Why racial profiling doesn't work
Terrorist attacks have been carried out by people of all ethnicities. What police need to look for is strange behavior, not dark skin.
By anyone's standard, Anne-Marie Murphy didn't look like a terrorist threat. In 1986, Murphy was a 32-year-old hotel chambermaid from Dublin, Ireland, who was six months pregnant and on her way to marry her fiancé in Israel. Authorities discovered a bomb in her carry-on bag as she boarded a plane in London on her way to Tel Aviv.
Kozo Okamoto didn't fit the profile of a terrorist, either. In 1972, he and two other Japanese passengers had just arrived in Tel Aviv on a flight from Puerto Rico when they retrieved guns from their checked bags and opened fire in the arrival terminal at Ben Gurion International Airport, killing more than two dozen people and injuring nearly 80.
Nor did Patrick Arguello seem like a state enemy in 1970 before he tried to hijack an Israeli El Al plane flying from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to New York. Arguello, who was killed by Israeli sky marshals as he tried to carry out his attempt, was a Nicaraguan who had attended high school in Los Angeles.
Enemies, Israel has learned, don't always look like the known enemy. Terrorists, both willing and unwilling (such as Murphy, who was unwittingly used by her Palestinian fiancé as a carrier for his bomb), come in many guises, including color, ethnicity and gender.
Which is why racial profiling (in which authorities target people of certain races or ethnicities) has never worked very well in any environment, including Israel.
That racial profiling can be a tricky tactic is something Americans should understand by observing the diversity of some of the terrorists who have operated on domestic soil or against Americans -- Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City bomber), Eric Rudolph (the abortion clinic bomber), Richard Reid (the ponytailed British-Jamaican who tried to bring down an American Airlines jet with his shoe) and the Arab hijackers who crashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers.
Yet last month, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a program to randomly search New York subway passengers after the London tube bombings, two city politicians called for racial profiling instead. They insisted that the enemy's face is an easy one to spot and that authorities shouldn't waste time randomly searching, say, Norwegian grandmothers when the real threat comes from Middle Eastern and Asian men.
New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat, plans to introduce a bill that would roll back anti-racial-profiling legislation and allow police to stop whomever they want to stop in their efforts to prevent terrorism. Councilman James Oddo, a Staten Island Republican, promises to introduce a similar resolution in the City Council.
"I thought [Hikind] was courageous to say publicly what many New Yorkers felt privately," Oddo tells Salon.
Although Bloomberg denounced the proposals immediately, Oddo says he got e-mails from more than 80 people outside New York who expressed overwhelming support for his proposal. They included a military major serving in Iraq and the relative of a victim killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. But many Manhattanites called him un-American and racist. And Oddo's fellow council members vowed to introduce their own resolution to express support for current laws that prohibit profiling based on race, ethnicity or religion.
Oddo, who voted for the anti-racial-profiling laws, says that he and Hikind aren't calling for racial profiling, a loaded term that conjures up disturbing images. They simply don't want police to fear that if they stop "an inordinate number of people who look a particular way," someone will accuse them of violating the individuals' rights.
"Racial profiling is when you stop people because they look a certain way, without cause, and you're trolling to find trouble," Oddo says. "We never said, 'Stop only Arab [or] Muslim men, and don't stop whites.' We just said, 'If you're going to engage in these searches, do it in a manner that's more efficient and more effective."
Being more effective, he explains, means recognizing that the bombings of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the USS Cole in Yemen, and the World Trade Center in New York all had something in common. "The common denominator is that every jihadi who is engaged in international terrorism has been a young fundamentalist," Oddo says. "We shouldn't try to couch that reality in some politically correct terms."
Some people do consider racial profiling unethical, but there are plenty of other reasons to reject racial profiling, even aside from its violation of equal protection rights.
David Harris, professor of law and values at the University of Toledo College of Law in Ohio, says that focusing on specific ethnic groups alienates the very people authorities need to help them catch terrorists. "By the time the threat is at the subway or airport, we're down to the last line of defense," Harris says. "You really want to catch these people before they go to the subway."
That can be accomplished only by gathering information from people who live in the communities where sleeper cells reside and can tell authorities who's new in a neighborhood and who seems to have income without holding a job.
But the most important reason to oppose racial profiling, says Harris, the author of "Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work," is that, as the title of his book suggests, it simply doesn't work.
Harris says that when police use race or ethnic appearance as a factor in law enforcement, their accuracy in catching criminals decreases. Even worse, it can lead to accidental deaths, such as the fatal shooting by London police of an innocent Brazilian man after the bombings there.
Harris points to a study of New York's "stop and frisk" campaign in the late 1990s, when police were stopping people in the streets on a regular basis in an effort to confiscate illegal weapons and reduce crime. The campaign created tension between the police and minority communities, who thought they were being unfairly targeted for frisks. It turned out they were right.
After Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, was killed during a stop, New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer ordered a study of 175,000 "stop and frisk" records and found that although African-Americans composed only 25 percent of New York City's population at the time, they made up 50 percent of the people who were stopped. Latinos were roughly 23 percent of the population and 33 percent of those stopped, while whites were 43 percent of the population and 13 percent of those stopped.
Those findings interested Harris less than what the statistics indicated about the results: Police were going to a lot of trouble for little reward, especially when the people they stopped were African-Americans.
Harris looked at what he called "hit rates" -- the percentage of stops in which the police found drugs, a gun or something else that led to an arrest -- and noted that the number of hits in general was very low for the number of stops that police made. But more interesting was that the rate for African-Americans was much lower than the rate for Caucasians. Police had a hit rate of 12.6 percent when they stopped Caucasians and only 10.5 percent when they stopped African-Americans. The hit rate for Latinos was 11.5 percent.
"You might say that we have a difference of 2.1 percent between blacks and whites. But it's actually a difference of 20 percent when you do the math right," Harris says. And "the difference between whites and Latinos is about 10 percent."
Essentially, police were stopping more African-Americans than Caucasians but finding fewer criminals among the former. Why? Not because blacks commit proportionately fewer crimes than whites do (the data vary according to the type of crime and other factors) but because police were looking at the wrong factors when they stopped people, Harris says.
"They're focusing on appearance when they should be focusing on behavior," he says. "When they're not distracted by race, they're actually doing a more accurate job" of picking out the right people.
Focusing on appearance produces a lot of false positives. And "every time you introduce a false positive, you take resources away from your ability to focus on people who are really of interest -- those who are behaving suspiciously," Harris says. "If it's a question of finding a needle in a haystack ... don't put more hay on the top."
What does work in preventing terrorism, Harris says, is behavior profiling. "If you're going to catch people who mean to put bombs on your subway trains or in airplanes, you don't actually care [if they're] young Muslim men ... You care about [keeping] anyone from boarding the airplane who is going to behave like a terrorist."
Yuval Bezherano agrees. Bezherano is the executive vice president of New Age Security Solutions, a company that teaches people how to identify behaviors that indicate a person is concealing something and could be a security risk. The technique is called behavior pattern recognition and is modeled after methods used in Israel. NASS's president, Rafi Ron, is a former security chief at Ben Gurion Airport. The company has trained authorities at Boston's Logan International Airport as well as personnel at the Statue of Liberty. Recently the company trained about 100 employees of New York's subway and bus system.
The signs to watch for can be as obvious as someone acting nervous and sweating profusely on a cold day or as subtle as someone walking awkwardly in a way that indicates the person could be wearing a belt of explosives.
"It's always the unusual, the thing that doesn't fit," Bezherano says. "If you know your environment and what is usual for the environment, you know what to look for."
Depending on the situation, the next step might be to engage the person in a targeted conversation to determine whether he or she should be elevated to a higher level of risk or cleared from consideration.
It was this kind of screening that caught Anne-Marie Murphy, who initially raised interest among El Al's security staff because she was a pregnant woman traveling a long distance alone, something that Bezherano says is unusual behavior. She'd already cleared three security checkpoints at London's Heathrow Airport before an El Al "profiler" asked her where she'd be staying in Israel. Murphy's fiancé had warned her not to tell authorities about him because they would interrogate her if they knew she had an Arab boyfriend, so she told the profiler she'd be staying at the Hilton Hotel in Bethlehem. The profiler knew there were only two Hiltons and that neither was in Bethlehem. When authorities searched Murphy's bag, they discovered several pounds of plastic explosives concealed in a false bottom and a microchip detonator hidden in a pocket calculator.
Behavior profiling is much more effective than racial profiling, Bezherano says, because it's not unusual for terrorist groups to outsource their operations to individuals or groups who don't fit the expected racial or ethnic profile.
Patrick Arguello was a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front when he posed as the husband of a woman who was an operative for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to help her hijack the El Al plane.
Kozo Okamoto was a member of the Japanese Red Army, which attacked Ben Gurion Airport; the group shared the Marxist ideologies of the PFLP.
Bezherano says there's no reason to believe that al-Qaida won't, or doesn't, farm out some of its tasks to other groups. "The philosophy of terrorist organizations is that the enemy of your enemy is your friend," Bezherano says. "Even though al-Qaida is very extreme, [its members] will collaborate with others as long it as it serves their cause."
If those working to prevent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil engage in racial or ethnic profiling, they're merely playing into terrorists' hands -- and are likely to miss some of the enemies right in front of their eyes.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Obama Destined to Be a Footnote in Presidential History
Barack Obama has set a course that will leave his legacy as no more than a footnote in American presidential history. For all of the bluster and glory, for all of the pomp and circumstance, and yes, for all of the anticipated hope and the promised change, the whirlwind of hype and expectation surrounding the president a mere two years earlier has virtually dissolved.
He was the man destined to save this country from his predecessor's failures. He was the man who would end the war in Iraq, finish the war in Afghanistan, and shut down the prison at Guantánamo Bay. He was the man charged with rescuing the faltering American economy. He was the man who would usher in a post-racial era in an allegedly inherently racist American society. And he was the man who had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize based not on tangible accomplishment, but simply upon these very expectations.
On all of these accounts, President Obama has been a striking failure.
He has not saved this country from the Bush-era failures; rather, he has done the impossible in making Americans pine for the days that Bush was in office, with Obama's job approval rating recently falling below that of the former president.
Obama did not end the war in Iraq; he merely claimed credit for a deal negotiated under the Bush administration. The Status of Forces Agreement, signed by U.S. and Iraqi officials on November 16, 2008, already laid the groundwork for an end to combat missions in Iraq.
He has not brought an end to the war in Afghanistan, instead emulating a military strategy that was a basis for success in Iraq, the surge. What was once heavily criticized by President Obama as a failed strategy has since been hailed as a path to victory in a war that recently sparked Bush-like protests from the antiwar crowd.
Obama has failed to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, an alleged symbol of American tyranny and torture, and a top priority of Obama during his campaign. Shortly after his inauguration, executive orders were issued for the closure of the prison within a year. The thinking was that such a facility was not "consistent with our values and our ideals." Gitmo remains open nearly two years later, an apparent admission that the president is not consistent with his own values and ideals.
He has failed in every manner to resuscitate the stumbling economy. The unemployment rate has continued its upward trend under Obama, going from 7.7% in January of 2009 to the current rate of 9.8%. Meanwhile, attempts to convince the American people of the success of the stimulus bill were manufactured in deceitful ways despite clear signs of turbulence in the economy. Personal incomes continue to trend downward, as does private-sector job creation, and the national deficit is projected to balloon to a staggering $1.5 trillion in 2011.
Obama's election has been anything but post-racial, with heightened racial rhetoric and actions coming from the administration itself. Setbacks for the post-racial presidency include the firing and subsequent apology to a black official, Shirley Sherrod, at the Agriculture Department; the president himself, without knowing the facts of the case, labeling police as having "acted stupidly" following the arrest of a black Harvard professor; and the Justice Department's dismissal of voter intimidation charges against members of the New Black Panther Party during the 2008 elections.
Worse, Obama has been governing by putting policy over process, inviting unprecedented backroom deals for health care reform...and now, apparently, tax compromise solutions.
With both sides of the aisle enraged by the process, the recent tax compromise is simply the nail in the coffin. Obama himself once declared that "[a] good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it." Complaints from both sides of the aisle indeed indicate that everyone recognizes this -- as a bad compromise.
And unlike former President Bill Clinton's shift to the center during his tenure, Obama's backroom successes and polarizing failures will only result in a perpetual downturn in his approval rating. His recent ceding of the podium to Clinton seems to indicate an acceptance of this fate.
The president has gone from being "a big f'n deal" to eliciting utter contempt and disrespect for the highest office in the land. His liberal colleagues angrily mutter, "F the president."
Like a good compromise, a good president, too, is something that everybody can recognize. Years from now, recognition of Obama as a transcendent president will long be forgotten, and the era of the man who was to save America will be nothing more than a footnote in history.
He was the man destined to save this country from his predecessor's failures. He was the man who would end the war in Iraq, finish the war in Afghanistan, and shut down the prison at Guantánamo Bay. He was the man charged with rescuing the faltering American economy. He was the man who would usher in a post-racial era in an allegedly inherently racist American society. And he was the man who had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize based not on tangible accomplishment, but simply upon these very expectations.
On all of these accounts, President Obama has been a striking failure.
He has not saved this country from the Bush-era failures; rather, he has done the impossible in making Americans pine for the days that Bush was in office, with Obama's job approval rating recently falling below that of the former president.
Obama did not end the war in Iraq; he merely claimed credit for a deal negotiated under the Bush administration. The Status of Forces Agreement, signed by U.S. and Iraqi officials on November 16, 2008, already laid the groundwork for an end to combat missions in Iraq.
He has not brought an end to the war in Afghanistan, instead emulating a military strategy that was a basis for success in Iraq, the surge. What was once heavily criticized by President Obama as a failed strategy has since been hailed as a path to victory in a war that recently sparked Bush-like protests from the antiwar crowd.
Obama has failed to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, an alleged symbol of American tyranny and torture, and a top priority of Obama during his campaign. Shortly after his inauguration, executive orders were issued for the closure of the prison within a year. The thinking was that such a facility was not "consistent with our values and our ideals." Gitmo remains open nearly two years later, an apparent admission that the president is not consistent with his own values and ideals.
He has failed in every manner to resuscitate the stumbling economy. The unemployment rate has continued its upward trend under Obama, going from 7.7% in January of 2009 to the current rate of 9.8%. Meanwhile, attempts to convince the American people of the success of the stimulus bill were manufactured in deceitful ways despite clear signs of turbulence in the economy. Personal incomes continue to trend downward, as does private-sector job creation, and the national deficit is projected to balloon to a staggering $1.5 trillion in 2011.
Obama's election has been anything but post-racial, with heightened racial rhetoric and actions coming from the administration itself. Setbacks for the post-racial presidency include the firing and subsequent apology to a black official, Shirley Sherrod, at the Agriculture Department; the president himself, without knowing the facts of the case, labeling police as having "acted stupidly" following the arrest of a black Harvard professor; and the Justice Department's dismissal of voter intimidation charges against members of the New Black Panther Party during the 2008 elections.
Worse, Obama has been governing by putting policy over process, inviting unprecedented backroom deals for health care reform...and now, apparently, tax compromise solutions.
With both sides of the aisle enraged by the process, the recent tax compromise is simply the nail in the coffin. Obama himself once declared that "[a] good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it." Complaints from both sides of the aisle indeed indicate that everyone recognizes this -- as a bad compromise.
And unlike former President Bill Clinton's shift to the center during his tenure, Obama's backroom successes and polarizing failures will only result in a perpetual downturn in his approval rating. His recent ceding of the podium to Clinton seems to indicate an acceptance of this fate.
The president has gone from being "a big f'n deal" to eliciting utter contempt and disrespect for the highest office in the land. His liberal colleagues angrily mutter, "F the president."
Like a good compromise, a good president, too, is something that everybody can recognize. Years from now, recognition of Obama as a transcendent president will long be forgotten, and the era of the man who was to save America will be nothing more than a footnote in history.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
good men die young
What is good and what is bad? Everything is a concoction of the mind. A thing may be good for you but poison for another.
People make categorical classifications to make sense of raw data. It is a common thing in every day life.
Did you take into account the "bad" people that die young? The "good" people that live full lives until they die of old age? I'd bet if you average mortality rates of so called good people dying young with overall mortality rates, there would be no statistical significance. And even if there were some, it wouldn't be enough to form a causal relationship with "goodness" and "young" age mortality.
People make categorical classifications to make sense of raw data. It is a common thing in every day life.
Did you take into account the "bad" people that die young? The "good" people that live full lives until they die of old age? I'd bet if you average mortality rates of so called good people dying young with overall mortality rates, there would be no statistical significance. And even if there were some, it wouldn't be enough to form a causal relationship with "goodness" and "young" age mortality.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
change?
actions speak louder than words.
All i ever do is type an endless infinite number of words, telling my story over and over again, never acting up on what i say. I'm caught in a never ending vicious cycle of self pity and false pretentious emotions.
All i ever do is type an endless infinite number of words, telling my story over and over again, never acting up on what i say. I'm caught in a never ending vicious cycle of self pity and false pretentious emotions.
im running out of time.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081215104957AAVDQ7J
going through the same thing as this guy.
going through the same thing as this guy.
self pity
i tried really hard to control it, but i failed.
i had to let it go.
i had to.
and now i'm crying.
i had to let it go.
i had to.
and now i'm crying.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
i'm pulling the world's greatest heist tomorrow
it's been years in the making, really. i had to attend classes to become a makeup artist
i've spent a long time training in gymnastics
i've loosened security around the target with some phishing and social hacking
needed to fund all the resources i require
had to perfect the plan, obviously, i've put a good 1000 hours of research into this
i think i've planned for every scenario
but if i don't come back alive
it was nice knowing you guys
i've spent a long time training in gymnastics
i've loosened security around the target with some phishing and social hacking
needed to fund all the resources i require
had to perfect the plan, obviously, i've put a good 1000 hours of research into this
i think i've planned for every scenario
but if i don't come back alive
it was nice knowing you guys
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Somehow I feel like I'm immune to the effects of Marijuana, I just simply can't get high at all or feel the slightest bit of change in my body that was supposedly elevating and out of this world. I just cough a shit load and my lungs feel like they're deflated. Hurts alot especially around the abdomen and hip region. I definitely am not doing right or this weed is just fucking shitty. Fuck me! 50 cents a blunt here and it's 50 bucks back in Sing.
Things are getting even more awkward and wrong with each day I spend here. I haven't been going out much in fact I spent a large portion of my time indoors away from people or any social interaction with strangers, neighbors and my mums visitors. I barely show my face out in public and only go out at night to try and ease the boredom. Under the moonlight and bad lighting I'd wear dark clothes and try not to stand out or attract any attention which takes a lot of effort. Lol mission impossible with my size, skin tone and especially the long nose and glasses! Speaking of glasses it's quite impossible to find someone sporting glasses. Well anyway as I feel like a caterpillar, yet to become a majestic butterfly still a work in progress as I go through emotional and physical changes to better myself and come out a better, confident and more charming individual. However it's taking a toll on my relationship with my mums friends. They are wealthy individuals with a lot of social connections which makes it vital that I portray a healthy image and be responsible. Up to this point they've started to think of me As someone who is quiet stays indoors obsessed with playing world of Warcraft, spends obsessive amounts of time on the internet. That i am not interested in women, going out having fun or anything of that sort. In short they think I'm uncool. Well actually most of this judgements come from a particular friend of my mum, I've heard her say in Tagalog the first time that i was " Hindi sya mahilig sa babae, sa computer sya " translate to hes Not really interested in females but on computers. The second time was at the wake-boarding centre, my brother went wake-boarding but I didn't I had my reasons because I didn't brought any extra clothes. I was prepared. I didn't want to get wet but mostly because I was embarrassed and was afraid to reveal the tubs of lard hidden beneath 2 layers of cotton, especially with all the hot women clad in 2 piece swimsuits. While my brother was busy enjoying the man made lagoon and getting wet, there I was sitting with my mums female friends under a shelter and using my iPhone at the wifi hot spot to check Facebook. "Oh how typical of Sahdique huh? There he goes with his gadgets and Internet obsession, we drove him for 4 hours to enjoy himself and here he is using the Internet, time well spent huh?! " so when someone asked why I didnt join my brother in Tagalog she said " Hindi sya mahilig sa mga gabyan sa computer sya" ( hes Not interested in things like this he's more interested in computers ) I had my head down the whole time looking at my iPhone so upon hearing this I felt a rush of blood flow through my veins and it sparked a bit of an anger but I controlled and simply looked up for a while at her and looked back down, I think she felt I understood her and my outrage so she asked me If I understood what she said, told her yes that I understand whatever she said and at that point I think she felt guilty and tried to change the topic but I told her the reason why I'm not doing any of the activities here or going out often was because i was waiting for my friends. God I felt so fucking stupid after saying that, could've used some damage control right there. I don't know why she was being so judgmental but I guess I only have myself to blame, I guessed I acted the wrong way and made myself look like a total sperglord especially when all my conversations with them were mostly pertaining to politics, environmental policies and monetary issues. Perhaps It wouldve been better if I left out the intellectual conversations and play stupid for a bit. They're in their 30s and I'm in my teens what do you expect me to talk to them about? " hey you know where I can get some good weed and hot chicks here? " lol! I'm so fucking horrible at conversations I tell you this is a result of spending my whole teenage years cooped up at home with the Internet As my only means of interacting with the outside world, I'm simply still not comfortable with interacting with strangers no matter how much I might want to, why am I so fucking insecure? Especially around hot girls, I have no problem making small talks with fugly fat short girls but I can't do the same to someone of the same intellectual capacity and a much better physique than mine. Damn it I wasted my chance with that girl I met at the airport, oh wait that's another story I'll leave for later. God help me. God give me courage to overcome my insecurities. God guide me and show me how to change.
God says: lose weight you fucking fat piece of shit.
Dick says: ):
God says: lose weight you fucking fat piece of shit.
Dick says: ):
Friday, December 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Finished, Don't panic
Don't panic. As the DShK Mortars and the RPG's whistle over and around you. Don't panic. As the bullets start whizzing, deadly and invisible above your head. Don't panic. As your squad runs out of ammo thirty minutes into what would turn out to be a three hour firefight. Don't panic. When your AG gets hit with a DShK round in the bicep and torso and people around you take shrapnel. The only time you're allowed to shit your pants is in a mounted firefight because you have dysentery from the food you had to eat while on sphere of influence missions. People back home often ask, "What was your most intense combat experience?", "Do you support Bush's "war of terror"?", "What are you fighting for?" My answers in order are, "All of them", "Dont care", "My Enlisted Termination of Service (/ETS) Date".
General Petraeus himself recently ordered all gear to be taken off during sphere of influence missions; he wants us to show them we aren't afraid so they shouldn't be. Personally I don't have a problem with the hearts and minds mission objective, but putting my heart and mind at risk to 7.62 rounds puts me on edge. Fuck that, I once took a bullet to my chest with my gear on. I didn't panic, but it's never happening in a million years with it off. People here say we wouldn't have to wear the shit if the hostiles weren't retarded cave people. Thing is, Afghanistan isn't even a shitty country, the locals are some of the most moral and loyal people I've ever met. If you "prove yourself" to them they will literally die for you, the local elder walks with us on presence patrols with the children because he's confident we can protect them. That's like mad respect in Afghan terms.
8 more motherfucking days, drunk for the fifth night in a row. 8 more motherfucking days till I don my gear and shoulder my rifle, humping out on patrol for the umpteenth time, the same damn dubstep mix pumping the same damn beats from my iPod. The shit never gets old. I meant dubstep, not the patrols. I know what you've heard about how no two patrols are ever the same. Truth is there are only two types of patrol. Good patrols and bad patrols. You relate a bad patrol to someone who's been there though, and their eyes would glaze over for just a second as they relived their private nightmares, and they'd say simply "Shit happens bro".
We all have our personal hells, our stained and decrepit emotional basements. Places in our heart that we can't let go of, right up there with treasured memories of our first kiss and best fucks. Shit that keeps us up at night. After extended time spent on the front, you begin to develop a reverence for these things. They stick to you, and you hold them close. Heck, before long if you aren't careful, they grow to define your very soul. They say that through the act of telling, you can set the memories to rest, that you can chase the ghosts away. I don't believe it. Some shit never leaves you, some shit just earns the right to stay.
The night before we went out Kyle my AG took part in a chess tournament held by our CO to keep the men entertained and boost morale. The flyer for the miniature event went something like "Put your battlefield strategies to the test and win a GREAT REWARD." Kyle never knew what the reward was when he signed up for it, just that it would be great. He was determined to win it from the get go, and he was beaming during the prize presentation. It didn't matter that it was just some poorly gift wrapped standard issue MRE rations made to look like a hamper together with a print-out certificate signed by the CO. Kyle was ecstatic and I'll never forget that look of pure joy on his face that night. That's how I choose to remember him. That is how he lives on.
Every. Fucking. Moment. Could. Be. Your. Last. When I think about Afghanistan, I'm reminded of death. There is no space for pretention. Do not kid yourself. Death is certain, and death is coming. The giant, abrupt full stop when you had instead been expecting a comma. If you live expecting the full stop, you make every single word count. Death is beautiful because it forces us all to be fully and lucidly honest with ourselves. Most people do not have this privilege. Many of us go through life as if it were a long, run on, never-ending sentence, punctuated excessively with commas, very much like this one, with complete and utter disregard for the eventual certainty of the full stop.
In Afghanistan, death gave us all a brand spanking new take on perspective. When I think of perspective, I'm reminded of Drill Sergeant Matthews. Drill Sergeant Matthews carved into our heads the creed that we were going to be Fighting the Good Fight. I remember too his impeccably charming introduction on our first day of boot camp. Standing in single file in front of our bunk mirrors, we were told to look at ourselves down the wrong end of our binoculars. Those tiny, minuscule excuses for recruits, we were told, was us until the day that we earned our stripes. Till then, we were sorry little shit stains on the pride of the US Army.
Years later in Afghanistan, while clearing an area of the corpses of children killed by a homemade explosive intended for us, I realised the irony. In our tiny little heads, from our narrow limited personal perspectives, whether, Afghan or American, Insurgent or Marine, we all think we are fighting the good fight. The sad and ironic truth is, the majority of conflicts that exist between any of us can be summarised in the same way Drill Sergeant Matthews cut us all down to size; by looking down the wrong end of our binoculars.
When Kyle, my AG was taken apart by the mortar round that killed him while starring at life down the wrong end of his binoculars, he wasn't smiling. But in my head, he always will be. We all choose to look at life in different ways. I guess it helps us to move on.
The day Kyle died we were setting up a support position for our main unit. We hadn't been expecting hostile contact but being fingered for support we came loaded for bear. We were carrying three times our usual ammo, but when we got ambushed we were hit so hard that we were dry within thirty minutes. For the next two and half hours we hunkered down where we were and prayed. None of us panicked.
Just before he got blown apart, in his last moments, I remember Kyle telling me what a downright waste of a fine day it was. He'd looked up at the bright blue sky, the fluffy white marshmallow clouds. And then the mortar had hit. And Kyle was no more. And then it rained on the march back.
None of us see death coming, and life is never as predictable as a sentence on the page of a book. To this day, I try not to ask myself why it was Kyle instead of me that had to go. But I guess all I'm trying to say is, it doesn't matter where you are, or which side of the fence you're on. Heck it doesn't even matter what your conception of "The Good Fight" is. In the presence of death you suddenly realise how precious life is. I guess that it's only in the gravity of death that we can give weight to life. 8 more motherfucking days and life is precious and I wonder if General Petraeus and the people on top know this. Life is precious, and it's about time we all flipped our binoculars around and truly realised it.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
So i found it interesting how when I finally did manage to access facebok and the internet via a friend's laptop I was prompted to identify and verify my identity to ensure i was the owner of the account, I was taken through a few steps.
Firstly of course i had to do a image verification code, which i did with ease.
Ok now for the interesting part, the 2nd part i had 2 options to either enter a code which will be messaged to my phone or to identify my friends via their photos on facebook.
Here's the list.
1st, Andrew Yeo
2nd, Eric Jr Tan
3rd, Tariful Islam
4th, Cathy Maggots ( Esther ) <- at this point i couldn't help but lol at this secretly in my head, i don't really know how they choose these friends but looking at the trend, i figured it could probably be related to the amount of interaction you have with that person on facebook, profile views, messages, posts, pictures tagged etc. So to see Esther there is kind of a big surprise to me, since I haven't posted any messages on her wall for a good 5 months or so and neither have i sent her any messages of that sort on facebook, totally 0 intera ction with her aside from the oh so few* times i look at her profile to check on whatever updates she has.
5th, Dian
So yeah, this is probably the only interesting piece of information I have to share about today.
I'm extremely tired and the contacts are stinging my eyes. I want to get home and get some sleep but i'm at a friend's house using their internet and checking on what's happening.fac
Firstly of course i had to do a image verification code, which i did with ease.
Ok now for the interesting part, the 2nd part i had 2 options to either enter a code which will be messaged to my phone or to identify my friends via their photos on facebook.
Here's the list.
1st, Andrew Yeo
2nd, Eric Jr Tan
3rd, Tariful Islam
4th, Cathy Maggots ( Esther ) <- at this point i couldn't help but lol at this secretly in my head, i don't really know how they choose these friends but looking at the trend, i figured it could probably be related to the amount of interaction you have with that person on facebook, profile views, messages, posts, pictures tagged etc. So to see Esther there is kind of a big surprise to me, since I haven't posted any messages on her wall for a good 5 months or so and neither have i sent her any messages of that sort on facebook, totally 0 intera ction with her aside from the oh so few* times i look at her profile to check on whatever updates she has.
5th, Dian
So yeah, this is probably the only interesting piece of information I have to share about today.
I'm extremely tired and the contacts are stinging my eyes. I want to get home and get some sleep but i'm at a friend's house using their internet and checking on what's happening.fac
ashamed
1st day of my holidays in the Philippines and so far I'm not enjoying myself at all. Couldn't get any sleep on the flight from Singapore to Manila i was constantly worried about being over luggage and kept imagining the endless possibilities of possible unfortunates that could happen.
Thankfully the over luggage problem did not really became a problem. I had McDonald's for breakfast, pancakes and sausages. Ate my first non halal food at ( beef sausage ), in front of my mum and my brother. With Hari Raya Haji around the corner (17th November) I really do deserve to die.
Trip back to my place from the Airport was long, I kept trying to find a comfortable position in the car to sleep. The journey felt endless and i kept waking up to check on where we are. Recalling back memories of familiar roads.
Oh i almost forgot i did bought myself a carton of lucky strike cigarettes and Marlboro Black Menthol. Spent $43 for those 2 packs, sort of felt like it was probably a bad idea to buy so much ciggs to smoke in just 2 months or maybe less.
No internet, No Internet.
Thankfully the over luggage problem did not really became a problem. I had McDonald's for breakfast, pancakes and sausages. Ate my first non halal food at ( beef sausage ), in front of my mum and my brother. With Hari Raya Haji around the corner (17th November) I really do deserve to die.
Trip back to my place from the Airport was long, I kept trying to find a comfortable position in the car to sleep. The journey felt endless and i kept waking up to check on where we are. Recalling back memories of familiar roads.
Oh i almost forgot i did bought myself a carton of lucky strike cigarettes and Marlboro Black Menthol. Spent $43 for those 2 packs, sort of felt like it was probably a bad idea to buy so much ciggs to smoke in just 2 months or maybe less.
No internet, No Internet.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The economic literacy of the average person is appalling. Try this experiment.
In fact this will probably even apply to most of you.
Go up to a random person, and ask them in two minutes (or a paragraph or two) or less to explain what caused the financial crisis to the best of their abilities. Keep in mind the Financial Crisis is probably the single most important event to occur in our generation along with the collapse of the Soviet Union & 9/11.
The second test, which is even more depressing, is to ask someone exactly who the United States debt is (primarily) owed to and when will they have to pay it back. People literally believe the States owe money to China like your deadbeat gambling addicted father owes money to Tony Soprano.
Me and one of my buddies were asking random people this on Friday night at a bar and it was just pathetic. A simple question:
What caused the Financial Crisis?
"It was the War in Iraq. The fucking Americans should have never gone there"
"George W. Bush and Dick Cheney needed to steal money from people to fund the war"
"The investment banker took everyone's money and kept it for themselves instead of investing it like they said they were doing"
There needs to be a serious movement to increase the knowledge and teaching of economics in public schools. People are so fucking stupid. You'd laugh at someone who didn't know what gravity was, or couldn't find Africa on a map, or didn't know the Earth rotated around the Sun, or couldn't do basic multiplication or who fought in WWII on which side... but ask someone why the Central Bank sets an interest rate and you might as well be asking them explain why string theory operates in 11-dimensional space.
Ok I'll do #1 as short as I can. Keep in mind it's not like I expect anyone to provide this comprehensive of an answer, the point is to just at least get a general idea that the person knows what's going on. You don't have to know astrophysics to understand that the Earth rotates around the sun.
So what caused the Financial Crisis?
Low interest rates prompted investors (individuals, pension funds, government funds, etc) from around the world to seek new avenues in which to invest their money. This demand for new sources led to the creation of CDOs, collateralized debt obligations, which is a pool created by investment banks backed by various amounts of debt: a bunch of debt is collected, divided up into tiny slices and investors can buy one of these slices (say someone owes you $500 at 8% interest, well me and my friends will buy that debt & immediately pay you the equivalent of $500 @ 2%... you immediately make a profit, and we all have 6% growth assured for the length of the loan).
Mortgage based CDOs became very successful so demand was very high as low interest rates made investors desperate for returns. Pensions funds & the like pressed investment banks for more CDOs -> investment banks pressed banks for more mortgages -> banks pressed mortgage firms for more mortgages. Naturally this leads to a loosening of lending standards (sub-prime mortgages), because the person selling the mortgage doesn't have to worry about actually collecting the debt. However, all the risk models everyone had on mortgages was based on past data when lending standards were rigorous, which led to credit agencies underestimating the risk of default on the mortgages and hence underestimating the risk of investing in the CDO (the models also failed to account for a fall in real estate prices).
Long story short, one day the house of cards instantly fell apart. People started defaulting on their mortgages & real estate prices stopped rising. People owned more on their houses than it was worth & stopped paying. More people defaulted. The value of the CDOs tanked. Investors didn't want them anymore and now all these firms; investment firms, banks & mortgage firms were stuck with these mortgages they had only acquired because they were expecting to sell them into a CDO. So all at once, investors lost tons of money, and ibanks & banks defaulted because they were stuck with these toxic mortgages they could no longer sell to someone else.
( sometime in the future i will need this ) tag. tag tag tag
Go up to a random person, and ask them in two minutes (or a paragraph or two) or less to explain what caused the financial crisis to the best of their abilities. Keep in mind the Financial Crisis is probably the single most important event to occur in our generation along with the collapse of the Soviet Union & 9/11.
The second test, which is even more depressing, is to ask someone exactly who the United States debt is (primarily) owed to and when will they have to pay it back. People literally believe the States owe money to China like your deadbeat gambling addicted father owes money to Tony Soprano.
Me and one of my buddies were asking random people this on Friday night at a bar and it was just pathetic. A simple question:
What caused the Financial Crisis?
"It was the War in Iraq. The fucking Americans should have never gone there"
"George W. Bush and Dick Cheney needed to steal money from people to fund the war"
"The investment banker took everyone's money and kept it for themselves instead of investing it like they said they were doing"
There needs to be a serious movement to increase the knowledge and teaching of economics in public schools. People are so fucking stupid. You'd laugh at someone who didn't know what gravity was, or couldn't find Africa on a map, or didn't know the Earth rotated around the Sun, or couldn't do basic multiplication or who fought in WWII on which side... but ask someone why the Central Bank sets an interest rate and you might as well be asking them explain why string theory operates in 11-dimensional space.
Ok I'll do #1 as short as I can. Keep in mind it's not like I expect anyone to provide this comprehensive of an answer, the point is to just at least get a general idea that the person knows what's going on. You don't have to know astrophysics to understand that the Earth rotates around the sun.
So what caused the Financial Crisis?
Low interest rates prompted investors (individuals, pension funds, government funds, etc) from around the world to seek new avenues in which to invest their money. This demand for new sources led to the creation of CDOs, collateralized debt obligations, which is a pool created by investment banks backed by various amounts of debt: a bunch of debt is collected, divided up into tiny slices and investors can buy one of these slices (say someone owes you $500 at 8% interest, well me and my friends will buy that debt & immediately pay you the equivalent of $500 @ 2%... you immediately make a profit, and we all have 6% growth assured for the length of the loan).
Mortgage based CDOs became very successful so demand was very high as low interest rates made investors desperate for returns. Pensions funds & the like pressed investment banks for more CDOs -> investment banks pressed banks for more mortgages -> banks pressed mortgage firms for more mortgages. Naturally this leads to a loosening of lending standards (sub-prime mortgages), because the person selling the mortgage doesn't have to worry about actually collecting the debt. However, all the risk models everyone had on mortgages was based on past data when lending standards were rigorous, which led to credit agencies underestimating the risk of default on the mortgages and hence underestimating the risk of investing in the CDO (the models also failed to account for a fall in real estate prices).
Long story short, one day the house of cards instantly fell apart. People started defaulting on their mortgages & real estate prices stopped rising. People owned more on their houses than it was worth & stopped paying. More people defaulted. The value of the CDOs tanked. Investors didn't want them anymore and now all these firms; investment firms, banks & mortgage firms were stuck with these mortgages they had only acquired because they were expecting to sell them into a CDO. So all at once, investors lost tons of money, and ibanks & banks defaulted because they were stuck with these toxic mortgages they could no longer sell to someone else.
( sometime in the future i will need this ) tag. tag tag tag
Monday, November 8, 2010
I just bought a $25 imaginary horse
Over the past few hours, I have come to the realization that I have purchased a $25 imaginary space horse. To be honest, I do not regret my horse purchase. I do not have horse remorse. What I have gleaned, however, is a keen understanding of the nature of video games moving forward, in particular the massively multiplayer genre.
World of Warcraft is not new to the world of microtransactions, or in this case, macrotransactions. I do not believe anyone considers $25 to be a microtransaction, which seems like a healthy bit of cash. A few thoughts came to my mind. First, we now have the Blizzard price list for all sorts of purchased add-on content and the range of money we will be shelling out in the future. Pets are $10; mounts are $25. The celestial horse's success yesterday proved beyond a doubt that the $25 pricetag was not a deterrent for many purchasers, as the queue pushed over 100,000 people at times in the U.S. store alone. Early sales were estimated to be in the 400,000 area, with more climbing steadily. This horse is a hit.
My second thought was how drastically the dynamic has changed for Blizzard and why, potentially, it has changed. This past year showed a stagnation in the number of accounts created for World of Warcraft, leaving Blizzard with the same number to tell shareholders at their next meeting a year later. With new ways to monetize the player base other than the number of accounts, Blizzard has essentially given shareholders the go on holding onto increasingly valuable Activision Blizzard stock and to expect wonderful new profit generators. New ways to monetize existing subscriber bases are always being explored, and the Celestial Steed has cemented the pet and mount store as one of the absolutely critical endeavors.
This is only the beginning for macrotransactions in World of Warcraft. As long as the items up for sale do not give another player an advantage and stay purely cosmetic (with the exception of the race change, which has the potential to alter balance), I am confident Blizzard will provide some compelling additions to the already mind-blowingly successful pet and mount store.
What do you think about the Celestial Steed and what it represents? $25 seems to be a sweet spot if the sales are to be believed, but what do you think?
World of Warcraft is not new to the world of microtransactions, or in this case, macrotransactions. I do not believe anyone considers $25 to be a microtransaction, which seems like a healthy bit of cash. A few thoughts came to my mind. First, we now have the Blizzard price list for all sorts of purchased add-on content and the range of money we will be shelling out in the future. Pets are $10; mounts are $25. The celestial horse's success yesterday proved beyond a doubt that the $25 pricetag was not a deterrent for many purchasers, as the queue pushed over 100,000 people at times in the U.S. store alone. Early sales were estimated to be in the 400,000 area, with more climbing steadily. This horse is a hit.
My second thought was how drastically the dynamic has changed for Blizzard and why, potentially, it has changed. This past year showed a stagnation in the number of accounts created for World of Warcraft, leaving Blizzard with the same number to tell shareholders at their next meeting a year later. With new ways to monetize the player base other than the number of accounts, Blizzard has essentially given shareholders the go on holding onto increasingly valuable Activision Blizzard stock and to expect wonderful new profit generators. New ways to monetize existing subscriber bases are always being explored, and the Celestial Steed has cemented the pet and mount store as one of the absolutely critical endeavors.
This is only the beginning for macrotransactions in World of Warcraft. As long as the items up for sale do not give another player an advantage and stay purely cosmetic (with the exception of the race change, which has the potential to alter balance), I am confident Blizzard will provide some compelling additions to the already mind-blowingly successful pet and mount store.
What do you think about the Celestial Steed and what it represents? $25 seems to be a sweet spot if the sales are to be believed, but what do you think?
manly
perhaps im being too vain here, but i couldn't resist the temptation to take a picture of those bazookas. Initially i wanted to capture the vein that was popping on my biceps but my iphone's camera isn't that powerful enough, (or the vein isn't that visible enough)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
yes
To Mr Tan CP
Principal
Millenia Institute
Re: Appeal to be Retained at PU1
I am writing letter in the hopes that you would allow me to complete my education here in millennia institute. On realising that I achieved sub-par results a deep depression hit me, a melancholic time then ensued and plagued me till today. Today I have come to the realisation of my mistakes that have lead me down this unsettling path, today I have also realised how I can get out of this valley of depression and inadequacy - it is to strive for a better education, an education in millennia institute regardless if it takes time, or insurmountable effort, I promise you Mr Tan that I will climb out of this valley and reach that mountain top.
I do not wish to leave this school and I have made many friends here and have realised that studying at the last minute is not a feasible option and i feel foolish. I regret my mistake and would like to be given another shot.
Being the complacent kid that I am, i thought i could leave my studies and notes to read at the last minute, as i have always been doing throughout secondary school, however this turned out not to be a good choice. I would pay attention in class and give my opinions when needed however I did not do my homework at home, I would finish it in class in a hurry without giving much effort and thought into it, hence recieving sub-standard marks. I would only study for promos and that too did not work out well for me.
I have learnt my lesson, I will spend more time at home studying even thou the hours spent at school is long as it is for my own good. Practice is essential in learning and i will make an effort to practice my Mathematics and especially writing in Malay as I am extremely weak in the subject. The 2 months holiday will not be used to relax and play instead I will reflect on my actions and use it to revise through subjects and catch up with whatever topic i am in doubt. Whenever I am not able to understand a question in class I shall look for my subject tutors for consultation to answer my queries. With this said I promise to give my 110% next year and prove to you Mr Tan and all the other teachers that I am capable of achieving good grades.
One letter, or words cannot truly express the regret I have in my heart concerning my actions and folly this year. Every day I wake up wishing I could turn back time, but life is about learning from these mistakes and in the last two weeks I have been enlightened. My hope is that you throw me a lifeline so that I can redeem myself, and then be truly worthy of wearing the millennia institute uniform and badge.
Regards,
Yours Sincerely,
I am writing letter in the hopes that you would allow me to complete my education here in millennia institute. On realising that I achieved sub-par results a deep depression hit me, a melancholic time then ensued and plagued me till today. Today I have come to the realisation of my mistakes that have lead me down this unsettling path, today I have also realised how I can get out of this valley of depression and inadequacy - it is to strive for a better education, an education in millennia institute regardless if it takes time, or insurmountable effort, I promise you Mr Tan that I will climb out of this valley and reach that mountain top.
I do not wish to leave this school and I have made many friends here and have realised that studying at the last minute is not a feasible option and i feel foolish. I regret my mistake and would like to be given another shot.
Being the complacent kid that I am, i thought i could leave my studies and notes to read at the last minute, as i have always been doing throughout secondary school, however this turned out not to be a good choice. I would pay attention in class and give my opinions when needed however I did not do my homework at home, I would finish it in class in a hurry without giving much effort and thought into it, hence recieving sub-standard marks. I would only study for promos and that too did not work out well for me.
I have learnt my lesson, I will spend more time at home studying even thou the hours spent at school is long as it is for my own good. Practice is essential in learning and i will make an effort to practice my Mathematics and especially writing in Malay as I am extremely weak in the subject. The 2 months holiday will not be used to relax and play instead I will reflect on my actions and use it to revise through subjects and catch up with whatever topic i am in doubt. Whenever I am not able to understand a question in class I shall look for my subject tutors for consultation to answer my queries. With this said I promise to give my 110% next year and prove to you Mr Tan and all the other teachers that I am capable of achieving good grades.
One letter, or words cannot truly express the regret I have in my heart concerning my actions and folly this year. Every day I wake up wishing I could turn back time, but life is about learning from these mistakes and in the last two weeks I have been enlightened. My hope is that you throw me a lifeline so that I can redeem myself, and then be truly worthy of wearing the millennia institute uniform and badge.
Regards,
Yours Sincerely,
Mohamed Sahdique Caubang 10A3
fuck mai life.
I am writing this letter to you in the hopes that you would allow me to further continue my studies here at Millenia Institute. I feel that i should not waste this 1 year that i have spent in Millenia and move on to a different type of education, I would like to be given another chance at the A' Levels. I know I have not proven myself capable of taking this paper and am deeply remorseful for not being responsible. My parents and teachers are very dissapointed with me as they would not expect me to perform poorly in school.
I do not wish to leave this school and I have made many friends here and have realised that studying at the last minute is not a feasible option and i feel foolish. I regret my mistake and would like to be given another shot.
Being the complacent kid that I am, i thought i could leave my studies and notes to read at the last minute, as i have always been doing throughout secondary school, however this turned out not to be a good choice. I would pay attention in class and give my opinions when needed however I did not do my homework at home, I would finish it in class in a hurry without giving much effort and thought into it, hence recieving sub-standard marks. I would only study for promos and that too did not work out well for me.
I have learnt my lesson, I will spend more time at home studying even thou the hours spent at school is long as it is for my own good. Practice is essential in learning and i will make an effort to practice my Mathematics and especially writing in Malay as I am extremely weak in the subject. The 2 months holiday will not be used to relax and play instead I will reflect on my actions and use it to revise through subjects and catch up with whatever topic i am in doubt. Whenever I am not able to understand a question in class I shall look for my subject tutors for consultation to answer my queries. With this said I promise to give my 110% next year and prove to you Mr Tan and all the other teachers that I am capable of achieving good grades.
I do not wish to leave this school and I have made many friends here and have realised that studying at the last minute is not a feasible option and i feel foolish. I regret my mistake and would like to be given another shot.
Being the complacent kid that I am, i thought i could leave my studies and notes to read at the last minute, as i have always been doing throughout secondary school, however this turned out not to be a good choice. I would pay attention in class and give my opinions when needed however I did not do my homework at home, I would finish it in class in a hurry without giving much effort and thought into it, hence recieving sub-standard marks. I would only study for promos and that too did not work out well for me.
I have learnt my lesson, I will spend more time at home studying even thou the hours spent at school is long as it is for my own good. Practice is essential in learning and i will make an effort to practice my Mathematics and especially writing in Malay as I am extremely weak in the subject. The 2 months holiday will not be used to relax and play instead I will reflect on my actions and use it to revise through subjects and catch up with whatever topic i am in doubt. Whenever I am not able to understand a question in class I shall look for my subject tutors for consultation to answer my queries. With this said I promise to give my 110% next year and prove to you Mr Tan and all the other teachers that I am capable of achieving good grades.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
for shelby
First off i would like to sincerely thank you for allowing me the opportunity to further repeat my pre-u1 studies here at millenia institute despite the insufficient grades and poor performance, i am most humiliated by my results and i feel that i have failed many people in my life, including my parents and especially my teachers but most of all i have failed myself.
This year has been a tough one for me, due to a series of unfortunate events happening in my personal life and going through stages of soul searching, i have allowed my emotions to affect my studies and was unable to give in my full effort into penning down the knowledge i have gained in the classroom into my exam papers. I have been dealt a harsh blow and a rude awakening upon receiving my grades, i did not expect to receive sub-standard grades.
However I must let you know that i do believe that given the chance I would like to prove to you that I am capable of redeeming myself next year and will not ever let an incident such as this ever repeat itself. I have been enlightened and have realised the folly of my foolishness. Gone are the days where I day-dream in class and spend hours drowning my self in self-pity. I shall buck up and am very determined to pursue my education here at MI and graduate with results sufficient enough to enter a local University course of my desire. I have a tough road ahead of me and it is going to be a extremely difficult race, as you have said countless of times.
I shall be more pro-active in class and responsive towards questions raised by the teachers. I will do my best to contribute and give critical and analytical comments when it is needed. Questions, i shall raise when I am in doubt. I will not let my low self esteem get the better of me and hinder me from learning. I will also be more attentive in class and not day dream during lessons, especially in classes where I am weak and require the most help. I will use the November and December holidays to go through my notes and do a further in-depth research on the topics and notes that my home tutors and subject teachers have given me. Practice is key and hence that shall be my motto for success. I shall not spend the valuable time i have during this 2 months in regret instead I shall pick myself up, dust my knees and continue to climb, I will not stop till i have reached the peak
With all due respect perhaps the actions i have claimed that i will do next year may sound cliche and familiar to you as you would probably receive all sorts of letters promising the same but I do believe that I may be an exception, I am a very determined person and am very hardworking, I will do whatever it is in my power to succeed and I do believe that I can be successful here in Millenia and do everyone and the school proud. I shall strive to perform and shine.
Uhm..
to: tan cp
principal
millennia institute
dear tcp,
RE: APPEAL TO BE RETAINED AT PU1
i have reflected blablablah...
my reasons for the appeal are as follows:
1
2
3
i agree to the conditions laid out by my ht which are as follows:
1
2
3
the following is my plan of action to prove that i am sincere blabla:
1
2
3
conclusion
yours sincerely.
to: tan cp
principal
millennia institute
dear tcp,
RE: APPEAL TO BE RETAINED AT PU1
i have reflected blablablah...
my reasons for the appeal are as follows:
1
2
3
i agree to the conditions laid out by my ht which are as follows:
1
2
3
the following is my plan of action to prove that i am sincere blabla:
1
2
3
conclusion
yours sincerely.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
yeo's response to letter
(6:41:24 AM) andrew: I must let you know what I think is best for me, and I think that giving me the opportunity to redeem myself in year 2 is the right one.
(6:41:26 AM) andrew: too demanding.
(6:41:50 AM) andrew: n secondary school I played a lot, was mischievous and I still manage to top my class. I found it to be a breeze. With my “O” levels I did relatively well to secure my spot in MI like I have always wanted. Being an ignorant person, I thought I could do the same here in MI, I was to be horribly mistaken. I thought I could play, not pay attention and be the self I was in secondary school again I was
(6:41:56 AM) andrew: he already explained when we first entered school.
(6:42:04 AM) andrew: so this is going to be bad in the appeal.
(6:42:51 AM) andrew: One page cannot fully express my regret of my decisions in this past year and I hope that you give me the second chance to redeem myself. In whichever decision you choose, my spirit will never falter, with diligence I will strive, with Heart I will serve, my spirit will never falter to bring glory to millennia institute. Thank you.
(6:42:54 AM) andrew: hahaha damn corny.
(6:43:19 AM) dique: yeah
(6:41:26 AM) andrew: too demanding.
(6:41:50 AM) andrew: n secondary school I played a lot, was mischievous and I still manage to top my class. I found it to be a breeze. With my “O” levels I did relatively well to secure my spot in MI like I have always wanted. Being an ignorant person, I thought I could do the same here in MI, I was to be horribly mistaken. I thought I could play, not pay attention and be the self I was in secondary school again I was
(6:41:56 AM) andrew: he already explained when we first entered school.
(6:42:04 AM) andrew: so this is going to be bad in the appeal.
(6:42:51 AM) andrew: One page cannot fully express my regret of my decisions in this past year and I hope that you give me the second chance to redeem myself. In whichever decision you choose, my spirit will never falter, with diligence I will strive, with Heart I will serve, my spirit will never falter to bring glory to millennia institute. Thank you.
(6:42:54 AM) andrew: hahaha damn corny.
(6:43:19 AM) dique: yeah
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