I blog, I flickr

People says, a picture speaks a thousand words. I've became more obsessed with flickr now than blogging. At times I just couldn't find the right word to blog, so picture/photo became the alternative. It is rather interesting to have a photo that speaks of my entire daily diary. Well, I know blogger has the function to upload photos, but somehow flickr is more convenient. Flickr also has groups that you can post those photos on so people tend to share their idea more. I'm not sure if anyone thinks the same, flickr definitely works better for me. I'm not defaming blogger. Blogger has a better function for thoughts/words/narrative. Whereas flickr is quite artsy fartsy in portraying ideas. I lost interest in blogging after my self-made template was ruined. It took a lot of effort in designing the template and now I'm just too lazy to start from scrap and just stick to the boring pre-made template. That is why I'm switching most of my "dear diary" post to flickr instead of blogging it. Not many people that I know reads my blog anyway. While my family check out my flickr more often, so the "dear diary" will be permanently up on flickr. I'll preserve this blog for my angsty typing theraphy.

Here is a link to my flickr.

Sick

Chest infection. That's what the doctor said. And he said nothing more. I'm still wondering how did this happen. Surely it has nothing to do with my smoking habit. I'm not convienced that it has anything to do with tobacco. As strange as it can sound, I have a great taboo not to visit the doctor even death is knocking on the door. This time I had no choice because I needed the medical certificate for my school purposes. After all the troubles to visit the doctor, he only prescribed antibiotics to me. The funny concept we have in Australia that the clinic will not provide medicine. So I was cursing my way to the pharmacy. Already my leg felt like a jelly and my backbone was too weak to support my head which suddenly weight a hundred tonnes.

After the longest outdoor adventure I ever felt, I ended up resting in Alwin's place. Kind, dearly, lovely Dixon cooked some porrige and herbal tea for me. I was overdosed with the tea but had very little of the porrige. I felt really bad staying over because I tend to cough in the middle of the night. Alwin was snoring next to me and when he stop snoring because I cough then I became very conscious. So I stayed up most of the night counting the beeps of Dixon's phone until I was unconsciously asleep. Throughout the night I was waking up coughing and at times Alwin will whisper baby, sleep inside a little bit. It was so torturing. Not so much of the pain, but the fear of waking Alwin up. I guess I did a good job on that.

I think I rather die than being sick. So many things to be done - I haven't clean my room since I got back, I haven't unpacked my bag, haven't sort out my time table, haven't sit for my supplementary exam, and the list of uni stuff goes on. Somebody kill me please!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things TO PLAN BEFORE TRAVELLING Benny asked me for advice. He is planning for a  holiday but he hasn't got a clue where to go and what to do. Well, that happens to everyone. Here's a pretty handy 13 steps to follow before you go on a trip. I hope they help. #1 - Carefully choose a country you wanna go. Get         some inspiration from Travel channel, Lonely         Planet, or browse on the net. It is always my         advice to visit a more cultural flavor place         instead of going to a city (Tokyo is exceptional).         Almost every city around the world are pretty        much the same because it is too diverse. As for        me, I choose Brazil. More specifically Rio de        Janeiro. #2 - After you have selected the country you wanna         go to, try to choose a few places in that country        that you are dying to visit. Get a map and start        your trail on it. This will help save time. You       don't wanna look like a typical tourist, holding the       map at the road side. So know where to go. #3 - If the country you wanna visit speaks a         different language, pick up that language. A         simple phrase book helps a long way. It is        essential when you wanna do your shopping or        get to places. It is also part of the culture. So,        warm up yourself. #4 - Learn their culture. Don't expect yourself to         travel like typical celebrities. Open up your         mind and embrace others culture. If you go to         a different country just for a look then I suggest         to you stay at home and browse through flickr.         Start with history, food, clothes and weather.         If you are really into something, research on         taboos, religion, and heritage. Invest on a really         good travel guide. I love DK Eyewitness Travel Guide. #5 - This is where the headache starts. Research on          flight ticket. I recommend you to search on          kayak.com first. Travel agencies help a lot too.           Don't rush in to decide. Compare prices. Get to          know some local airline that does international          route. For example Jetstar (Australia) flies to          Osaka. Make sure you book in advance to avoid          paying more. #6 - After you know the date to travel, book a hotel.         What hotel to stay depends on what you expect.         If you have children or senior citizen travelling         with you, 5 stars hotel offers a lot. If you will be         spending most of your time scouting on the road         stay in backpackers. Online booking is always         50% cheaper or more. Never ever walk in and ask         for the price. You'll get a heart attack. #7 - Apply your leave. Be sneaky doing this. Don't let         anyone know you're going for a holiday. The         entire coworkers in the office will send you a list         of sourvenir they want. Just let them know that         you're visiting your aunty in the next village. #8 - You may not wanna apply the above rule to your         family. So make a list of names who you wanna         buy some sourvenirs for. It is hard to know what         you should buy because you have not visit the         place yet. It is best to allocate budget instead. #9 - Planning for a holiday is all about making list.         Now make a list of what you have to bring over         so you don't miss packing it. Never think that you         will only buy it when you're there. A bottle of         moisturizer may cost a hundred in overseas.         Besides, you might not find what you wanna get.         The most important stuff in your list is deep heat         oil. You'll be walking most of the time so you don't         wanna get your muscle strained. #10 - Changing money. Know how much you're willing            to spend. Then add $1000 on the figure. Who            knows you might need it for emergency cases.           Also compare which teller gives better deal. One           cent makes a lot of difference when you're           changing more than a thousand. #11 - Invest on a real good camera. Memory is           priceless. Record every moment you spend          over there. When you get back at least you have          a prove that you have really been there. #12 - Photography is part of the fun of travelling.           Train your eyes on point of view so you won't           take shitty photos. Browse a lot a lot a lot of           photos to get the idea. Also understand the           functions of your camera. Maybe you can add a          little flavour to your photos. #13 - Lastly, pack your bags. Travel light. You're not           going for a fashion show. Unless you really are.           Nobody knows you there. Unless you are really           fam0us. One hand luaggage and a backpack will          do. Safe some space for shopping and sourvenir.          Remember, overweight luagage means paying          more.

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Shall we abolish exam?

I’ve just gone through an unproductive exam last week. Anger, frustration and regret are all mixed up and fresh in my memory. Therefore I can’t keep quiet but to express my opinion that all external examination should be abolished. Following are major five reasons of why I think exam is unnecessary.

#1 Stress
This is my main concern. Most of the time students don’t perform well in exam due to stress. You can see for instance, some students cope well in class and produce a distinction grade course work but when it comes to exam, everything is a doom. Students should be given more relax environment to learn what they are thought. Exam only cause exertion of information. From my personal experience, I merely memorize everything needed for exam and during that period I dictate what I remember. After the exam answer sheet is collected, my memory will be erased automatically. The stress often kicks in during the memorizing stage. When the stress accumulated into a big balloon, depression slowly leaks in. This will bring us to the second reason.

#2 Suicide
Some students don’t handle stress well. This cause a serious psychological defect as we commonly known as depression. This is the reason why you constantly read about student suicide or student turns insane after exam result is released. Because of this I would suggest that exam is a risk of losing talent. These students are vulnerable when they don’t live up to the expectation of the examiner or their parents. Yes, let’s talk about ‘expectation’. Different stages of expectation causes the issue of unfairness.

#3 Unfair
There are several points on this. Firstly, examiner tends to detect they answer they expect in the answer sheet. They often have a standard marking scheme, thus leaves no flexibility for students to approach the question beyond what is expected. Blame no one but the examiner that students are getting uncreative. Secondly, different students perform differently. Some students are comfortable with course work but some students prefer exam. Therefore, it is unfair for students who are better in course work. Exam would deprive these students from displaying their ability. Lastly, parent’s expectation may cause unnecessary stress which leads to reason number one. Thus, I would recommend a better alternative to exam would be technical training. In the next reason I will discuss about exam that does not reflect working environment.

#4 It does not reflect real working situation
Exam does not prepare students to the real working life. What is required for us to answer in the exam questions often confined into several topics. And these topics are delivered in lectures. Isn’t this what you called spoon fed? The relevant theory to replace the spoon feeding system is the doctrine of empiricism. It is a theory based on observation and experiment where empirical knowledge is derived from sense data and experience.

#5 Environment threat
Lastly, exam causes a serious environmental threat, although this may not be a strong argument. In each exam hall, approximately five trees will be chopped down to produce the required amount of paper. Let’s do a little math. If each exam period holds 20 batch of exam, 100 trees are down. This excludes students own preparation where they have to write notes on paper. It is difficult to judge how many trees will be the victim for the students’ preparation. To help curb global warming we should abolish exam. Agree?

I have a strong urge to bring this discussion to the examination board. But it is rather ridiculous to do so. I am confident that I can easily get a petition of 100,000 students name who are against exam. Even if a referendum is required, the vote against examination will definitely exceed two third.

Home again

So much so that I hate the weather back home, it still feels good to be home. Malaysia is still the place to be.

Critical thinking of a law student

How critical can it be?

Well...Across law journals, legal articles, textbook, etc. you can never miss the name of judges boldly printed on the pages. Judges' name are always very flashy and it attracts my attention immediately. For some unknown reason, when a judge's name register into my head, it sends a direct impulse to my brain and my imagination became wild. I'll be wondering to myself...How do they look like? Do they enjoy rock music like I do? Do they shop at the mall when they need a t-shirt? Do they even wear a t-shirt at all...or they simply look like how judges supposed to look like - robe, wig & hammer.

What concern me primarily is their look. I wonder if there is any good looking judge out there? Or good looking people are forbid to be a judge. I'm not quite sure because the textbook doesn't display their photos.

Out of curiosity I googled (if there is such word) Mason, Barwick, Dixon, Gleeson, Griffith and Latham JJ*. I soon discover that the popularity of these judges are beyond compare with Paris Hilton or Britney Spears. Why bimbos are more appreciated than the intellectuals? I can hardly find photos of these judges. Why? Am I missing something here? Is it a taboo that judges' face can't be seen and only their words should be heard?

*I didn't include Kirby J into the google list because I had personally met him.

The usual whisky night

My rule when it comes to drinking....no scotch! But what has becoming of me now? I drink what I can get. So, here is our usual night of whisky. While everyone having happy hour on Wednesday night out there, we're staying indoor and talk cock over our glasses. My initial plan was to go home after dinner. But Dixon asked for a drink. It would be very unusual if I resist. So I stayed and drank and drunk. Not really, I was still pretty sober until I went to sleep. I just felt that my body took control of my mind. It's extremely bad. I was just not bothered about anything else. All I know was Alwin kept asking, "Baby, sleep inside a bit. I'm falling off". I was so high I don't know if I kicked him off the bed.