Chapter 10- Secrets of Pool revealed

Pool is a gangster's game, a common misconception which is more or less true, haha. I thought so too actually. But if you watch real competitions on tv, westerners wearing vests and tight pants looking really serious, you will change your perception on pool. So how did pool start for the 5 of us? Wei zhou, teck siang, yuan hong and me? It all started at sabrina's house. At that time, we were all still nerds, it was only me, kenneth and shi xiong then. And at that time, shi xiong was a hero to us, a hero we all looked up upon. We were all noobier than noobs can be. Few trips to her house later, i figured that i wasn't a pool player, this is not my thing, so i stopped. A while later, they invited wei zhou to play and this was where wei zhou started to love the game, his father was a pro but he never had interest in it. In the months that followed, wei zhou was in a pool frenzy, the seed of pool was planted in his heart and the roots have taken hold, paralysing it...forcing him to PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY!!! So he was crazy and his skills escalated as he took courses, had a coach and constantly played, he invited several people to safra where they started to go to play. One fine friday afternoon, teck siang asked me if i knew how to play pool. As i thought i had much more experience although i was a nooby noob then, i said i knew and i could even play better than him. So he and everyone else went to safra. That was my first time, and my last time, of my noob career. Teck siang thrashed me like he could never have thrashed me before. I was throwing a tantrum then, haha, i was pissed, dumbfounded, and pissed. The cocky me thought that teck siang was a new fry to fry, so i underestimated him.....So i continued to believe that i was not a pooler.

Many months later, in june 2005, my family went out to have lunch. My father then took up his handphone and called someone, he then told me he'll be going to some warehouse to look at foosball tables. When we went there, i saw a lousy pool table but still it was a pool table!!! So i begged my father to buy it. In the end, he bought one foosball table and one pool table. This was the beginning of my unnooby career. For days and days and weeks and weeks i trained myself at the table, lousy, yet it built my basics. In the middle of the summer of july, i decided to move on to my No1 target, Lee Teck Siang..a.k.a Teck Tea Siang. I challenged him, to one game of pure pool. That day, several people went, and i played. While we were travelling on the bus to safra, because murali was taking the same bus home, i stressed to him the importance of me winning teck siang that afternoon, i said that if i didn't win, that month of training at my home proved worthless and futile, then i would still end up the worthless lousy nooby player that i once was.

The game started and me and teck siang were neck to neck, pocketing balls after balls, there was definitely improvement in my game. Alas!!!! Teck Siang was down to his last ball, the black 8, and he missed. I had 3 striped balls and one 8 to hit in. I was stressed. Very stressed. first hit, pot, second hit, pot. third ball was sticking to the cushion, small roll, pot, and with ease, 8 ball, pot. I was happy.

I HAD FINALLY WON TECK TEA SIANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Yes, he smiled at me, the usual dirty smile, but by the looks of his defeated face, he was depressed. Word travelled fast, i had evolved from noob to not noob, a miraculous evolution. Teck Siang was pretty sour about it, ok maybe not that sour, but he definitely wasn't that happy was he? So Wei Zhou invited both of us to his house to play. So, it wasn't nothing really, i only beat teck siang 6-0, so that wasn't much...haha....sorry teck siang. I promised him i wouldn't tell everyone the following day, but when i got to school, everyone asked me whether it was true in disbelief, hey ah teck, you told them yourself! HAha.

So that was how we began, and as the days went by, the ranking was: 1-wei zhou 2-kenneth 3-me 4-teck. We began to go more frequently, and the numbers lessened to the 4 of us, plus yuan hong. Teck was wei zhou's disciple, he had a huge advantage and he went to safra more than me. I learnt and trained myself and my table sucked. So that was how we were, although we were still quite amateurish.

As the months went by, i slipped in to the great depression, I felt i wasn't a good player, teck siang beat me game after game and proved that he was stronger in terms of his skills. To tell you the truth, no one knows who is better. People say he is accurate, he makes good shots, people say i have a great stance, accurate, make good pots...hhaa, isn't that all the same? But i'm an emotional pool player, emotions affect my game. When i'm in a good mood, i'll play relatively well, if i am not, i'll just get thrashed round after round. One thing I admire teck siang for is how relaxed and cool he is. HE IS EMOTIONLESS!! But he psyches alot!! He'll just have to make girly noises and give a dirty look on his face...that's enough to make me miss...Back to the depression days, I couldn't believe it but i accepted the fact as i kept losing. I realised that i was too rushed, too nervous, and too eager, when i am losing, i can't keep my cool and that spoils that game, and the game after the next, and the game after the next, in fact, it spoils every game for the day. I changed, i started to cut down on saying shit after missing balls, i started to praise opponents, laugh more, joke more, encourage more and be more quiet. But under such hostile environments when i sometimes feel left out, i can't help it. Wei zhou's always siding and giving tips to teck, and kenneth can be quite sarcastic at times, haha, which demoralises me and i feel alone many times. But teck can keep his cool quite well except on times when i'm on a run and teck goes crazy... In these few weeks, i proved to teck siang again i was the better player, always beating him, because of the improved way i played the game, but because i didn't want much competition among us, i told him that i'd settle for equal...But actually, i always seem lousier, i never keep my form when i play with people looking at me, i feel that they expect something good, something i can't deliver when i'm pressured to.

So, enough of boasting about myself, i ain't that good, the fact is, i am amazed the 5 of us 14/15 year olds can attain such a great skill of this game...really, i think we're pretty good for 14/15 year olds. No one has ever expected us to be good before, besides wei zhou, everyone knows he's good. Although, there are still alot of 14/15 year olds in this school or outside better than us, but that's the minority of singapore, and we belong to that minority of average 14/15 year old pool players in singapore. But many of them aren't good people to mix with, people who just play pool for the friends they make. That's why people always get the misconception that pool is a gangster's game, but for the 5 of us, we are the absolute opposite, haha. We're quite decent actually, although the other 4 do splurt vulgarities, haha, but we aren't bad, if not how do we get to e1 and e2? The thing that keeps us together is our spirit and our togetherness. For example when we play tag with strangers. It's really hard to keep your cool when you play with strangers, especially tag games, on top of feeling the pressure to win, you feel the pressure to make good shots so as not to cause the team to fail, and you will feel bad if you make bad shots. But our team has worked pretty well thru the months. The first thing kenneth says after he misses a shot is, '' Sorry hexun, sorry.'' Haha, that explains the pressure. But the trick is to boost the morale of your team mate, make him know that you don't mind him missing shots, and when he feels that, you enter his heart and you assure him, he knows that now you're with him 100%. When you're playing tag, your friend is somewhat like your enemy, i mean, in the sense of missing shots, you are afraid your friend blames you. So, make him know that you're rooting him 100% and he will do it. That was how we did it, and because the other team from another school couldn't do it, they lost 3-0 to me kenneth and yuan hong. Sometimes, one just feels proud of what he is today, honestly, we aren't bad for kiddies. Like last time at my friends house, there was a snooker table there. An old man challenged me to a game of pool on that table. I was so scared i wanted to pee in my pants for 1 hour. On top of that, there was a group of foreign teens watching us, on top of that there was a bunch of 6-7 year old kids, where one of the boys was boasting to his friends how well he could play and criticizing how i played, seriously, i felt pissed he was criticizing me, he kept snorting at every stroke i made and laughed at me. I told him i was sorry for being such a lousy player. Until i did a masse for him, wei zhou taught me this, the ball curled...that shut them up..haha. So, back to the game and by the look at his stance, i knew this wasn't an amateur, he was good. I didn't lose my cool, i just played how i usually played, in high moods actually..and also because my church friend was by my side. So in the end, i lost, he hit the black ball first...it was a close game. And luckily for him he won, could you imagine how embarrased i would feel if i was 70+ and i lose to a 14 year old? Haha, but nevertheless, i congratulated him and told him it was a good game, he just nodded and walked off.

So, pool isn't about the atmosphere, how it is always filled with undesireable characters, it is about the adrenaline rush, about the feeling of people behind you eyeing your every stroke, your movement, your execution. It's the sense of achievement. But to some people, it's a chance to get back or show people who's the boss to people they don't like. Sometimes, you don't really like a person and by peaceful ways, like playing pool, he steps back and respects you, and in some cases, it works for me, haha.

So this is my pool, not the cursing, not the fights, not the bad sportsmanship, not the gangsters, not the undesireable characters, but the sport, the adrenaline rush, the game.

Chapter 9- Long day

So today was fine, i didn't have dreams about anyone to my relief. So i decided to conduct a survey in school today whether i should follow mr Yeo's advice on getting a tan or just remain fair. In the beginning, in school, after surveying a few people, they were all tan, then i thought tan was gonna win. Did you know, out of 10 girls, 7 girls perfered fair skinned boys? So, after this, i decided that being fair was ''in'' now, among teens, so i'm glad i ain't that tan. But unfortunately or fortunately, i signed up for the sea sports programme and i'm bound to get in sammie's view 'chaotafied'.

So today's chi spelling was exceptionally and surprisingly quite manageable, i do not know still how to face my parents over the last few spellings, i was like getting 30 pluses, results i've never gotten for chinese all my life, they would castigate me and tell me that i have the environment to learn chinese.

So for today's science practical for physics, i confirmed my clumsiness as i toppled the measuring cylinder and wet my papers, on top of that, i had to redo.

For today's debate, i realise glenda's team weren't giving their best at all, c'mon, look at their arguments, sensible but not in depth enough, so i was supporting phylis's team. Everyone has their own comfort zone, if we are willing to step out of that comfort zone and work doubly hard, if we can break the restrictions that we actually set for ourselves by saying that the other team will win, China can win Brazil.

So after school, went for ej. And after ej, me, imran and murali were playing floor ball soccer, and it was really fun. Then Mr yeo came in and tried to give us a meaningful lecture, which i find sometimes lame. I think he's just trying to make us respect him by trying to beat about the bush and try to make his weak point. Again, this is not an opportunity for me to depreciate any teacher but really, mr yeo always does that, but today, i wasn't gonna let imran debate himself, so i joined in, but really, sometimes, mr yeo doesnt speak logically, he just beats about the bush, like using the example of USA invading Iraq, what has that got to do with us playing soccer? When will people learn you cant argue against imran and a philosopher wannabe. Human rights aim to secure individuals the neccessary conditions for leading a minimally good life, and mr yeo said why couldnt we help the guys even if the session has ended, why couldnt we learn more and do stuff? the session has ended, we have every right to try to lead a MINIMALLY good life, you cant force us to learn every second of our life??!?!??!?

Chapter 8- The Wizard's torment

Today has been a bad day, since 625am in the morning. You see, if you've heard, i've fallen once again into the abyss of affection, deep affection. I fell in once but using the Istari light and some prayer, darkness became light and i crawled out of the abyss. But now, i'm back, she's just too nice you see. Now, don't bother suspecting anyone because you shouldn't know that person. Only two people in this world know who, me and someone who's now very irritated because i keep mentioning her name. Ok, so yesterday night, i dreamt about her, not anything immoral, just seeing her, and i asked her if she would marry me! I forgot what was next but to my extreme disappointment and horror, i was awoken by my mum's calling. I couldn't believe myself and i was in disgust. TOTAL disgust, i couldn't believe it wasn't real. I mean, you wouldn't too, just the happiest moment of your life and you wake up, can you imagine the extreme feeling of disappointment, the huge overbearing feeling of loss? And so, i wanted to cry and kill myself.. That explains my bad mood today, haha, all because of a dream.

So today everything went as usual until i left the lessons to take photographs for ej for the Prefect's Investiture. I went to look for Mr Yeo and upon entering his class 3t2, the whole class invited them to sit down with them as mr yeo asked me to wait, because i was a little afraid, i didn't want to offend anyone, especially aaron, he always seemed nice to me.. So i sat down for a while and i was surprised at the difference between mr yeo teaching us and mr yeo teaching them.. haha, aaron could just go up and write the f word of the board and mr yeo would just say, can you stop that? So afterwards when Mr Yeo, me and widya got out, mr yeo told me i needed a tan, then girls would flock to me. I'm not too sure about that, i feel that being fair is the in thing among boys now...haha, i mean, you cant really make yourself fair can you? Even so, attracting girls isn't what every guy should aim for. I mean yes, we should make ourselves look good and look presentable, but not be too focused on attracting every girl. Just look good enough to attract your future wife..

So aish, instructed me to go in everyone's face and take a pic, and so i did what she told me to and got in front of everyone's face to take a pic, even mr boo's face. But i have to say, this didn't work too well as when i saw my pictures, because of the flash, his face appeared very oily.. so, hope mr boo doesn't blame me if the pics turn out oily in the vibrations, blame aish..haha

So i shall end chapter 8 here, hopefully i wouldn't dream of her as much because it would torment even wizards.

Chapter 7- smaxe

I'm slipping into uneasiness, uncertainty and worriment. The smaxe are here. I only worry over my sciences. Its difficult. Actually it isn't but knowing human nature, we are lazy, i mean, most of us are lazy accept the hardworking ones...teachers should motivate us more and make us do more work. I wish i had a teacher like Mr amos goh, surely, he's a hardworking teacher. I mean, look at mr Chan and Ng, they teach a lesson so feelinglessly that i don't understand much at all and this is what worries me...Esp Mr Ng, he's so cold and sarcastic, this is not an opportunity for me to depreciate teachers i do not like but it's the truth. When Yuan hong got 10/30 for his physics class test, mr ng said, ''Wah not bad, sleep in class also can get so high!'' That might not have pissed the happy-go-lucky yh much but it did piss me off, i mean, he's a teacher!! Secondly, i think mr chan should really collect the worksheets himself, with ulfred collecting, lazy people like me feel too lazy sometimes to submit work even if it's done..ok maybe i'm just saying this for my own benefit but the number of work not handed in would definitely drop if mr chan decides to collect it himself.

Sciences are worrying...very worrying... My mum's gonna slit my throat if i don't deliver this semester...

Chapter 6- The one armed Wizard

I have to apologise for not updating for such a long period, a period of draught, where you people are dying to see me blog, haha, and now, the rain has come. Ok, so these few days were really action-packed, maybe not action, but certainly interesting. Conflict arises among new and old associates and yes, they eventually settle but some hurts go too deep and have taken hold, no one can really forget entirely how these days of pain went by.

PAIN, for me, the one armed wizard. What a foolish blunderer i am. Not only am i a blunderer, but such a foolish one. While doing by spa, i accidentally knocked over everything and while doing it, i screamed, haha. While mrs singh and i were cleaning up, the foolish blunderer touched the tripod stand which was still blazing after 30mins of intense fiery heating from the bunsen burner. So, as usual, i screamed and threw the tripod aside. My bridging fingers were burnt beyond recognition. For the rest of the spa, on top of the boiling temperatures in the room, i had to endure the searing pain in my thumb and my index finger, being one armed, i had my minions do my work, little minions like wf.

So, the next day was pool tournement day, and i was worried that i wouldn't be able to bridge well but after applying some miracle medicament from beijing, everything seemed fine. When i reached Wei Zhou's house, we started the pool tournament. The first match was between me and loic, wei zhou's eurasian neighbour who always hung a '' hexun sucks'' look on his face. So, after judging him by his looks, i decided that i didn't like him. To my extreme disappointment, i disappointed everyone with my seemingly mediocre pool skills. I couldn't face the world. Loic was distinctly much lousier. I have to say, i can never find my form when i truly need it, when i can, i can trash even the seemingly strongest opponent, but i will always remain the inferior one in people's eyes, that's my pride. And pride is, the greatest sin.

Yes, after i lost, and after everyone questioned me in disbelief, i was definitely not satisfied. being a sore loser, i couldn't help begging wei zhou for a rematch. I took my mind off by playing the playstation afterwards. Afterwards, wei zhou hurried over to inform me the most welcomed news, i had another chance to play, against royce, his neighbour. I played the first round badly, but thankfully, royce wasn't that good either. But in the midst of the 2nd round, everyone just got bored and wei zhou told us it would continue in Safra next time.

Everyone in this world right now should engage in merrymaking and all of you should be full of joy, and happiness, and celebrate the peace that exists now, for in the ages of middle-earth, peace was commonly unheard of, usually, only in the shire. So, i'm a lotrer and today, March 25th, in the elven calender, is the fall of Sauron. Sauron, as all lotrers should know, was in origin a spirit called a maia, the same type or race as Gandalf, he was at first one of the most powerful servents of Aule, one of the Valar or ruling powers of the world.

However, Sauron was soon subverted by the Dark Lord Morgoth, an evil sprit of the same order as the Valar. Sauron himself turned to evil. In the War of the Ring, Sauron was the one started the forgings of the rings of power, and he himself forged the one ring who enslaved all others. In the end, the perilous journey undertaken by Frodo and Sam ended when Frodo destroyed the Ring at last, and brought an end to Sauron's evil realm. I have to say, lotr was one of the best books written and one of the best movies made. If anyone wants to watch or read it, just ask me please, it is worth reading and watching... and if you understand, you'll sympathise at moments of dispritedness and laugh during moments of contentment, so i recommend you to read this book.

Things i learnt from immanuel kant:

The only thing that is good without qualification or restriction is a good will. That is to say, a good will alone is good in all circumstances and in that sense is an absolute or unconditoned good.

That doesn't mean that a good will is neccessary good! There are plenty of things that are good in many respects. These are not good in all circumstances and respects. They may be thoroughly bad when they are used by a bad will. Like for eg, i can be sauron and i wanna take control of the whole of middle-earth, that's my ambition, thats my want, it's good for me ain't it? ok maybe, thats a bad eg. Like, maybe, something that is good for your customs or for your religion or just for your own good might be of an evil intention, or a good that is bad in my customs.

They are therefore only conditoned goods- that is, good under certain conditions, not absolutely good or in themselves.

Under human conditions, where we have to struggle against unruly impulses and desires, a good will is manifested in acting for the sake of duty. Hence, if we are to understand human goodness, we must examine the CONCEPT OF DUTY. Human goodness is most conspicuous in stuggling against the obstacles placed in its way by unruly impulses, but it must not be thought that goodness as such consists in vercoming obstacles, On the contary, a perfectly good will would have no obstavles to overcome, and the concept of duty would not apply to such a perfect will.

Kant's first proposition about duty: A human action is morally good, not because it is done from immediate inclination, still less because it's done from self-interest, but because it is dont for the sake of duty/

An action, even if it accords with duty and is in that sense right, is not commonly regarded as morrally good if it is done solely out of self-interest. We may, however, be inclined to attribute moral goodness to right actions done solely from some immediate inclination. For example, from a direct impulse of sympathy or generosity. In order to test this we must isolate or motives:
we must consider first an action done solely out of inclinationg and NOT out of duty, and then an action done solely out of duty and not out of inclination. If we do this, then, we shall find, to take the cast most favourable to immediate inclinationg, that an action done solely out of natural sympathy may be right and praiseworthy, but that nevertheless it has no distinctively moral worth. The same kind of action done solely out of duty does have distinctively moral worth.


A man shows moral worth if he does good, not from inclination but from duty.



This is important: REVERANCE FOR THE LAW

a third propositon is this: Duty is the necessity to act out of reverance for the law
Let me skip some parts to the most important:

Because of our human frailty, such a law must appear to us a law of duty, a lawy which commands or compels obediance. such a law, considered as imposed upon us, must excite a feeling analogous(alike) to fear. Considered, on the other hand, as self-imposed( since it is imposed by our own rational nature), it must excite a feeling analogous to inclination or attraction. this complex feeling is reverance, or respect, a unique feeling which is due, not to any stimulus of the sense, but to the thought that my will is subordinated to such a universal law independently of any influence of sens. so fast as the motive of a good action is one which is done oout of reverance for the law, and that is what gives its unique and unconditioned value.


I feel that this reverance for the law really makes sense and although it takes a while to digest, its worth reading and knowing....

Chapter 5

This is really interesting, read it please.. I'll tell you next time, since you all are pressing me for an entry, here it is, but if you do not understand, i'll tell you in the next entry.

Belief in God is considered irrational for two primary reasons: lack of evidence and evidence to the contrary (usually the problem of evil, which won't be discussed in this essay). Note that both of these positions reject the rationality of belief in God on the basis of an inference. Bertrand Russell was once asked, if he were to come before God, what he would say to God. Russell replied, “Not enough evidence God, not enough evidence.” Following Alvin Plantinga, we will call the claim that belief in God lacks evidence and is thus irrational--the evidentialist objection to belief in God.
The roots of evidentialism may be found in the Enlightenment demand that all beliefs be subjected to the searching criticism of reason; if a belief cannot survive the scrutiny of reason, it is irrational. Kant's charge is clear: “Dare to use your own reason.” Given increasing awareness of religious options, Hobbes would ask: “If one prophet deceive another, what certainty is there of knowing the will of God, by any other way than that of reason?” Although the Enlightenment elevation of Reason would come to be associated with a corresponding rejection of rational religious belief, many of the great Enlightenment thinkers were themselves theists (including, for example, Kant and Hobbes).
The evidentialist objection may be formalized as follows:
(1) Belief in God is rational only if there is sufficient evidence for the existence of God.
(2) There is not sufficient evidence for the existence of God.
(3) Therefore, belief in God is irrational. The evidentialist objection is not offered as a disproof of the existence of God—that is, the conclusion is not ‘God does not exist.’ Rather the conclusion is, even if God were to exist, it would not be reasonable to believe in God. According to the evidentialist objection, rational belief in God hinges on the success of theistic arguments. Prominent evidentialist objectors include David Hume, W. K. Clifford, J. L. Mackie, Antony Flew and Michael Scriven. This view is probably held by a large majority of contemporary Western philosophers. Ironically, in most areas of philosophy and life, most philosophers are not (indeed could not be) evidentialists. We shall treat this claim shortly.
The claim that there is not sufficient evidence for belief in God is usually based on a negative assessment of the success of theistic proofs or arguments. Following Hume and Kant, the standard arguments for the existence of God—cosmological, teleological and ontological—are judged to be defective in one respect or another.
The claim that rational belief in God requires the support of evidence or argument is usually rooted in a view of the structure of knowledge that has come to be known as ‘classical foundationalism.’ Classical foundationalists take a pyramid or a house as metaphors for their conceptions of knowledge or rationality. A secure house or pyramid must have secure foundations sufficient to carry the weight of each floor of the house and the roof. A solid, enduring house has a secure foundation with each of the subsequent floors properly attached to that foundation. Ultimately, the foundation carries the weight of the house. In a classical foundationalist conception of knowledge, the foundational beliefs must likewise be secure, enduring and adequate to bear “the weight” of all of the non-foundational or higher-level beliefs. These foundational beliefs are characterized in such a manner to ensure that knowledge is built on a foundation of certitudes (following Descartes). The candidates for these foundational certitudes vary from thinker to thinker but, broadly speaking, reduce to three: if a belief is self-evident, evident to the senses, or incorrigible, it is a proper candidate for inclusion among the foundations of rational belief.
What sorts of beliefs are self-evident, evident to the senses, or incorrigible? A self-evident belief is one that, upon understanding it, you see it to be true. While this definition is probably not self-evident, let’s proceed to understand it by way of example. Read the following fairly quickly:
(4) When equals are added to equals you get equals. Do you think (4) is true? False? Not sure? Let me explain it. When equals (2 and 1+1) are added to equals (2 and 1+1) you get equals (4). Or, to make this clear 2 + 2 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. Now that you understand (4), you see it to be true. I didn’t argue for (4), I simply helped you to understand it, and upon understanding it, you saw it to be true. That is, (4) is self-evident. Typical self-evident beliefs include the laws of logic and arithmetic and some metaphysical principles like “An object can’t be red all over and blue all over at the same time.” A proposition is evident to the senses in case it is properly acquired by the use of one’s five senses. These sorts of propositions include “The grass is green,” “The sky is blue,” “Honey tastes sweet,” and “I hear a mourning dove.” Some epistemologists exclude propositions that are evident to the senses from the foundations of knowledge because of their lack of certainty [the sky may be colorless as a piece of glass but simply refracts blue light waves; we may be sampling artificial (and not real) honey; or someone may be blowing a bird whistle; etc.]. In order to ensure certainty, some have shifted to incorrigibility as the criterion of foundational beliefs. Incorrigible beliefs are first-person psychological states (seeming or appearance beliefs) about which I cannot be wrong. For example, I might be mistaken about the color of the grass or sky but I cannot be mistaken about the following: “The grass seems green to me” or “The sky appears to me to be blue.” I might be mistaken about the color of grass, and so such a belief is not certain for me, but I can’t be wrong about what the color of grass seems to be to me.
Now let us return to belief in God. Why do evidentialists hold (1), the claim that rational belief in God requires the support of evidence or argument? This is typically because they subscribe to classical foundationalism. A belief can be held without argument or evidence only if it is self-evident, evident to the senses, or incorrigible. Belief in God is not self-evident—it is not such that upon understanding the notion of God, you see that God exists. For example, Bertrand Russell understands the proposition “God exists” but does not see it to be true. So, belief in God is not a good candidate for self-evidence. Belief in God is not evident to the senses because God, by definition, transcends the sensory world. God cannot be seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled. When people make claims such as “God spoke to me” or “I touched God,” they are using “spoke” and “touched” in a metaphorical sense, not a literal sense; literally, God is beyond the senses. So God’s existence is not evident to the senses. And finally, a person might be wrong about God’s existence and so belief in God cannot be incorrigible. Of course, “it seems to me that God exists” could be incorrigible but God’s seeming existence is a long way from God’s existence!
So, belief in God is neither self-evident, evident to the senses, nor incorrigible. Therefore, belief in God, according to classical foundationalism, cannot properly be included among the foundations of one’s rational beliefs. And, if it is not part of the foundations, it must be adequately supported by the foundational beliefs—that is, belief in God must be held on the basis of other beliefs and so must be argued to, not from. According to classical foundationalism, belief in God is not rational unless it is supported by evidence or argument. Classical foundationalism, as assumed in the Enlightenment, elevated theistic arguments to a status never held before in the history of Western thought. Although previous thinkers would develop theistic arguments, they seldom assumed that they were necessary for rational belief in God. After the period of the Enlightenment, thinkers in the grips of classical would now hold belief in God up to the demand of rigorous proof.

A message interwoven in a message.

to my mellon whom i shall part with:

'' I shall lend you aid no more, at the end of your days, realise what a fool you've been, mellon. "

Chapter 4

So today is sunday. I woke up early and although i had a huge desire to drop my head into my pillow again, LOTR overcame that desire. I quickly sneaked to play 5 mins of LOTR.. Afterwards, i dressed up and went to church. These days i cannot concentrate at the sermons, unless its a topic that i can relate to, or something that interests me. Because i attend the chinese congregation and i don't understand very well, and i don't really know how to make fast notes all in chinese. If not, i'll just stare at the Pastor and think/dream of something else, sometimes, dreaming about winning lotr game shows...

And so, after the sermon and everything, i got down the canteen where everyone was. It was tuition time!!! I was really hoping that the china kid wouldn't return today after my horrible teaching last week. To my dismay, i saw him sitting quietly on a chair...but i told myself i shouldn't be thinking this way.. So, i got some assesment books and started to teach him..Then my friend Ziling asked another boy if he wanted me to teach him english...in my heart, i was hoping he'd say yes...but he thought i was fierce so he didn't =( It really really really hard to teach english...its not only that, this boy's from China, and he's one head taller than me and he's in p5. He doesn't know a single thing about english. MEANING, i had to teach him english in chinese, and to add on to that, i didnt learn english the way everyone learnt english and so i didnt know what was what. I read, i don't listen to people teaching english. But over that last few weeks, i learnt many things as well, i learnt plural and singular stuff!! Yes, so it was a real difficulty, i had to do some serious translation... and he kept nodding his head, i knew that he didnt understand a single word because i wouldnt to, i have never truly listened to any english teacher teach before... so i constantly told him, “ 我知道我现在教你，你不会明白，英文是靠读课外书的。" Which meant, " i know that by teaching you now, you wouldn't understand, for english, you have to read more. " Which is true isn't it?

Chapter 3- chapter 2

So from the afternoon, i tried to tell the Story of Lotr to sam and Aish in msn and my hand turned black, rotted and dropped off. After that, i went to thomson Plaza to replenish our daily needs. Since my vcd for fellowship of the ring was pirated, i didnt like it at all, and also for Aish, Sam's and my sake, i decided to buy lotr the fellowship of the ring's vcd!!! =DD wooooo..then, i saw fearless, so i bought it too, although i watched it in the cinema, its a long story, i havent even reached 15 yet if you didnt know. Then, me and my brother headed to the game store, bearing hopes of seeing some Lotr game. We wanted the war of the Ring for a long long time already, but they never had stock. Today, surprisingly and coincidentally, while i was in the Lotr mood, the battle of Middle-Earth 2, the collectors edition was in stock. I had never seen the game before but immediately sprang forward to buy it for 60 dollars... Don't misunderstand me, i'm not a spendthrift, it was just all coincidental, i dont even have a playstation for goodness sake... i only love lotr, thats all. So after everything, i got home and loaded LOTR and i played like crazy that my mum got crazy... and another thing happened tonight... while looking at some of my LOTR collectables, i encountered 2 whitish oval shaped balls.. I thought they were eggs originally but they didnt seem so, then i thought they were mothballs, but they didnt have any smell, and it was only a cm long.. so, i just hurled it towards the floor, (actually, i just dropped it) Minutes later, when i entered my room, i felt wet, around my leg, when i looked, my leg was covered with red whitish liquid with some remnants of the whitish thingy, after a closer look, to my extreme horror, i saw a lizard foetus, so, i screamed and ran out of my room to scrub my leg, the other one broke upon contact with the floor...so sorry nature lovers, i didnt do it on purpose!!

Chapter 3- chapter 1

This is Chapter 1 of Chapter 3, its only 1167am, 5 days before the New Year. In Gondor, the New Year will always now begin upon the twenty-fifth of March when Sauron fell, and when Frodo was brought out of the fire to the King.

So today is Saturday, the 2nd last day before the raging war continues in Middle-Earth...Enjoy and be at peace while you can, because all these will come to and end. And by dawn of monday, we shall ride to war... and to ruin, to wrath, and a red nightfall.

So, i spent my morning rereading The Lord of the Rings because i feel that some people think that i rely on the movie much more than i rely on the book..Which is more or less true, i find much pain and difficulty to go through the book again and again. I have to say, after re-reading a few chapters of the book that it is nothing like the movie. The words used are all of such elegance and beauty. If a punk read the book, he would make fun of it entirely because the book describes many moments together as a fellowship, filled with merry, and all so gay. Honestly, i love the word gay, because it describes happiness on the whole. But it isn't wise to use the word gay all the time as people might percieve wrongly. In the book, there are moments where love can be felt, that of warmth and affection in the fellowship... and there're moments when Sam and Frodo hold hands and i find this very sad..especially when they destroyed the ring. They've forged such a strong bond together and in the end, Frodo had to go the the Grey Havens.. That particular scene in the movie makes me wanna cry like a baby....his last words:






" My dear Sam, you cannot always be torn in two. You will have to be one and whole for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do. Your part in this story will go on. "






Who here shares the love of Lotr with me? That similar love that can be found throughout the book...As they journey about Middle-Earth as a fellowship, forging strong bonds, i've become part of the Fellowship too and i have also forged strong bonds with them, that is why i find it hard to give it up...

Chapter 2- the outing

Today, was one of my first times agreeing to go out with me classmates. I'm a home boy! its time to know that. So originally, Jia Yan invited me. And she invited me several times already, and i always told her i was busy, which in some cases, were true, but in other cases, were false. So today, i woke up, studied and switched on the computer and to my extreme horror, i couldn't go to my chinese blog's page. I consulted several computer gurus and they could not identify the problem. Darren said it might go back to normal after a few days and for my own sake, i hope it does because there're marks counted.

So, me, aish, latif, sam and jy were scheduled to have a business meeting at tpc at 3. I didnt want to reach there early because i hated to wait, so i left home at 240pm. Whlist i was on the bus, i read a few pages of The Moral Law by Immanuel Kant, one of the famousest of all philosophers of the 18th century. I learnt many things about morality and immorality. Like, there are certain ways to do good, sometimes, we do good because there is a moral standard set and we have to do something just to follow that. The other alternative is based more on your sensual emotions, and do good based on what is right, something like that. Unfortunately, i do not have the book right now, i handed the book to Aish for safe-keeping, from the harsh singaporean environment. The first person i met at tpc was a cedar secondary school girl, i wasn't listening to what she said, so i just put in 2 dollars in her bag...afterwards, while we were headed for the Mrt, some Indian guy stopped us and persuaded us to donate 2 dollars each for HOME after a long introduction...because i had no change, i could only put 5 dollars in....in 5 mins, i spent 7 dollars....funny.. you work so hard to earn those money and it flys away so easily, but for someone else's good..although i didnt work for the money. I gave because i will, they clearly need it more than me.. Yes, we should be charitable, but not with the wrong intentions, not because the Bible said i should, not to give and smile at God and say '' I gave cash! can i go to heaven now?'' no, give because they need it...and i don't..So, we set off by MRT to some unfamiliar place called Dhoby Ghaut. You're probably laughing at me now because i'm a home boy and i am unfamiliar with Singapore.


From Dhoby Ghaut, we got to Tcc, some place where you sit on sofas and cushion, relax and drink some liquid filled with caffeine. So, i ordered a Vanilla appaggapa or something like that. For more than 2 hours or so, the girls dominated the scene and talked and talked. While me and Latif sat there in silence. Him staring at thin air molecules, and me staring at the fascinating floor. It was pretty awkward....why am i sooooo shy?Y?Y?Y? Yes, i think we had a great chat altogether, whether or not we were talking about pre-marital sex or simply sitting in silence....we did have a good chat. And then, Vanga came and now came the time for me to unwind a bit, now i feel more comfortable because there's a show to watch... When Vanga's around, people laugh... I know there are many people that dislike his presence but hey, Vanga's Vanga, he isn't gonna change to suit your liking, in fact, i like the way he is right now, although he offends people, that's true, but hey, it better to live in a world with people like Vanga, people who are truthful rather than living in a world of deceit and lies.

And so, we made our way home...me sam and latif taking the same line...again, that awkward silence filled the air...And so, after Samie got off, i followed latif to serangoon where i took 165 home......ALONE....While walking home, i, as usual, fantasized about winning some gaming show all about Lotr and crowned the smartest and youngest lotr fan...what a great dream..So this was my rather eventful day, although sitting around drinking ONE cup of coffee for a few hours wasn't that eventful, remember, i'm a homeboy... And so ends Chapter 2 of the Scriptures of Mithrandir...

Chapter 1

ok, so i shouldnt sound so professional, i'll try to loosen up abit, this isnt chapter 1 of an important must read blog. This is simply chapter one of the opening up of my life's story to whether it's a stranger of friend. But whether or not a stranger or friend reads it, i strongly believe that whoever that is would attain an in-depth understanding of not only me as a person, but also my ideas and thoughts and my beliefs.

Ok, let's start off with thursday! Today, i woke up around 8am, ate breakfast and while lying on the sofa, i saw the Bible Code 2. I picked it up and continued where i left off yesterday. The Bible Code 2 is a little misleading for Christians. I do not know whether or not i should trust it entirely. The Bible Code relates about how an american reporter and an isrealite mathematician, with the use of computers, deciphered the hidden codes in the Bible. These codes are predictions of the future then, the future being, the time now. It correctly predicted the assasinations John F. Kennedy, Yitzhak Rabin and also the terrorist attacks. But, i do not know whether i should trust it entirely. According to the book, the end of the days might be in 2006, i know you would surely be skeptical but i am too. I shouldn't bother much about what it says actually because the end of days come like a theif entering your house at night. You would never know and you can never be prepared, so why should i bother much about it?

So today, i got dressed in my supposedly smart school uniform and i set off for school. I reached school at 9am, the scheduled time for an ej meeting, but sadly, no one was there, i was left alone, stupidly roaming the halls of the school searching for a familiar face. It was not until 9 plus did imran come. We did some ej stuff and by 1, we got ourselves into the AVA room for SPA with mr Amos Goh.

Oh man, i wish we had him for our physics teacher! He has such a good sense of humour, unlike mr chan, althought mr chan trys very hard----"this guy's trying to be funny'' always saying that. So after SPA, went straight home for piano lessons. I was feeling very lethargic and restless by then and i couldnt concentrate. When i looked at my teacher teach theory, i wondered myself how on earth am i gonna pass my theory exams, i didnt understand a single thing she taught. I must go and i'll write something longer tomorrow, tomorrow should be interesting.

The beginning

After seeing my friend do one blog, he inspired me to do one myself, and i decided to lengthen the scriptures of Mithrandir, the wisest of all mair. And as always, like little kids in awe of fantasy characters, i'm in love with Gandalf, the wise and old Lord of the Rings character. I shall now proceed to introduce myself. I'm Hexun, from 3e2, and I love the lord of the Rings, a love no 14 year kid can match, really, really. I love philosophy, a love no 14 year old kid can match, really. And from this day onwards, my life's story would be open to you. This day does not belong to one man alone, but to all. And so begins the scriptures of Mithrandir, in english..