it was only last year we formed this class
without us knowing, a year has passed

during those times, we were never sad
all the fun we had, we were really mad

but isnt it strange how time flies past
and now it all seems to have gone so fast

now this year,
we're staring back at us
looking back at things that never do last

and though moving on we all must
in the end
never let this fade to dust

cause after all
we are a class

The Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly
One day a small opening appeared
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
It struggled to force its body through that little hole
Then it seemed to stop making any progress
It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could
And it could go no farther.

So the man decided to help the butterfly
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off
The remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily, BUT,
It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings
He continued to watch the butterfly
He expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge
And the body would contract
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling
Around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It was never able to fly.

The man acted with well-intentioned kindness
But he didn't understand the consequences.
The restricting cocoon and the struggle required to get
Through the tiny opening, were nature's way of forcing fluid
From the body of the butterfly once it achieved it's freedom
From the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
If nature allowed us to go through life without any
Obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as we could have been
And we could never fly
Have a great day, great life, and struggle a little.
Then fly!

It's a new year, with a new timetable, (some) new teachers, new routine, new expectations, new hopes and (for me) a dark new beginning. It's nice and bright and shiny for most of you lucky people who don't really have to regret not studying hard enough for promos or not being consistent in lectures and tutorials and revision. 'Cos you probably don't have the darned R Paper.

Well, to be honest, the regret doesn't affect me as much as it would have say, a year ago or the years before that (duh.) . I think that as each year progresses with me making more mistakes than the average Joe, or Jane (since we live in an equal world which leads me to another story. I'll elaborate later), I sort of mature and come to terms with regret; which is usually me just blaming everything/everyone else apart from myself. This self-sustaining denial is very useful for a person in my situation which is, you may ask, someone who more or less screws up the golden opportunities handed to him by procrastinating and being an insanely lazy moron.

Oh, wait. I think I forgot to mention that this year brings to us the All New Principal. I have my doubts, as all humans would with something totally alien and new to them, something they haven't experienced; imagine World Peace (without "bomb-laden" Middle-Easterners - since Arab is NOT Persian/Iranian//Egyptian/Yemenese/Turkish/ Indonesian) and President Bush. I guess I should let him "ease in" into the VJ culture(?)/routine/lifestyle and then, and ONLY then, critically judge him. But it has been such a challenge especially given his "short and sharp" introduction this morning. More about that as life goes on/time goes by.

On to us living in a equal world. A statement from the sagely MR Desmond Ng has inspired this entry. He asked why girls get to see us topless in public while they get to hide theirs.

"We have nipples too!" commented Mr Ng.

Why is it that women get to wear power suits in the office whilst men can't wear pencil dresses? (ha-ha! what a sight that would be). What is with the stereotyping of men? What do I think when a woman wears teeshirt and jeans? Well, she's a woman. But what would you think if a man wore a tight flowery tee with tight threequarters and carried a shimmery tote bag? You'd think he's less of a man.

Why do they also save women and children first in emergencies? Okay, children is a given, but what happens to the equality of man and women in times of crisis. Isn't it insulting to the female gender if we, masochistic egomaniacs of men, decide that women are less able to save themselves when the ferry capsizes or when a building gets hit by a plane, or two (of course suspected to be under the control of 3 kamikaze Muslim/Middle-Eastern Hijackers)?

To explain my sustained cynicism on the "Middle-Eastern" stereotypes and situation is the recent news on Saddam Hussein's recent execution. The totally insensitive timing of the execution was bound to cause distress and, undoubtedly, added chaos in the already chaotic atmosphere in and around Iraq. How the Iraqi and American officials could overlook this dreadfully obvious backlash is really questionable. It can't be that America got some intelligence that Eidil Adha (a MAJOR celebration for all Muslims around the world) would not happen this year. Actually, it could be that since the American government seems to believe all the god-damned bullshit they call intelligence that they receive.

Fueling my anger with the US govt is the fact that about 12,000 CIVILIANS - meaning unarmed men, women and children - have been killed. Who the fuck gets to have an excursion to Iraq, or any other country for that matter, bring trained killers with sophisticated killing gadgets and decide that they can, directly or indirectly cause at least 12,000 deaths of harmless people who didn't choose to be stuck in all this questionably-inspired extra-curricular activities? And that's only the civilians. What about the men and women who volunteered to fight for their country? How can anyone have the heart to lead them into battle (from the comfort of their plush thrones of power) under false pretenses, knowing that there will be great losses, especially since even "one death is too many in a war that should never have happened"? Who also should be allowed the chance to chase their own desires under the expense of the very people who put them into their oh-so-powerful offices?

I say off with their heads, these people who get to do such inhuman and vile acts of evil worldly influence.

And welcome back to school.


afzal