The Compelling Pursuit of Happiness, The Journey We Call Life

♫  clap along if you know what happiness is to you ♫

  Happiness is a pretty sophisticated thing, I'll have to admit. It's gratuitous, it makes you feel pleasant, and it agreeably infects everyone around you. However, allow me to pose you a question. What are the characteristics of happiness to you? While the definition of my happiness will no doubt differ from yours, there's a definite fact that governs happiness, be it mine or yours, as you read this. As Lauren Oliver once said, "You can't be happy, unless you're unhappy sometimes."  Whilst this may sound a tad dispiriting, I think that the true issue is that we tend to forget that we are only able to attain our level of happiness by going through comparable levels of unhappiness, which enables us to appreciate these moments in life more. Well, there are always two sides to it! That's just another factor we're sure of in this journey called life  :D

By experiencing unhappiness I'm not referring to this

  Yet, are we inadvertently assuming that happiness can only be obtained with a certain level of achievement or success? Prima facie, that answer seems to be a loud and resounding negative, since you can get happy from literally anything. You can find joy in staring at a wall, you can feel good from typing words and you can giggle from just rotating through memories. So why? How? These troubling questions arose as I looked at the results of the Happy Planet Index 2012, which found our little red dot being ranked the 90th out of 151 countries, far behind our regional peers, Vietnam, at 2nd, and Indonesia, placed at the 14th spot. While I completely understand that this ranking is made with comparison to other countries, and thus may not be definitely accurate, in my personal opinion I find this a decent gauge to our happiness index. Some may point at our competitive system and culture, and while that is indeed undeniable, I believe that the root cause of this is, aptly stated, and I quote, " people feel happy not because they obtain more- but demand less."

A thought-provoking quote!

  On the bright side, it does seem that Singaporeans have come to adopt a more relaxed policy, as we have shot up rapidly to the 30th place (hooray) in the World Happiness Report 2013, among 156 countries. Of course, we have to clock in some specific numbers as well :D And what better way to compare the quality of life than the HDI(Human Development Index)! As compared to many of the countries who stand above us, we actually have a comparatively higher GDP per capita, being the third highest in the world as of current times (Updated July 2014), and we are 7th in world rankings with regard to health expectancy! So with that in mind, our contextual environment is actually substantially privileged as compared to many others, and yet we are still somehow less happy compared to them.

And another! 

  Well I suppose it really pans out to how you perceive happiness to be like in reality. The lesson to be learnt from this would be to relish whatever happiness that we can come in our way :D Whelp, I guess that's all for today, and I wish you all the best in find happiness in your lives! Seeya next time, and I hope you found this short read enjoyable!

Wi-Fi, The Point and Milk. The Elements of An Epic Adventure!

 Good Morning, Wales and London! 

Start Of IC13!

  Gap Semester has definitely been interesting so far, to say the least, but what is commonly considered the highlight of this 10 week session of fun and excitement would be the opportunity to travel overseas - that's right, I'm referring to the IC (International Course). While this program provides a myriad of exotic and delightful adventures to a variety of countries across the globe, today I'll be sharing about one particularly intriguing IC13 :)

  Crueso I Dalefort! The first thing that greeted our eyes after a particularly long walk towards a seemingly particularly tall hill was this signboard. It was no doubt a symbol of relief in our hearts, having taken a path of uncertainty from the moment we stepped off the airplane. Although this would be the path that we would be taking continuously for the next few days, it gradually became increasingly familiar. The various landmarks, the locations of the nettles, and the turns of the roads were almost imprinted in our minds.

Reaching Dalefort! 

Since it was the first trip to the UK, it was a pleasant and refreshing experience to view the countryside, watch the majestic buildings with centuries of history, as well as exploring the amazing Warwick Castle, built in the day of the vikings. The people were also friendly and nice, having considerable humour, and enriching our entire journey chatting about the different people we met and the wide variety of food that we were delighted to taste.

  The temperature was great, being at a consistent 14 to 18 degrees celsius, so we had a pleasurable air-con environment 24/7! :D It was superbly enjoyable I can tell you that from personal experience. The moment we walked through the arch, I knew that the journey in our Dalefort Field Centre had officially began. Knowing that this opportunity would be extremely rare, I sought to treasure every moment we had, and I can say that I have no regrets. Although it could be tough trekking through hills and wetlands, being able to share these precious moments with your friends are what makes them worth it. It has been an eye opening experience, all thanks to our awesome group and our tutors, Catherine and Tor!

Mrs Ong Having A Nice Moment With Herself

  As most of the fieldwork projects that we committed to weren't able to be completed in SG, such as rocky shore profiles and organism classification, being able to really go forth and do all that we've dreamed of. It was fulfilling to actually enact what we've all written in our SBQs and actually put our hands down to actually performing our designated tasks. Not so much theory, more of reality ;) Well, in our 5-6 days I daresay it was worth the effort. Don't forget all the card-playing and sunrise too!

Hotdogs!

Then we set off to London, where most of the "weird" stuff happened haha! Be it selfies, cracking jokes along the tours, or having some fun at the restaurants, I think most of the humour came from the London section of the tour. Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, and the Museum of Natural History really displayed the heartfelt culture and history London possesses. Enlightened from this tour, I can safely say that it has deepened my knowledge of the land of the home of Sir Charles Chaplin and the Bard of Avon.  It has been immensely rewarding, and I think I've learnt a tremendous lot from this single trip.

  Once again, sincere thanks to the three awesome teachers who stuck with us through thick and thin, as well as everyone on the trip who made it so enjoyable! Have a great day / night, and thanks for reading!

Teehee 

Seeya :D

The Third Intifidah

A Short Introduction

  As we celebrate our nation's 49th anniversary, and appreciate everything that this country has bestowed upon us, there is a tendency to forget what is happening in an area 7,930 kilometres away from the little red dot. It's not something that's common in our daily lives, and we can barely empathise with it because all we've known about it is through the pages of history books and the words from our grandparents. It's a sinister concept, one that involves casualties and sacrifice. It is the phenomenon known as war. As of today, the outburst of comments and opinions have indeed somewhat been mollified to a certain degree, but in no way does it mean that the war has stopped. Not even close.

A Brief History

  Many would ask, what's so different about this conflict as compared to other uprisings? Well this difference in ideal and opinion has been deeply rooted since the existence of Israel as a country itself. After the Holocaust, the Jewish people's genuine wish for their liberation from discrimination and persecution culminated in the movement known as Zionism, referring to the belief of establishing a Jewish state within their ancestral homeland. They were given land in Palestine to form their own country, however the Arabs already inhabiting the area and neighbouring countries did not accept the establishment of the new country we know today (and since then) as Israel.

Conflict(s)

  Tensions has always been high since the establishment of the state, but two notable wars signalled the start of official aggression between the two parties. One occurred in 1948, and the other in 1967, known as the second Intifidah, after which Israeli troops occupied Gaza, only leaving in 2005. Shortly after the removal of the Israeli soldiers, the Palestinian side was fractured by conflict between Fatah, the dominant party, and it its electoral challenger Hamas, which has been since labelled as a terrorist organisation by many associations worldwide. The Hamas won the elections by a decent margin, but the US, EU and Israel still refuse to recognise its government. However, there was some reluctance in handing over full authority and this heightened the distrust between the two sides. The is resulted in the Battle of Gaza (2007) taking place as a climax in the Fatah-Hamas conflict, where Hamas fighters forcefully gained full control of the Gaza Strip through a violent uprising. 

Hamas

  As a governmental body, it strongly opposes recognition of Israel and is committed to its destruction. The military wing has since launched attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, using tactics from suicide bombings and missile attacks, many of which have been condemned as war crimes and crime against humanity by the UN. On the recent 8th of July 2014, Israel launched Operation: Protective Edge, (Direct translation refers to it as Solid Cliff) which was intended to stop the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. This was to an adverse effect, as the conflict escalated after an Israeli airstrike killed 7 Hamas members. 

Current Situation

  A continuous blockade of the Gaza Strip by the Egyptian and the Israeli governments. So far, over 1948 Palestinians have been killed (Gaza Health Ministry), and it is estimated that 72 percent of the casualties are civilians (1402 of the 1948). As of 5th August, 520,000 Palestinians have been displaced, with. 1.5 million civilians have limited excess to water supplies. Electricity is limited to 3 hours per household, as a result of the destruction of Gaza's only power plant. Thousands of citizens have also fled their homes due to the fear of rocket attacks. 

Living Conditions

  Even before this conflict, there has been tight control over all entires and exits into Gaza, with access being heavily restricted. Power cuts are frequent, and unemployment rates are high as few businesses are able to export their items for sale. The GDP per capita of the Gaza Strip is considerably low, at 6,100 USD, as compared to that of Israel, which stands at 32,567 USD. 

Conclusion and Considerations

  Seemingly, the media has some bias against Israel, making them out to be the aggressors and the Hamas being the victims. Even before I did research on this event, reading the various news articles have already imposed the perception that the Israelis are the ones at fault. Personally, I feel that this is a conflict that has many complex layers of clashes, and there isn't any right or wrong. Perhaps the ones whom we should really care about are the people whose daily lives are put in peril, and the innocents, who did not want any conflicts. I hoped this was insightful, a big thank you for reading, and have a nice day! (or night). Hope to see you soon :)

Trying out Blogging!

An Introduction 

Hiya! My name is Adrian Wang and uhhh I really don't know what to say here so I'll insert a smiley face. 

Why blog? 

I have seen quite a few amazing blogs, and blogging has always been a pastime I've wanted to adopt for a while, but somehow I never did have the commitment nor the time to do so (Been close a couple of times though. A for effort right?) Anyhow, I really wanted to try out blogging my thoughts about my daily life, events, and news that may seem fascinating and intriguing! However, this is my first time blogging, so do bear with my terribly newbie editing and formatting skills D:

Well you know what they say, 

Quite a meaningful quote eh? Something I picked up today after a sharing done by our seniors about Gap Sem which I thought was really applicable in our daily lives. There is no doubt that at some point in our lives we were/are amateurs at something, and it is definite that we will be meeting failures and setbacks along the way, but I believe that as long as you do learn from your mistakes, then you would improve, and I guess that's what's important. 

So I guess this marks off the day I actually start blogging! Will probably be adding a new post every fortnight I guess... Although it might vary between casual and formal styles! 

Well, that's it for today. Lastly, a belated Eid Mubarak for the friends having their Hari Raya Puasa celebrations :) Have a great day/evening/night ahead! 

See you soon :)