Gambit

Some people think that life is a gamble.

I did.

The recent outbreak of gambling from Chinese new year has changed my perspective.

So, when one thinks of Chinese New Year (CNY), what comes to mind?

Oranges?

"Rad Packets"?

Pineapple Tarts?

Most likely, in the course of the 3 day holiday, one would have played at least a round of "tai ti", poker, or blackjack. Most likely we would have indulged in some form of gambling. And that was exactly what me and my cousins did yesterday, at our grandmother's house.

We planned to play really small.

But somebody was planning to win it big.

The dealer, my 15 year old cousin, had originally come with no money at all. Seeing that we were having fun with cards, he decided that he would borrow money from us and use it to earn more.

What a gambling addict's mindset. He volunteered himself as the dealer, so that he would be able to earn much more money at a time and repay us as quickly as possible.

So we ended up with 8 people at the "table", and 1 deck of cards. We started with Blackjack, with my 18 year old cousin as the dealer, and played a few rounds before i decided that the game was boring. In this round, i lost a small bit of money, but the dealer lost even more. Mr Dealer was in debt now.

Next, we played "3 card" and i managed to recoup all of my losses from the poor dealer, who lost even more than before. "3 card" was my friend, as it did not require any skill at all. The dealer seemed to only get either really big numbers or really low numbers. So he either won it all or lost it all. But the latter happened more frequently.

Finally, we began with poker. And if "3 card" was my best friend, Poker was my Best friend. We For the sake of my 15 year old cousin, we started small with 10 cents entry bet and a maximum cap of $1. (I admit our bets were really small, but what do you expect with an age group of 11-18?) By this time, my poor cousin was begging for money to use to enter the game and to recoup all of his losses to return his debts. He already had already owed us a total of $15 by then. (Me, being the kind soul decided to the kind act of lending the money):) But in this game of poker, he lost even more than before, desperately trying to "follow" every card and win. He did win 1 or 2 rounds, but it did him no good in recouping his losses.

Finally, when the gambling fever reached its climax, we decided to play $5 poker, with a maximum cap of $10. Everybody literally tossed in their money and grabbed their hands of cards, vying for the ultimate prize of $40 - $80

But my dear cousin, wanting to use this money and recoup all of his losses, grabbed his chance and put his final $10 into the pit. Hands were taken, cards were placed and the game ended as soon as it started. And the winner of the entire $68 was my brother. And my cousin was in deep debt.

So the poor guy now owes me a huge sum of money and I will make sure he returns it back to me the next time he meets. But what I am really trying to say is that one should know his limits when gambling. I feel that the "i will win it all back" attitude that he showed yesterday was really a gambling addict's mindset. Also, he should never have started playing yesterday if he had no money to begin with. How he borrowed money from me yesterday parallels exactly how a gambler takes loans from a loanshark.

So linking back to my topic sentence, Life is a gamble. But then again does it mean that when we limit our bets that we put limiters to our lives? Sure gambling is about luck, but controlling our money when we gamble is a skill. Its all about whether you want to place the bet or not. But then again, always think of the consequences when you put that bet on the table of life.

What do you think? Is life symbolized by a game of cards and dice?

Signing off,

LMX

Volleyball history

Yes, it has been made. Today, on the 11st of February 2010, The Hwa Chong C division volleyball team beat Bukit Panjang Government High School in a fierce battle, in the finals of the West Zone Volleyball competition.

HUH?

Let me elaborate. Well, as some of you would have already read, perhaps by chance, Dr Hon had already posted in another EMB message regarding the facilities of CCAs and their sufficiency. in his message, he stated that volleyball was not performing well. I guess we proved him wrong today.

On this day, our team fought a good battle against Bukit Panjang Government High School, and after a tiring struggle, we managed to emerge champions in the West Zone competition. This is rather significant, as the last time a The Hwa Chong C division volleyball team clinched this title was more than 10 years ago! So I say, We've made history! :D

Therefore, I wish to thank everybody who wished the best for us for this competition. Of course, I always do have an ulterior motive for writing posts too. I also hope that maybe Dr Hon would consider giving us the JC hall for training uses, Instead of the open Basketball Courts, which are hot and sunny during the afternoon, which is, by the way, the cause of my tan, and the queer reason why everybody is calling me a 'nigger' :) This is as we will have to host the West Zone volleyball competitions next year, being Champions of the zone. (mwahahahahaha!) :D

Yours Sincerely,

Lim Mingxia

Proud Libero of HCVB C Division Team

2O1, Our class bond......

Recently, many students have broken into heated discussions over the class spirit of our class, 2o1. Yes, it is the sad truth. Our class is a broken up class with weak bonds, and I find it really sad. These are my thoughts:

What I believe would be great would be that 2O1 would become a clique in itself. not that everybody would be friends with each other, but at least its 28 friends and 6 other stubborn people who want splendid isolation, and the class is not split into cube-sized pieces of 4,6,3,5,2,3,2 e.t.c Therefore, I believe that a common topic of discussion would really bond us together. An example would be how mousehunt has bonded some classes together, but that would be really pathetic, seeing as mousehunt is a silly facebook application. (this is just an example)

Well, maybe the Welfare Secretary could organize some class outings together, which definitely would increase class spirit, as having fun with a group of friends usually increases bonding right? You do notice that throughout the whole of last year, we never had a single class fun outing together apart from school excursions. Having fun or striving to reach a common goal as one team or class definitely bonds people no matter the personalities people have. I parallel this to my volleyball team, as although we have different personalities, we are still bonded, having faced many challenges together. As to what activities, maybe Minghao could brief you guys more?......

Well, what i want is to be just like in a neighborhood, where people may not actually be BFF's or whatever, but still, they open up their doors to people of different natures, customs and personalities. That is my ideal visuallisation of a bonded class, as it is true that not all people can socialise with others extremely well.

Thus, I appeal to all of you: Anybody has any suggestions to improve our dying class spirit? Please share your ideals for our class or suggestions if you have any.

Yours Sincerely,

Lim MX

sad, sad monitor of a broken class. :(

Mousehunt and the rest of it.

It has been raging on like a mad disease for 1 and a half years already, but when will it stop? Yes, Mousehunt is a "game" (it does not deserve the title of a game) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game) on Facebook that has been "hogging" the conversation topic of many young and gullible teenagers who have too much time on their hands. On a rough estimate, o would suggest that around 80% of teenagers aged 13-14 have this application on their facebook, and 40% of those who play it are more or less addicted. Let me explain this game in detail.

Mousehunt is a game in which one clicks on a button, which entitles one to "catch a mouse" The effects of the button may result in you either catching a mouse, getting your cheese stolen by a mouse, getting pillaged AND cheese stolen by a mouse, or not attracting any mouse, with a chance of your cheese, which is used as bait for your trap, going stale. There are many mechanics of this application, though. The user must constantly upgrade his trap, by earning a certain amount of gold(the ingame currency) or catching a certain mouse to get parts to build a trap. Gold can be earned by catching a mouse, and allows you to buy a trap, which allows you to catch even better mice, which allows you to buy even better traps. Thus you see the vicious cycle of the developer's strategy to get users hooked onto the application. This has led to many addiction cases among users of the application.

Take our class as a solid example. Many people in our class play mousehunt, and there ARE some hardcore addicts in our class, believe it or not. These people almost refuse to go for their classes until the next fifteen minutes (the time taken before you entitled to catch a mouse), which results in them getting scolded or punished, because they are late for a certain period, which is not in class. BUT THEY STILL NEVER RELENT. Now you know why I am constantly late for every class in school, having to close the door before going for any class which is not in the classroom. Its tough being monitor.

And even if the lesson is in class, it means a greater amount of "horn sounds" for these addicts, with their laptops perpetually on in class, not willing to lose a single click of that button. Sometimes, I really wonder if the director of consortium was right in saying that we are trusted with our computers and are fit to be in this Future School program. This only applies to some people though.

Some people are even willing to give out their Facebook accounts to others to "help them sound the horn". This is the most foolish thing you can do with your Facebook. These people are so hopelessly addicted that they are willing to give out all their Facebook gossip and whatsoever for that Application and risk getting hacked and others using their accounts to post messages that ridicule themselves. BUT DO THEY ACTUALLY CARE? I think not, for they have already long seen Facebook as Mousehunt, Mousehunt as Facebook, and to them, facebook is the only way that they can access the application. How sad.

Do these people realise that this silly application is ruining their grades? Some people just "camp" at their computers waiting and counting every second to the next click of the horn shaped button. They claim that they are doing work, but are they? I would think not.

Well, I guess that the root of this addiction is the competitive nature of the game, for there are "ranks' or levels in the game that one must click enough of that stupid button to achieve, and there are some mice that are somewhat rarer than others. But I ask this: So what if you are a Baron or Knight in the game? so what if you have caught that Mobster mouse in the game. What does that give you? A sense of satisfaction? Bragging rights? And what after that? Is it worth trading your grades, money(for you can buy special items in the game with cash) and time all for this stupid game and for that sick sense of satisfaction? Weigh the values of these things and answer yourself.

I as a user myself, used to be in this state of addiction too (though i did not spend any money on it). I understand how it feels like, being "superior" to others in the game and laughing at people who were a much lower rank than me. But I am no hypocrite. I have changed since then and am contemplating to quit the game, now that i have thought it though and weighed the consequences. I have watched many a person's grades fall all because of this application and i do not wish to see more.

When will people finally understand that Mousehunt is a random event generator and not a game?

When will people finally come to their senses and spread this message?

When will people finally realise that what they are doing is a foolish and selfish act to themselves and their grades?

When will people finally realise that clicking that flash animated button is not doing them any good?

When will people finally realise that Mousehunt is just easy money for the developers?

I await with anticipation the day that the students from class 2O1 will not hold me back any longer to check their page or "sound their horn" (which ironically produces no sound).

Yours Sincerely,

Lim MX

The sad, sad monitor of a mousehunt infected class

Council Investiture 2010

Council Investiture, An annual event in which Hwa Chong Invites student leaders from all over the country into our air-conditioned auditorium to "marvel" at the councillors of our school being invested as councillors. In other words, it is a significant.............ly pointless event for councillors of other schools.

Why do I say so? I have my reasons. Think carefully:

1) Why would other schools want to go to our school just to watch us student councillors stand on stage in a formation in our nice council uniforms and the Exco getting badge by the Director of consortiums, which are, to them, but teachers that they do not even know?

2) Why would students from other schools want to know who the Executive committee of the respective consortium councils are? Do they even recognise them in the first place?

3) Why would other students want to watch a photo montage of people whom they do not even know?

4) And why would other schools want a school tour of our school? What do we want to achieve by doing school tours? Or are we just "following tradition"?

These are some of the questions I had when I was having my Investiture this Afternoon.

We have a purpose for everything we do. We do the Investiture practically because we want other consortium councils to recognise the Excos and members of other consortium councils. We watch in pride as our fellow schoolmates stand on the stage in front of us and our Executive committees getting badged by respectable people we know, the directors of consortiums respectively. We film a photo montage to remind us of the fun times we had in council for the previous year. And we do our school tours because we have pride in our campus's facilities and landmarks.

But I ask myself then: Why invite other schools to our Council investiture? Sure, they may be here to grace the event, but School tours?

Follow, comment or drop dead.

Yours Sincerely,

Lim MX