Those in the know would have known that one RI teacher came out and announced that he is gay on his blog. This news was reported here and here. It had caused quite a stir in the Raffles Community yesterday and today. I personally do not know Mr Fong so I shall not comment on his decision here but I will applaud him for his courage.

I always held that teachers must be held to a greater moral standard and honesty is a great quality I admire. As I discussed this issue with different people, it is apparent that he has exposed himself to quite a lot of risk in light of our country’s conservative climate. Some of us question if such a move has already overstepped the boundary of the acceptable. Nevertheless, real change throughout history comes about because there are daring people like Mr Fong who pushes the envelope. Without such agents of change, our world would not be what it is today.

Well, if anyone is expecting me to similarly “announce” something on here so I can jump onto the bandwagon, I am sorry to disappoint since my lifestyle is as boring and normal as most of you reading this. Not that I would give it up for an “alternative” one either as well!

Oh take the poll!

Update

The original coming out letter can be read here. MOE’s and the school’s response can be found here.

Disclaimer

Being a straight person, I am not “openly espousing” any sexuality values here. I am only openly espousing honorable character attributes such as honesty and courage. These good qualities are worth emulating.

Disciples | 1 Comment »

Many a times in our lives it is important to take stock of everything and decide what is the best path ahead. I had that moment recently and I just remembered a favourite song of mine when I was young. I must have watch that show close to 10 times.

Climb every mountain, search high and low
Follow every byway, every path you know.
Climb every mountain, ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow, ’til you find your dream!

A dream that will need
all the love you can give,
Every day of your life
for as long as you live.

Climb every mountain, ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow, ’til you find your dream!

Disciples | No Comments »

Since DD mentioned some people haven’t been updating their blogs, and I must apologised I have been too busy, I thought I should post something here just to update this thing a bit. On the other hand, DD you haven’t been updating yours too!

Okay this post came up on Tomorrow.sg and it is from this original post here. I shall copy and paste the important math problem here.

Primary 5 Mathematics
A friend got this problem from her tuition kid recently. Here goes:

There is this number which is less than 100.
1) Divide by 3 get remainder 1
2) Divide by 4 get remainder 2
3) Divide by 5 get remainder 3
4) Divide by 6 get remainder 4
What is this number?

Have fun!

Disciples | 1 Comment »

In Singapore we have NDP songs that usually tries to show you what a wonderful place we have here. Just coincidentally, I watched this MTV produced by a Malaysian student studying in Taiwan and he has made a song for his country. Some of you who have read the news would have known that I am referring to this Youtuber Namewee who has made a song Negarakuku which is attacted the attention of the Malaysian authorities. They have threatened to extradite him and charge him under the Sedition Act. Namewee has came out and made a public apology, stating that he loves his country Malaysia a lot and that his music is only satire.

So what is so interesting about the song? The song remixed the Malaysia National Anthem, Negaraku with his rap about some “features” of life in Malaysia from a Malaysian-chinese perspective. He sings in Melayu, Chinese and Hokkien. Some vulgarities so be warned.

This video reminds me of another MTV which was very much criticised that showed a flag as a background - Madonna’s American Pie. I quite like this video personally. Madonna loves to shock, if this video interest you then maybe you can try looking for her original unedited American Life MTV on Youtube.

As they often say, your closest friend is sometimes your strongest critic.

Disciples | No Comments »

I know I am really not perfect in this regard doesn’t mean I condone procrastination. While being “leaders of tomorrow” can be a nice thought, it is also important to realise that for most procrastinators, this tomorrow in their mind will never come. Therefore, procrastinators deliberately or subconsciously set themselves up for failure. In the end, they must face up to the fact that they are responsible for their own failures.

This is an interesting article from Psychology Today.

There’s more than one flavor of procrastination. People procrastinate for different reasons. Dr. Ferrari identifies three basic types of procrastinators:

• arousal types, or thrill-seekers, who wait to the last minute for the euphoric rush.
• avoiders, who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them; they would rather have others think they lack effort than ability.
• decisional procrastinators, who cannot make a decision. Not making a decision absolves procrastinators of responsibility for the outcome of events.

Disciples | 1 Comment »