Happy 100th Post!

So there you go. 100 posts on Coffeestruck. Somewhere between number 50 and 100, I was remarking how a blog's age shouldn't be marked by dates. I could go for months without a blog post. So you have a blog that's a few months old, but is it filled with more substance than one that is brand new?

A blog is a collection of one's thoughts. An online diary maybe. A place to pin all your hopes, angst and jubilations. While these feelings and emotions arrive over the course of time, the record of such events is not a function of time. Events and emotions get consolidated into a single blog post, a post which covers a period of time. We grow older from the experience we gain over time. Blogs grow older from the records that they keep and build up.

Well, my life is definitely different from when I wrote the entry for the 50th post. I'm now on exchange in a foreign land, I had seen through a year in Kroo and when I return from my exchange, I'll already be in my final year in school. (Check link on right for the Exchange Blog!) It's been a great 50 posts, let's see what happens in the next 50!

Again, here are some of my favourite posts over the past year or so!
To see the list of posts I highlighted for my 50th post: Happy 50th Post!
"Behind Closed Doors" I think it's hilarious how I spent one paragraph trying to picture how this poor guy was sneezing. I hope I still can hear that when I return from my exchange.
"R and J" This was a rant thinly disguised as a love story.
"My Special Power" Super powers do not maketh a superhero. It maketh good entertainment.
"The Spoils of War" This post, like the special powers one, came about from interesting situations and even more interesting conversations.
"The SMUGS President" "Our president has a happy tummy"
"Apollo Cuffs" Believe it or not, this short story was based on a dream I had. I should have submitted it to some writing competition, but you know me.

So there you go, some interesting posts amongst the 50. And I'm sure more interesting posts will come from the next 50! -Jimmy

Kroo in Retrospect

I was looking through a fellow Kroo's blog recently and noted how this person was ranting about the things we had to go through, about how some people didn't seem to be pulling their weight or were out of line with their roles.

And it reminded me of my time in Kroo, how I got in, the insecurities I had and what I expected from all that.

Like I've said to so many people in SMUGS, I never expected to get into Kroo. There were just so many good candidates that I figure I shouldn't get my expectations up and then have to deal with the disappointment later. I didn't figure that those "non-expectations" could rebound back on me when I eventually did get in.

All the things they tell you about Kroo? About how you're going to make a difference to an organisation you love, about being at the helm making changes, about sharing the passion? Yea, they're all true. In an oblique kinda way. You can make a difference just about anywhere in the organisation. Just by turning up for SMUX events and helping out and being myself, I'm spreading the passion I have for outdoor activities. So what's with Kroo? Well, I get to be at the helm of changing SMUX. Yea, if I wasn't too busy firefighting the daily operations of my own team.

If you think about it metaphorically, yea, I did change SMUGS, most notably in my own team, when I officially transfered an activity that wasn't going anywhere, when I (with some help) came up with guidelines on how activities "graduate" in SMUGS, when I worked closely with TH to prepare Skating to fly on its own. But in my mind, I'm not willing to accept myself as a "good" Kroo. My team still had no identity. When the new Kroo stepped up and a huge "discussion" came about regarding an exco for the team, I had no real answer.

Then those doubts came in. Why put me here when I felt there were other deserving people who were nominated? I asked a notable ex-kroo what it takes to be a good kroo. His theory was simple: just pick the person who has the most passion for SMUGS. These people, by virtue of their passion, will think for the best of the club. They will not try to get in to pad their resumes, or to chase for power. They will undertake their jobs with a sense of responsibility Also, the passion they have will (hopefully) be infectious and spread their love for the outdoors to others.

Ok, so now I felt better about what I've been doing, cos within my locus of control, I've done what I could.

My dad once asked me what I got in return for all the time I invested into SMUGS. We don't get any fancy thank-you dinners. (Ok, our president does give us treats once in a while.) We're not recognised outside the organisation (and sometimes inside too!). I told him how by allowing myself to be nominated, I've accepted that I'd serve with little or no tangible benefits.

OSL recently announced a number of students who have contributed to the "vibrant student life" we have in school. Yea, I wasn't one of them. But during the times I'm alone here in Sweden, I've noted that it's not that we didn't contribute at all. I know other Kroo who worked so hard to contribute to SMUGS and also didn't get it. It's funny. I'm sure many of us will still want to help out with SMUGS activities. Just give us a few months to rest a bit after a year of giving our best. -Jimmy

Colour My World

I know I posted once with the same title. Heck, the food for thought will be similar too. However, now that I'm considered a minority in a foreign country, the context of this thought process is somewhat different for me.

For those who forgot, the post was about how colours brighten up the world. So roses are red and morning glories are ... uhh... purple? In that same sense, there are caucasians, there are chinese, there are indians and there are malays. Does that make the world a bad place because only one race can live here? No, that will simply make the world a more boring (and totally dreadful) place.

However, now that I'm on exchange in Sweden, I'm surrounded by caucasians everywhere. While Lund university accepts over a hundred exchange students every semester, the bulk of students are Europeans. It doesn't bother me that much to be a chinese in a land of caucasians. If they don't make a fuss, I won't either. Unfortunately, I have heard of some who do make a fuss.

Although I didn't experience these situations myself, it's enough to remind me that I'm a minority here. When Stan walked into his Swedish Orientation class the first day of lessons, many of the seats were already taken by the other students, most of them European. When he asked around if he could sit beside each of them, they claimed that they were saving their seats for their friends. However, many of them turned out to have strangers sitting beside them later on. The only difference was that the strangers were white-skinned, whereas Stan is a Singaporean Chinese.

When Tee walked past the pizza shop in front of the train station, the people working in the shop started chanting, "Chink, chink, chink...". There wasn't anyone in the shop, and no one else was walking near Tee, which leads to the reasonable conclusion that they were chanting to him.

This might sound disturbing. Here we have a world that is shrinking as Globalisation takes its course. Here we have a first world country with a high standard of living, where a simple meal costs 3 times as much as in Singapore. Here we have a country so conscious about the environment that they sort their rubbish into recyclables and boycott bottled water because of the waste it generates.

And also here, you hear stories about skin colour still being an issue.

I was out with my mentor group yesterday and we were talking about how some places in Europe aren't so safe if you're a different colour from the locals. Gangsters will beat you up and steal your money. However, everyone in that conversation circle we had agreed that skin colour is such a petty thing to squabble over. That people should never be judged by their skin colour. One of the people pointed out that while most people will willingly agree to that, there will always be some people who continue to discriminate. As I quote: There will always be some people who are sick in their minds who will continue to do that.

As a response, another person said, well, we're the lucky ones in our respective countries; to be able to get into university, to be able to go on exchange in a foreign land.

We're indeed the lucky ones. And we're also the ones who will have to propogate our belief that skin colour should never be an issue. -Jimmy

A Daily Dose of Chee-ting

After a lot of attempts to get me to go down for one of their sessions, I finally joined a Laser Tag game today. Our game made use of cute plastic guns produced by Tiger Electronics. I can almost imagine American kids running around their front yard playing with these guns. The guns probably shot infra-red beams, much like TV remote controls, cos I believe laser might prove harmful to human eyes. In any case, the gun had a variety of modes; I heard some game modes can have the guns programmed to activate personal shields.

Some of the games we played include Escort, Assassination, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill. Yes, they sound very much like any LAN shooter game you find out there. However, playing in real-life is very different from playing in a LAN game. Guys who have been through army (and especially those who went through Sispec and OCS) can attest to the sheer exhaustion and frustration of having to run up and down the field attacking an objective again and again until we got it right. Just like any real-life tactical game, sprinting from cover to cover leaves you gasping for air.

All this seems like a recipe for a fun-filled afternoon, right? Well, running around was fun, but the games weren't fun. It's like playing DOTA for five straight hours and being owned every single game. It's like watching as your opponents deny you of towers, then have the cheek to stun you and then gank you. The first few games, I was still getting used to handling the gun, which cost me a few "lives". How would I know that the beams reflect off walls and still score as kills? Why wasn't the gun designed more ergonomically so that aiming down the sights was a lot easier and more intuitive?

Throw in girls who don't know anything about gun handling, fire movement and arc of fire, and that's a recipe for a whopping. I don't blame the girls, really. It's really just a game. We had fun. (Though I wish we could whopp the vendors' smug a**es just once.)

However, the event that stuck to my head was how one of the vendors cheated. Yes, they're supposed to be facilitating the game, making sure that we have a good time. Apparently, that wasn't on the mind of this individual. He went out of the playing area, ended up behind us, and started shooting. Of course he scored a few kills. And he was happily gloating about his cheap shots to the fellow vendors when their team won. (I hope you're reading this Leonard. This was what got me screaming down your back the following game.)

The irony was how another vendor mentioned earlier that it is mostly the beginners who cheat in paintball.

If I had known that he had cheated to get such cheap shots, I would have thrown down my gun and ran for his throat right then. But I only found out later how he got behind our position. (Which was supposed to be tight cos my team-mates were covering the other route.) Isn't that what you want to do to someone who doesn't play fair in a game? Beat them into pulp?

It's a good thing most games have rules that don't allow under-hand methods. But what about real-life? Haven't you heard of the back-stabbing that goes on in the corporate world just to get the promotion? The skivers who get by with minimal work but still receive the same amount of recognision? How about those who take credit for work done by others?

This brings about two questions:
1) Is it fair to do it if so many others are doing it and getting away scot-free (most of the time)?
2) Since I believe it isn't fair, how should they be punished?

Some people believe that such things affect one's karma. If they do something bad, they are opening themselves to bad things happening to them. Like a carwreck, maybe. Others think such acts will result in divine punishment.

Oh, really. So while waiting for karma to do its job, this guy continues having things his own way without a regard for others. I can imagine him giggling with glee as he rubs his hands furiously, his mind a clockwork of sinister ideas. Shall he blackmail his supervisor next? Or how about cheating a trishaw uncle of his fare?

Frankly, I think these people should have situations twisted back to hurt them. A punch in the nuts for that guy who shot me from the back. Probably a "leaked" email to the manager for that colleague who backstabbed you. Maybe they'll understand the meaning of pain then.

Am I being mean thinking about such things, ranting about them? Maybe. At least I feel better now. Now guys, on the count of three, let's pierce the voodoo dolls. -Jimmy