Liberalism

Liberalism


1. The state or quality of being liberal.
2.
a. A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority.
b. often Liberalism The tenets or policies of a Liberal party.

3. An economic theory in favor of laissez-faire, the free market, and the gold standard.

4. Liberalism
a. A 19th-century Protestant movement that favored free intellectual inquiry, stressed the ethical and humanitarian content of Christianity, and de-emphasized dogmatic theology.
b. A 19th-century Roman Catholic movement that favored political democracy and ecclesiastical reform but was theologically orthodox.

from dictionary.com

Let's talk a little bit about liberalism.

I like to think that I am a liberal person. By that, I mean that I do not condone pre-martial sex (PMS), or murder, or moral obscenities like prostituition etc. etc. but I leave you up to your own devices over what you believe in.

Then again, a lot of people don't think PMS or prostituition or drugs or smoking is bad. Or against morals.

So where does morals come from? If I was to argue for a divine being, morality would be black and white, with shades of grey where the masses stand against the Catholic Church. Atheists would argue that morality is just a play between what was right for human evolution, that those actions condoned my the masses would be voted "right" over history, and those actions that are socially unacceptable AT THE POINT IN TIME would be considered weaker and be selected against.

Then again, I have said I am a liberal, but I believe in a Creator (perhaps not Jesus Christ, yet). Would me being a liberal go against my firm beliefs that morality is God-Given?

Sometimes, you know that an action, say, forcing a child to have sex with his father, is an act against nature. Then again, while scouring the Earth as an anthropologist, you find a tribe that practises blatant incest as a sort of ritual. And they accept it.

1. Would God accept it?
2. Would You accept it?

I answer no to question 1, but yet, I answer yes to question 2. I say that because that is that society's choice as it is; I may not fully agree with the morality of it, and come up with various genetic inbreeding SCIENTIFIC reasons to argue against it, but I would accept it, with a curdle in the stomach and distaste in my mouth.

So why do I blog this today?

Mainly it is because I find that I am becoming less and less of what I used to be. Perhaps that innocence of youth is lost (actually, it has never been). But then again, while I may enjoy looking at girls stripping and dancing on the frat party, and ogle at the "interesting" sight of two girls kissing, I would not rape a drunk girl who lay stark naked before me. Not even when I was drunk.

For my morals are my own, and I may frown at you if you rape a girl, but if you are my friend, I will forgive you, if the law may not. I do not need to approve, but I need to give support. As a friend.

And not even when drunk did I do something stupid in my life. I am proud of living the way I have since.

Are you?


lip
ranting

Alcohol

Sometimes, just sometimes, Alcohol seems to be the problem of - and the answer to - all of Man's problems.

I need a drink. After all that's happened. A small ripple, but one that I must address. So now, I have many people pissed at me. But then again, after thinking through, none of it is really my fault.

Whatever. I have a draft post on WHY I HATE CLARENCE. But since he's my friend, (still, though slipped a lot), I shall not post it up, but keep as a reminder of better times.

I need 9 Kamikazes. Please.

lip
ranting

Starsailor - Alcoholic

Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away

I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone

Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the singer won't get in our way

Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away

I was looking for another you
And I found another one
I was looking for another you
When I looked round you were gone

Stay by my side
And the pipe dream is yours now
Stay by my side
And the cynics won't get in our way

Don't you know you've got your Daddy's eyes
And your Daddy was an alcoholic
But your mother kept it all inside
Threw it all away
I was looking for another chance
To see your blue eyed problem

ranting

FOOL GIRL

To everyone who doesn't believe in getting themselves hurt.

To everyone who doesn't want to hurt those closest to them.

To everyone who wants to keep that sense of innocence and vitality of youth.

Don't do stupid idiotic things. And once you do, learn from mistake that once was, so you don't repeat them again.

Was out with friends and met 2 danes. Frederick and Christina. They bought us drinks. And after drunkedness took over, a friend confessed.

Needless to say, shocking was not even enough to say it.

To think that I believed in her, trust that once was is now not there anymore.

Good luck in your future. And I wish you the best, with your own conscience, and with those around you.


lip
ranting

Blog Searches

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lip
ranting

Friends and others

When does friendship end and relationships begin?

Or would it be suicidal to forsake a firm friendship that could be, to start a relationship that by far, is less certain but could reap greater rewards if it ever succeeds?

I guess I have become too cynical. But I don't believe in relationships. I don't believe in Cinderella, or Beauty and the Beast, or the Little Mermaid, where every story is a happy ending and people love who they love.

But where does one draw that line, if drawn at all? It is a commitment phobia? Or as Kev puts it: fear of losing a friend?

Sometimes, the Creator puts women in this world just to vex the hell out of men. And to hell with whatever you think about it.

And vice versa.

lip
ranting

Treating People as they deserve

Hello Children.

Today, my lesson is going to be on ren2 yu3 ren2 zhi1 jian1 de guan1 xi4. Or in Engrish: Human Relationships.

Too often, we tend to say hi to people who we want to use. i.e. Oh she's pretty. Hello! That's called Picking Up Girls.

Or, Oooohhhh he drives a Mercedes SLK. That's Being A Bitch.

What happened to old fashioned I-wanna-be-friends-with-you without any strings attached?

I think that that is dead somehow. Being "just friends" comes close to "You look like a pig" in rejection lines used by people nowadays. Just like "I'm not ready for another relationship" ranks close to "Let's just be friends" which sounds like "You look like a pig".

IN OTHER WORDS: EVERYONE LOOKS LIKE A PIG!

Including me.

Case closed. Shat


lip
ranting

Who Am I?

I remember we had this church camp once, back when I was sec 3 or so. The camp theme was "Face Off". I.e. to take off the masks you wear in front of people and face God truly as you are.

The truth is, everybody has a mask to face everyone else. Even themselves. Sometimes, I forgot which mask is it I am wearing. The aloof mask can be worn when meeting people for the first time, a Warmth mask for friends who have known me long.

Or perhaps, a Leave Me Alone mask when I'm in a too big gathering and I need my own personal space.

Or maybe, I am just boring old me. Too boring to even arouse interest from people around me, slipping into the background as I do.

Then there are times when taking charge seems to be the right thing to do, only if others don't take charge before me.

Times when lying seems best to avoid a situation, and other times when you keep digging your own grave just because you've forbidden yourself to lie to save your hide.

Ahhh... Enigma.



lip
ranting

Frequent Flyers

Sending Jeff off at the airport today, off to Michigan he goes.

And I thought that relationships ending were very similar to purchasing airline tickets.

Frequent flyers, for those who can't forget the memories and move on. -expensive, and tiring.

One year return, for those who harbour hopes. -you nver know if the plane ride for the return is secure until the very end.

One way, for those who look ahead and carry on. -cheapest, most exciting, but fear of the unknown.

So pick your ride, and choose your path.

lip
ranting

and so the wind blows

moved on surely,
for memories past,
for times spent,
for happiness shared,
for friendships forged,
for brothers in arms.

to futures unknown,
to pastures greener,
to countries far away,
to a whole life ahead.

moving on.

lip
ranting

TTSH and the Singapore Efficiency Syndrome (SES)

I had a very unpleasant visit to TTSH this morning.

For those not in the know, I made my way to A&E at TTSH last saturday to remove a foreign body in my left eye. I had minor irritation and the appearance of a wrinkle on the cornea of my eye let me to believe that somehow, my LASIK flaps have come undone.

Upon arriving at TTSH at around 5:30 pm, I saw the doctor only at 6:30, after going through the battery of tests to ensure I was not suffering from stroke/heart attack etc etc. Who goes to A&E for eye irritation? LASIK patients that's who.

And so, after removal of the "foreign body" FB in short, the ED doctor (ED=emergency department) made an appointment for me to see my eye surgeon, Dr Lee Hung Ming on Monday at 10.40 am.

And following last night's extreme dota session (woohoo shadow shaman!), I woke up at 10 am dead tired. Reached TTSH at 10.30 and proceeded to the "subsidised patients" section where they classed me under a subsidised patient.

Right. A cosmetic surgical patient whose surgery costs $4.5k to see a normal eye doctor. I rather see Clarence. When he's drunk.

And so, after eye diagnostics, where the nurse asked me if I wore specs, to which I was flabbergasted.

FACT 1: SHE DIDN'T KNOW THE PATIENT'S MEDICAL HISTORY, WHICH IS ON RECORD AND IN THE FILES!

And so, I waited outside some Dr. Chin Chee Soon's office (no offence doctor), along with all the grandmothers and old folks who paid with their medisaves.

And Lo and Behold, I saw 2 M3s (medical year 3s) inside the office, taking peeks at a patient's eye through the eye magnifying equipment.

This is when I thought: I PAID $4.5k FOR LASIK, and NOW my LASIK-ed eye is going to be checked by 2 M3s.

Fuck off TTSH. I'm not giving you $4.5k to get my eye checked by medical year 3s. I can just imagine them going: LOOK AT THE RESHAPED CORNEA *oooooo. aahhhhhh* *fascination*

Fuck off. And so in true Singaporean fashion, I demanded my eye surgeon, because at the point, it seemed clear that the hospital staff had no FUCKING idea what they were doing.

And lo and behold, Dr. Lee Hung Ming would only be in at 2pm.

Bravo. Bravo ED doctor on Saturday, Dr. Kevin Sia, for booking me for an appointment with a senior consultant WHO IS NOT GOING TO BE IN HIS OFFICE!

And so, I had to see some other LASIK trained doctor, who took one look, lasted 5 mins, said it's okay, and charged me $35. All these after several calls to the LASIK centre to ask to speak to Dr. Lee and blah blah blah blah blah.

What efficiency?

On a side note, female doctors are smart and pretty.


lip
ranting

Elitist Groups

Was talking to James on the car ride home (the car ride there was terrible to say the least, got lost with a girl in the car that I didn't know. Wow), and we were talking about who is what faculty.

Fact 1: Most of the people in Medicine are from RI and RGS. GEP.

Fact 2: Most of the people in Law are from RI and RGS. GEP.

Fact 3: Most of the people in Engineering are from HCJC.

And he was lamenting about how he knew no one from engine. And I was going, well, at least you know the lawyers.

And then it struck me.

These lawyers who are going to defend you were the ones who you skipped class with in secondary school.

These doctors operating on you with your triple bypass are those you stripped back in secondary school/army.

You know these folks who look at you with psycho looks in their eyes and proclaim happily that sticking fingers into anuses for anal probes are what keeps them going on a boring tuesday.

And you think to yourself: I need to exercise so I'll never be treated by these doctors whom I know will club the night before my triple bypass.

Exercise people, exercise. It's not too late to keep fit.


lip
ranting

The Dildo Song

What rolls down the stairs
Alone and in pairs
And makes a buzzity sound?

It's long a schlong,
A marvelous dong,
Everyone knows its DILDO!

Go everyone! Sing along and click the link!


ranting

Too late to do anything about it

yada yada yada. I'm going mad from the boredom that is percolating in my head.

Zzz.. hurry up and leave soon. Please.

ranting

LASIK done!

It's 4 am i Know. And frankly, I'm not tired at all. Been sleeping since I came home after the LASIK op at 2 pm. Eyesight is not 6/6 yet, but it's closer to 6/9 or at least 6/7 (if there's such a thing).

My day of operation consists of my dad proceeding down to TTSH to sign the consent form. (As i wasn't 21 years old yet). It cost a COOL $4601.05. $3560 for the actual LASIK (wavefront surgery for me at $1780 per eye) and another $1k for intralase cut instead of the conventional surgical blade to form the corneal flap. And $41.05 for eyedrops and such.

And so, the appointment being made for 11 am, i strolled around Orchard borders prior to that (i had an NSC appt at 8 am which I kept), and had 3 hours to comtemplate what I was going to put myself through. There was a possibility of losing my vision altogether, or even requiring thicker spectacles than I did before due to complications and stuff. But all these are weighed up against the possibility (95%!) of not ever wearing spectacles again.

11 am, walked into LASIK centre at TTSH. They were showing golf on TV. Waited around. Had instruction from a nurse how to use the eyedrops and some post operative care (don't use computers) lol.

Then I went into the OT at around 12.15 pm. Scared. Apprehensive. Blah blah blah. Wore a surgical gown, slippers and surgical hat. Laid down on the surgical bed, which was somewhat like the space bed from "Tintin in space", except there were huge machines over the head area.

First for lasik, they would suction your eye out of your damn socket. You'd lose vision. I wondered at that time if it would be permanant. Then, truly, I'll be in the land of the blind. So i had my eye area cleaned, placed under the Intralase machine and my right eye suctioned out. "Don't move". Right. Eyelids held open by some nifty device. And tada, I couldn't see out of right eye.

Nurse counting, half done, 40%, 70%. I was like... what the fuck am i doing sia. Then doctor said, done. Flap created. Eye pops back in. And i had vision worse then I started off with in that eye. Then the left eye.

Whee. Flaps created in both eyes. Shites. Bubbles are present. So i was ushered out of the OT for 15 mins while the bubbles dissipate. Oh I must add, eyedrops were liberally put every few minutes or so. Anasthetic or lubricant, I really don't know.

So outside the OT, looking out of the window at fluffy white clouds with 2 flaps in my corneals. Pretty scary. I couldn't see properly. my Pupils were dilated, light was blinding. Ouchie. Longest 15 minutes ever. U know, when you have flaps in your eyes, You are really scared to blink. So i blinked only when I couldn't not blink anymore. I wondered if excessive dust got in as a results. Maybe you were supposed to close your eyes all the way. Then I dunno what would be of the flaps.

15 minutes up. Back in OT. Changed to slippers. Doctor says: left eye then right eye. Sitting outside. I heard "tick tick tick", sound of the laser zapping. Asked nurse what it was, nurse says doctor calibrating laser. OKAY...

So in I went. Head under machine. Green light. Red light. White lights. Blinking red light. Doc says look at blinking red light. Righto. Eye clamp put in. Mask put to cover rest of fact except eye. Doctor uses cotton bud to smear liquid all over my corneal. Then some surgical instrument to lift the flap. "look up, look at the light". Right. When you are lifting my flap my vision dunno go wher liao. All over the place. See white light, too bright. So bright it hurts.

Ok flap lifted. Look at blinking red light. Starting. Zap zap zap. Sound sounds like ticking alarm clock, only much louder. You can hear the cells being burned, even smell it. Smells like hair when it gets too close to a candle. Look at blinking red light. Dun move.

Done. Replace flap. HEY!!! BLINKING RED LIGHT APPEARS CLEAR NOW!

Other eye similar. Done.

Doc says: Congratulations on never needing to wear contact lenses or spectacles ever again. Ya right.

Wait outside for dad to pick up. Wearing sunglasses. Everything is slightly clearer. about 200 degrees like that. But everything very bright. On the car journey home, kept tearing and closed eyes because of the light. Even under sunglasses.

Went home. Tearing. Put antibiotics. Tried to sleep. Eyes painful. Burning sensation. Left eye hurts more than right eye. Doctor says no pain. Fucker. Couldn't sleep. Took sleeping pill provided. Tried to relief pain by dabbing away tears with tissue. Still burning pain. fucker. Thought of going blind. Can't open eyes at all.

Went to sleep.

Zzzzz.


lip
ranting

my brother sucks at piano and i'm going nuts from teaching him.

KNNBCCB.
FUCK.
BULLSHIT.

ranting

Yoda

A big part of my blog is about my life.

Thus, when I haven't updated it for a long time, it means that I have NO LIFE.

What a devastating epiphany of knowledge there. But then again, if I have no life, I'll be dead.

Yup. I'm rotting nowadays, in front of the computer. And when LASIK is done tomorrow, I'll have less of a life, because I need to stay home and hope that I don't go blind.

Yay. 11 am surgery. tada.

And about the title, I didn't know what to blog about.


lip
ranting

letsreachoutforthestarswithwingswesoaruphighourdreamswellallachieveletsmakeourdestiny

NDP's next tuesday. Hooray. How very Singaporean to look forward to the one event that fires up the patriot in each and everyone of us, where red flags fly and Malaysia goes to die.

Hey it rhymes.

I'm stuck in this groove that is going like "you're leaving, and you're not going to see all these people ever again, so don't meet them anyway." But I just have to see all the folks that I'm never ever going to see again. How sad. Then again, I'm just too lazy to get out of my house.

Study study study. Drink drink drink. My day again was a boring shite day of stupid primary school experiments that threatened to get your hair burnt. literally.

Bye bye Singapore. And happy birthday.

lip
ranting