I hate Geog Thought.

Try understanding what this means:

"Moving on, theory is more likely to be concerned with the desperate pressure for happening - what comes next and next and next and next -which is neither history nor culture and with the kind of self-substantiating "agency" that results, which is compelled by all manner of auto-reactive influences and by its own demonstrations. Then, theory is more determinedly realist because it understands that so much of interaction imitates interaction itself in its own articulation." - Amin & Thrift, 2005

Do you feel like pulling your hair out? I read and re-read and re-read the whole sentence, and this only forms 1% or less of the whole article, and yet i cannot understand ANYTHING from this. At this moment, my mind is filled with a truckload of unseemly expletives that are mounting and threatening to explode at these 'innocent' few pieces of paper.

Tell me, how am i going to cope with this cursed philosophical based module that every Geography Honors year student have to go through and pass? (And for me, at least get a B+ or A- in?)

The pressure is on. I am not competing with anyone. I hate to ever think of learning as a competition. So school and grades are not competition to compare with others, but a reflection of your own competition with your own humble limitations and fulfilling your 'self' and your potential abilities.

Maybe i am writing in some kind of a contorted language myself, and i just read in the papers that many young Singaporeans do not feel the need to learn proper English as they are contented with their level of Singlish or broken English.

How narrow minded, i think. We are such a small country and have nothing except our own people, if our people do not even feel the desire to improve themselves to compete and outshine (or on par with) others in the world...and feel that we can get by with just interacting with fellow Singaporeans who speak Singlish.. how can we maintain our level of competitiveness? What is worst, is that many children and even their parents dislike or turn their noses up at the mention of learning Mandarin. If our edge is being bilingual, of knowing both English and Mandarin, how can we even maintain it (lest to say improve it) if people do not even see the importance of speaking good English and Mandarin?!

I think both language (and others such as Malay, Tamil etc) are very important in our identity as Singaporeans. We are a global city with many attributes of the West and yet retain an Asian heart. Singaporeans must look outwards, not inwards because we are too small to be self-sufficient. I really hope the younger generation and their parents could reflect on these. Maybe we are too comfortable over here, so sheltered that we take good times for granted and forget the true nature of our vulnerabilities. But you know, i'm not chatising the use of Singlish because it is unique and has a special place in our hearts (it is really a lovely feeling to identify the presence of Singaporeans overseas just by the language)... but i think we should all practice code-switching. We should know both, and be able and comfortable to use either depending on the context.

Okay, enough digressing. Sigh, back to my Amin and Thrift. I feel like i'm drowning in a sea of impossible to read articles too abstract and cheem for my very limited understanding abilities. How do i stay afloat? God, please help me before i turn mad one day and 'throw the towel', along with my Honors Degree.

What kept me Sane this week? Let's see...