not encourage betting. However, I think this is a really good analogy.) Perhaps leaving to Fate has got something to do with the Korean, Japanese and especially Taiwanese idol dramas. Watch a few to get what I mean. "Fateful meeting", bickering (unusually), then ends up becoming a couple. Granted, these do happen in real life. However, thinking this is the norm in the real society is an enormous fallacy.

I supposed unrealistic expectation of a partner can also be attributed to these dramas, as purported by the article. Young people are flooded with images of beautiful/handsome specimen of both gender. They fantasize about these idols and then use them (or their on-screen persona) as yardsticks to measure real-life people. I have not met such people of course. Then again, I do not see them doesn't mean they do not exist.

Lack of knowledge on approaching date or maintaining a good relationship with your prospective partner. Hmm... seems like a problem most people would have, especially with males. There are exceptions of course. Instead of getting agencies to matchmake people, these agencies should conduct courses on how to gte a date, how to maintain a date etc etc etc. I realize that mankind has gotten on with this dating thing for centuries without need formal lessons on dating. However, let us not be egoistic and approach the problem logically. No girl/guy would fall for a guy/girl who behaves strangely/inappropriately (like confessing on the first date). Given someone is fish and expect someone to know how to cook it does not work. Maybe we need to teach someone how to cook a fish before giving him/her a fish. Ok. Maybe people are mislead by dramas which portray girl/guy attracted to intriguing guy/girl. Again, remember this is not a "rule of thumb" thing. Behaving weirdly grants you more chance of being called a weirdo (duh!) and pushes you further away from your prospective partner.

The idea of beauties will come to accomplished men. I supposed this is more of an idea of the older generation than the younger ones. This may or may not be true. In the current society, I supposed it is true that financial and social statuses are vital "criteria" in mating searching. However, they are usually not the only criteria and criteria differ depending on the individual. Better not simply rely on age-old theories of partner selection. Times change and so we have to looking around and ask ourselves, what is the current situation. We also have to remember that selection of partners may not be a logical process. Therefore, people who are deemed as better choices based on logical analyses may not end up with their desired partners. Better to review your strategy according to current reality.

Finally, celebration of singlehood. I think most people holding this idea would come to regret it at some stage of their lives. No one to celebrate an achievement, no one to share your woes. Ok, you may have friends to do that with for now. How about when they get hitched? What happens when they have children? Will they have that mich time for you? What will you do then? There are trade-offs whether in marriage or in being single. Weigh the trade-offs carefully. Think about the future you. Not the present you.

(Disclaimer: I am still single.)

Lunch with Experimental Molecular Biology People

Yes. Experimental Molecular Biology. I took this module in the same semester as I started this blog. Very interesting module I must say. Ok. It differs from person to person. I do not really know how is it if you choose other labs. However, from what I know, Microbiology lab is the best! Perhaps it is because of the fantastic TA (Yup. EVERYONE simply has to agree that she did a fantastic job. No doubt about it.) and because of the wonderful company on the bench (That is why I organized a lunch meeting).

Ok. Not everyone (there are 12 people per bench). Just the four of us -- two girls, two guys. We went to this Japanese steamboat joint at Marina Square. I have been there before -- farewell dinner for a certain friend a year ago. Since the food was nice, I suggested the place this time. Despite not seeing each other for at least half a year, we still got a long together super well. Not that they changed a lot though. It was just like before. Okok. One of the girls gotten prettier since I seen her. She is quite good-looking before, but a lot better now. Maybe it is because she kept her hair longer, dress better etc etc etc. Breaking new grounds among my friends I can say. So the limit for beauty has risen yet again.

After lunch, we went for a bit of shopping. Miss good-looking wants to buy a cap. After that she had to leave for wakeboarding practice (Very cool girl. But attached already.) The remaining three of us went to the Helix bridge. Ok. It is supposed to resemble chromosome. The thing that is made of DNA. [Ok. Let me flaunt a bit of biology knowledge from junior college. The famous double-helix elucidated by James Watson and Francis Crick (not forgetting Rosamund Frankin) in 1953. The real DNA double helix is generally said to have 10 base-pairs per turn, a width of 2 nanometer (nm), the distance between each base-pair being 0.36nm and so the length of a complete helical turn is 3.6 nm.] No matter how we count, each turn of the helix bridge (the bridge, not the one in our cells) has more than 10 base-pairs per turn. Perhaps they are trying to replicate other DNA forms. DNA can take three forms. [I cannot remember them without looking at university notes. However, each of them has different number of base-pairs per turn.] There are also strange plates on the ground with the letters a and t paired together or g and c paired together. We suspect that they represent conventional Watson and Crick base-pairing rule. [This is also the address of this blog: ATCG.] Since we did not see any board that provides a background of the bridge, we cannot be sure.

Oh yah. One more thing. If you every want to go to the helix bridge, try to go in the evening. Sure, the view in the afternoon is very nice. You get a very good view of Marina Bay area. However, it is also extremely warm. There is no cover from the sun. I suggest you go by a particular exit/entrance of Marina Square near John Little at Level 2. The entire length of the bridge is not open for pedestrian yet, unfortunately.

After I got back home, I went for a run. Somehow, body felt very very tired as well. I cannot explain. I do not think it is because of "eating" several hours of eye candy (Of course not!). Shall try running again tomorrow.

Loss of Motivation

Yes. Loss of motivation. Usually, by the second week after exams, I should be wanting to do something. But this time, there is actually a resistance to do something constructive -- Like Project Final Fantasy for example. Instead, Brain kept thinking of going out with friends.

Could it be that Brain finally cave in after years of "no-play"? Well.... The previous year has been tough (I am sure it is tougher for my mentor and poor senior). Or is it that my true nature has been revealed --- And I am a slothful, no good person? Every one has an element of sloth. Just that some have more, some have less or at least more capable of keeping sloth in check. I have been keeping sloth in check for years now and will still have to do so for years to come.

Actually, sloth has gotten increasingly powerful in the past couple of years. It is requiring ever more effort to suppress sloth. Of course, I will still do work when there is work to be done (seems like my "good self" is still strong most of the time) but then I started to drag if there is a dateline (I have numerous close shaves with datelines in the past year.) How did this happen is beyond me (Did I used much too much energy in the first two years??). Assignments are getting tougher of course. Also, peers are putting in more effort in their work, leading to stronger competition. Therefore, it takes more time to churn out works that can potentially beat the crowd. However, I would be a fool is ignore the warning calls. Much like how the avian influenza outbreaks are perceived as warning for a future pandemic. Better heed the warning or risk perishing into depths of ignominy and labelled a lazy bum.

There must be a way through the current problem. I have to find this solution. Actually, first is to isolate the root of the problem.