Monday, October 25, 2004
Butterfly Effect

The new week is upon us again and oh dear,today is the last of the really good days when Rogue is not around and we are allowed some semblance of a free reign in the office.Hoorah.Enjoy it while it lasts.I think I'd have to start doing some research and data-storage work starting today because otherwise it's going to be 临时抱佛脚 again.But that'd start in the afternoon after I am done with this...see,I set my priorities,even though they are dead wrong.

I went shopping for my mum(for,not with) at NTUC on Sunday as she needed me to buy some stuff for her and as I was waiting the snaking queue(it's incredible how every weekend,the queue at each NTUC checkout counter become 30 strong while during weekdays,you'd be hard pressed to find a total of 3 at all counters.Where did these people come from?),I had nothing better to do than look at razors,which were displayed conveniently near the counters.I noticed something which I thought was worded weirdly.

One of the groups of items on display was the Schtick(nice name,imagine the slogan:Give yourself some Schtick)Extra II disposable razors.On the packaging,the manufacturer had the good sense to type this piece of information:"Sensitive with Vitamin E".What's this statement supposed to mean?After adding vitamin E to the strip,the razor becomes sensitive?So it carefully avoids cutting you?Or it emits a "ooo ooo aaa aaa"sound whenever someone gets cut?Ok ok,I know that it meant that the vitamin E in the strip would soothe one's sensitive skin but hey,not everyone knows what vit E does.We're not all nutritionists you know.

Actually,all I want out of a razor is that it shaves cleanly.That's it.So Gillette,Schtick or whatever company out there,just make a razor that shaves well and have blades that lasts longer.There's a recent Gillette advertisement that asks customers to enjoy a smoother shave by changing their blades more often.They even give a 20% discount.Hahah.Those jokers.Do they know how expensively they price their blades?I'd rather shave until the blades go blunt than bleed through the wallet for a smoother shave.Smoothness is overrated.And who cares about having vit E or say,aloe vera on the strip?What am I supposed to do with it?Lick it to get my daily dose of vit E?Run it all over my face to let the aloe vera strip freshen my skin?Imagine the marketing:Get a shave and get healthy too.

Oh,I still can't go into the main subject yet before mentioning something I found amusing.Last week,Jean Grey told Jubilee and me an amusing tale about Wolverine.It seemed that Wolverine and JG went to a meeting with our 2nd God and some external parties and that during the meeting,2nd God pointed to Wolfy and said that"Hey,this is the man who is our **** and has access to ****."According to JG,who was sitting close to or next to him,Wolverine was suppressing the faintest hint of a gleeful smile at the attention and recognition given to him and his,erm,prowess.

I guess the guy must really be on cloud nine hundred and ninety-nine at that particular moment.Congrats to him,I am so happy that he's happy.But the whole episode does nothing more than amuse me.I can't believe someone can get high over something so 鸡毛蒜皮.It's almost laughable.JG mentioned that Wolverine seemed to relish being recognised to be in some kind of power,he probably postively revels in it.Fair play to him.I just have a word of warning for him.

The so-called power he possesses isn't really his to begin with.It's not his exclusive right.The only reason why it currently is is because he seems reluctant to share certain things with JG which should not be the case.JG and Wolverine are supposed to be a team.And that means working together and sharing information.Witholding something to use as your trumpcard is churlish.But I guess it's how society works.Make yourself indispensable at all costs,with exclusive skills and/or resources that others do not possess.Wolfy will do well to remember though that if he is ever to lose this exclusiveness(of resources,not skills because seriously,most of his skill sets are borderline average at best,that is,besides data management...and we are not a data management department),he'd have nothing to offer besides a prodigious workrate.And a prodigious workrate isn't a skill set.

Another person I'd like to mention is Banshee again.Banshee has joined JG and Wolverine's team and sometime last week or before,he went to JG's desk(when the news first broke that Rogue wanted him to join JG and Wolfy's team)and told her pointedly that he's not intereste din joining the tea,to not depend on him to do any work and that he doesn't want to maintain databases...etc.The prick.Would he have the guts to tell Wolverine the same thing?

N.O.

No.

Jubilee and my take is that he's trying to tell JG that if she needed help with anything,she'd have to look elsewhere.He'd take care of his own arse and/or anyuthing that Rogue or Wolverine might ask him to do.So it's "JG,good luck,take care,I don't care about you" for him.It's our take so it might not be true.But I hate this kind of attitude where you set up stall to deflect work from you the moment you know work is coming...and you direct it at the easiest person to target.For me,if work comes and you have to do it,just bite the bullet and do it.Nobody wants additional responsibilities but when it comes,you simply do not shun it.It's irresponsible.

Ok,I finally am going into my main topic.The past Saturday,I finally managed to catch the Takeshi Kaneishiro sci-fi flick Returner after countless times missing it.Mind you,I had to give up my EPL match for it(Spurs vs Bolton.Lucky I gave it a miss.My team lost)and I wasn't disappointed.Returner is a good movie with a very good lead but I'm not going into the movie.I am more interested in its concept.Time travel.Basically,a young girl travelled back in time to prevent a war against aliens from materialising.She succeeded.What interested me was the moment she did,she started faded away.Later,it conspired she travelled back in time to save Kaneishiro from pre-destined death.

Of course,as with any time travel flick,there is a paradox to the plot.If the girl can stopped the war,it'd mean that the prior version of her never existed,unless there is now two separate versions of reality.And the fact that Kaneishiro is saved,instead of being dead.It's likely to trigger what is known as the butterfly effect which would cause even more changes in future events.These plotholes don't make sense...but who watches a sci-fi for sense?

The butterfly effect is part of the chaos theory,an idea advocated by Edward Lorenz in the 60s.Basically,the chaos theory proposes that systems - no matter how complex they may be - rely upon an underlying order(which means things are not random) and that very simple or small systems and events can cause very complex behaviors or events.A famous example of how the butterfly effect would work is in the famous Ray Bradbury short,A Sound Of Thunder,where entire civilisations and languages were changed because a single butterfly was killed.

I think all of us have some regrets in our lifes or feel that if we could turn back time,there'd be certain things we'd do differently if we had the chance.But in view of the butterfly effect,things could turn out vastly different from the current reality if we had altered things.There are also certain things that I think I'd like to do differently if I have had the chance so I'm going to postulate how differently things might have turned out...

Event 1:
I'd really would have liked to have stayed in TJ with my secondary school friend pals.And if I had changed my course choices accordingly,I'd have stayed there easily.But if I had done that...

Effect
First,I'd never have met my TPJC friends and won't really get the chance to interact with people from neighbourhood schools.You know TJ,it's all KC,TKGS,St Pat's,Dunman brainies down there.But my studies would have definitely improved because it's such a competitive environment(I am one of those types who works better when there is external stimuli or motivation...in other words,no initiative).I might have earned a scholarship...who knows.I might possibly have taken up law and become extremely successful and then headhunted.

But then I'd be tempted to join my friends in all that they did...including joining the Temasek Titans.Alluding to a previous post,Dan might then have found me attractive as well(besides Jon).He might have started chasing me and woken up non-existant gay tendencies in me and I end up having a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend...which then,would lead to my mum disowning me because she can't bear having a gay son and driving me out of the house.

The civil service didn't condone gays then so despite having a scholarship,I'd be forced out.I'd have to go into the private sector while becoming an activist for gay rights.I'm probably join PLU and become an active member.Imagine I'd never know Christ because I'd never have met my Business Christian friends in university because I'd be in law.

Conclusion:
Gay homeless disowned activist lawyer.Boy,am I glad I didn't stay in TJ or what...

Event 2:
There is this girl in my TPJC class called Wendy whom I really liked.I chased her briefly before inexplicably I gave up.Pardon me,I was young then.But she's the only one whom I can't help but feel might have been the one.Why?Because she's the only I am incertain about the outcome because I never really knew her that well.The others I have liked or been with,I am certain we cannot make it.I'd sure have liked to cahse her until the end of the universe and back until I get her.

Effect:
I'm a one-woman man so I'd end up with her.I'd still make all the same choices as now and wind up going to the same stupid faculty and doing the same stupid job.The only difference is that I'd be either married or close to marrying by now(Wendy must be married by now,I have no idea) which means I'd be saving up and borrowing loads of money for the wedding and house and blowing it all in one single event...and she might possibly want to kids too.

With her around,I doubt I'd spend a lot of time with my drinking buddies cum childhood friends.But I wouldn't have money to go for drinks anyway...

Conclusion
In-debted poor penniless married civil servant.Hey,there's no difference from now...besides the married part and with a lot less drinking mates.Doesn't sound appealing.

Event 3
I really wish I worked harder in university rather than go swimming at the pool,playing squash and just serving the church.Actually serving the church has nothing to do with me being an average student but I think I'd never have taken a leader's role in VCF and worked in two functional groups in campus...church and VCF.It took up a huge chunk of my time but actually I don't really regret it one bit.I'd like to serve,just not as a leader.I don't have the qualities to be one,that I thought was always clear to me but I was kind of forced to be one because there wasn't anyone else who'd do it.

Another thing I would have done is to look for a job three months before I graduate.I think I'd have ended up in the private sector then.And it'd probably ahve been a bank job or something like that.I could still have wound up a civil servant of course but let's the other way

Effect
Well,having started in the private sector,I'd probably find myself retrenched during the economic downturn,especially considering the fact that I have a total lack of iniative and drive(something you can get away with in civil service).But it'd be hard to find a job in the current job climate and I'd be forced to work part-time.But my dad still wouldn't be working anyway so I'd be under trememdous pressure.These financial issues will weigh heavily on my mind.I'd start suffering from depression and will have to be admitted into IMH for medication and help.My dad still wouldn't be working despite all that so the problem is never solved...and my condition deterioates.

Conclusion:
IMH inmate who thinks monopoly money is real money.My mum would be working her arse off trying to support the family...finally,my brother learns to be sensible.My dad is still not working...

Geeez...I guess there is nothing I want to change after all....And the horrible part is...I wrote more nonsense than I did on the main topic...howz that?!

PS:The Butterfly Effect is,of course,not that simple.Neither is the chaos theory.Don't let me mislead all of you,Einsteins...