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Hey folks. How’s it going?
Before I leave for Malaysia in a couple of days, I’d like to try and clear away as much as possible of the backlog of blogposts which I have on draft. One of those “posts-on-draft” is none other than my effort on The Canadian Tulip Festival, which traditionally takes place in Ottawa at the very start of spring every year. Admittedly, much of the fire and life of this post has already been reduced to the bare cinders, having left it on draft for too long, but to scrap it altogether would be a very sad waste of time and decent pictures lol. So here it is – Festival canadien des tulips deux mille neuf – in the form of a picture post =)
A random gimmick that I will be trying to employ here tonight is this: I will attempt to caption ALL the photos with TITLES OF U2 SONGS. Let it not be said that I’m not creative XD
(or a very sad case XD)
I Will Follow.
Breathe.
Being Born.
Miami.
Wild Honey.
Staring At The Sun.
Miracle Drug.
City of Blinding Lights.
The Sweetest Thing.
Vertigo.
Desire.
Bullet The Blue Sky.
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Do You Feel Loved.
Yahweh.
No Line On The Horizon.
Pride.
All I Want Is You.
New Year’s Day.
The Unforgettable Fire.
When Love Comes To Town.
Even Better Than The Real Thing.
Fire.
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There were also cultural booths at the place; here are the associated pictures =)
Where The Streets Have No Name.
If God Will Send His Angels.
Two Hearts Beat As One.
Magnificent.
Please.
Boy – Girl.
Get On Your Boots.
Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.
Stories For Boys.
The First Time.
Mysterious Ways.
Babyface.
Shadows And Tall Trees.
The Playboy Mansion.
Grace.
One.
With Or Without You.
With A Shout.
Electrical Storm.
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.
Kite.
The Saints Are Coming (XD?)
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That’s all for now folks. All that captioning and memorizing drove me up the wall and now I’m as sleepy as heck ahahahah XD Take care all; good night et bon soir! =)
This song is starting to grow on me:
Monday morning
Eighteen years dawning
I said how long.
Say how long.
It was one dull morning
I woke the world with bawling
I was so sad
They were so glad.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
Boys and girls to school
And girls they make children
Not like this one.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
I was of the feeling it was out of control
I had the opinion it was out of control.
I fought fate
There’s blood at the garden gate
The man said childhood
It’s in his childhood
One day I’ll die
The choice will not be mine
Will it be too late?
You can’t fight fate.
I had the feeling it was out of control
I was of the opinion it was out of control.
- Out Of Control, U2.
Album: Boy (1980).
Despite the (ironically enough), rampant immaturity in the song’s lyrics, I find it especially poignant that Bono – young Bono – has somehow succeeded in chronicling how poor an actor Man is in the face of fate.
Good song.
You know, all those frankly useless (and sometimes dangerous) material – more often than not entitled “YOU MUST FORWARD TO FIFTEEN OTHER PEOPLE OR YOU’LL BE EATEN BY A RABID CLOWN”, “PLS FWD: SO TOUCHING!!” and “GOD’S MESSAGE” which clog up your inbox like nobody’s business (=.=”) and then drive you nuts each time just trying to get to and deal with all of them lol.
But beneath all the spam I have received as of late, one of them managed to contain really good advice – something I thought would be worth posting up here to randomly remind my friends and confidantes of what we may be doing wrong in our lives, subconsciously and consciously. Here goes:
1. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
3. Don’t over do things. Keep your limits.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
6. Dream more while you are awake.
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
8. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class, but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more.
14. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
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Goodnight world =)
I’m going home to Malaysia this weekend, and early upfront I tell you that I can’t wait for this next exciting adventure of my life. It’s been a solid 21 months since I last left home, and although Canada has easily been more-than-awesome, and the experience more-than-exhilarating, I still can’t wait to be back on home soil to see familiar faces and hear familliar sounds again.
I’d write more on that idea alone – the concept of being away from home and the experiences garnered from there on end are infinitely worthy of a blogpost even by itself – but that is not the reason I am here writing today. I am here to chronicle one of the most remarkable events that has happened to me as of late; as sad as it may sound, that event is called gift-buying.
Blessed with a large extended family and numerous friends and confidantes worth thinking about and caring for, I guess it shouldn’t be of any real surprise that when the time came to decide as to whether I should get anyone anything from the country in which I have been studying in (and will be for the next two years as well), the answer was a very easy yes lol =) While I have been away from home, along the way I gradually began to realize – to greater extents that is – the sacrifices that people have made for me to get here, and the uniqueness of having someone that you actually know go away for tertiary studies. Of course none of these people ever explicitly demanded things – my success on its own is probably reward enough for their watching eyes – but there is always some poignancy I guess, attached to the idea of actually saying thank you in a more physical and immediate way.
To this end, I have been going out to downtown (and even uptown if you will) Ottawa on an almost daily basis – save for a brief period last week when I wasn’t feeling too perky – each time hunting high and low for items that I felt would best convey my thanks, and also the general spirit of the country I have been away in, namely Canada. If you’re curious about cost, I’ll tell you that it probably came to about a full month’s allowance from Petronas flat…ordinarily I would wince many, many times about giving away such copious amounts of cash, especially in this dire economic times – and to targets from which I served to gain nothing from at that!! But I have to admit, although the thought of slowing down a little and perhaps amputating some people from my list did turn up once or twice – the thought of all you awesome people back home kept me at it.
Every day I would go out again, every day I would resume looking, every day I updated my personal shopping list and updated inventory – it took a reasonable amount of effort, but I will say that that’s the least that all of you superheroes at home deserve from me =) It was in the end a reasonably tiring (and expensive XD) journey, but I know it was worth it =) With a final CAD 60 purchase at the University of Ottawa boutique today, my exploits finally came to an end, and now I can finally concentrate on trying to fit everything into my bag lol XD
Ultimately though, what I’m trying to say here by chronicling all of this down is simple I guess – thanks guys. Thanks very much from the bottom of my heart for all the support, attention and love that you have given me in my pursuit of success under this Petronas scholarship. I am only halfway there, and the hardest parts are yet to come, but even players take a breather and speak to their manager in the locker room at half-time =) It’s a time to give back, and also a time to take a break, go away and then dream it up all over again – this I intend to do as soon as June 1st rolls around.
On my list here I have my parents, two siblings, five extended families, and five personal friends. I won’t let on on who they are just yet, but if you’re listed among the group mentioned above, then know that you’re very special to me in many many ways and that I hold you to credit for shaping me into the person I am today. For these very same people, the stuff I have gotten for you is personally customized – no two gifts are the same – and is effectively a record of what I remember best of you across the years and feel that you will take into the future.
I land in Malaysia on June 1st at approximately 6 pm. From that point onwards I will make it a goal of mine to see as many of you as I can, for as long as I can – just wait for my signal and we’ll rendezvous in some way, shape or form. I promise you all that that it will be very soon, and the wait very quick =)
So, I guess…
See you then?
Some of you may remember this post – it was a collage of photos that I created last June in order to chronicle the numerous banner-based decorations that deck the National Capital Region each time spring rolls around. It has been no different this time around – spring still arrives in May, the weather is still gorgeous, and the banner decorations are still in their traditional spots lol.
The only thing that’s changed is the design of the banners; apparently the National Capital Commission (the body that’s in charge of looking after the aesthetics of Canada’s capital. In any case, here’s this year version of the provincial and territorial commemorative banners in the form of a short From Sea To Sea picture post, courtesy of yours truly =)
In no particular order:
# 1 – NOVA SCOTIA
Munit Hae et Altera Vincit
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# 2 – ONTARIO
Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet
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# 3 -QUEBEC
Je me souviens
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# 4 -NUNAVUT TERRITORIES
Nunavut Sannginivut
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# 5 -YUKON TERRITORY
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# 6 -NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The New North
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# 7 – BRITISH COLUMBIA
Splendor sine occasu
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# 8 -ALBERTA
Fortis et liber
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# 9 – MANITOBA
Gloriosus et Libaer
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# 10 -SASKATCHEWAN
Multis e Gentibus Vires
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# 11 -PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Parva sub ingenti
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# 12 -NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Quaerite prime regnum Dei
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# 13 – NEW BRUNSWICK
Spem reduxit
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Alright folks that’s it for now. I’d write more but I have to make dinner and am not feeling very well at the moment. I also have a call to home to make and a debate teammate who’s coming by later tonight to prep cases. That’s not to mention the U2 video I have wanted to watch for AGES still lying around – namely PopMart LOL.
So I’ll leave this post just like this, so it ultimately becomes what I had wanted it to be – eye candy =)
Warmest regards from Ottawa folks!! =D
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PS – 12 days to home!!! =D =D =D
Alright folks, this is long overdue LOL – rest assured however, that despite the massive gap in between posts, I have not forgotten that I owe you guys the rest of my WUDC 2008/2009 story – I have just been very busy as of late =) But my handing in of my GEO 2020 Field Report last Thursday marked the beginning of three months of freedom for me, and we’ll see if I can’t get this series finished over the next few days.
Right, so where were we?
As I recall, Day 3 – also known as the commencement of the tournament proper as the main debate rounds got underway. I also remember that I promised a blow-by-blow analysis of each and every round that I would be in, and I will definitely adhere to my word =)
To further sweeten things up, I feel that since I made you all wait for SO FREAKING LONG for this next Cork Worlds post of mine, I would do well to convey my appreciation in some form of another LOL. This I have done, so keep reading to see what “exclusive material” lies in wait for you in this post lol.
Three rounds of debate were to happen today, and being the Worlds nut that I was (or am =D), I had worked out what today meant for all competing teams in my head. Mathematically, it was still possible to qualify for the knockout rounds even if you lost ALL of your rounds today (sad bugger, you XD) as with 6 rounds remanining over the next two days, one could theoretically still compile 18 points (6 x 3 = 18) and stand a decent chance of making it into the Octofinals. I did not expect to break myself however, and decided that what would be most important for us at Ottawa EDS A was to make a good start to the tournament.
Random Tangent: Yes, that was the name of the team from the University of Ottawa btw (Ottawa EDS A)…I assure you it created lots of confusion due to the fact that there exists a team from South Korea called EDiS in debating circles. Also as I recall, one of my Dutch opponents was understandably more than shocked to discover what she thought would be the Erasmus Debating Society from the Netherlands actually appeared to be comprised of a Palestinian-Canadian and a random Malaysian XD
For me, what constituted “a good start” was based on the following ideas – not knowing the full extent of the debatosphere, I was purely intent on making sure no speakers whom I KNEW to be weaker than I was would get the better of me. This may sound like a very wonky target, but trust me, I have had my share of losing to novices since I came to Canada >.< What goes around comes around I guess, since I have had my share of upsetting big names every now and then before LOL. Furthermore, prior to Worlds, my best start for a British Parliamentary tournament (assuming the yardstick of the first three rounds) would be to pick up four points out of a maximum 9, with the scale going down to a measly two this one time at 2007’s Hart House Invitational. I personally thought that that was more than pathetic and really wanted to change that.
Anyway, I met Amy in one of the four main debate lounges (Boole 4) with my notes and we began talking about what we could expect from the tournament later that day. I remember feeling damned uncomfortable that I still had NOT had a proper change of clothing ever since I arrived (my luggage had still not arrived =( + >.< >.<) and wondering if such discomfort would actually impede my speaking performance. In any case, the two of us felt that despite there being some discussion from EDS HQ that it might actually be a good idea to not take a full three points from the first round (if ever we were so privileged of course) in order to ensure less hazardous second and third rounds for the day, we would still go all out to bag as many points as we could in order to advance; the justification was this – I never felt that Ottawa EDS A was even close to being talented enough to tactically negotiate its way past so-called “easier” opponents. Regardless, I still felt slightly discomfited and many questions were running though my head – it was no secret that there was a distinct lack of chemistry in my team, and the two of us frankly didn’t communicate that wellwith each other on so many issues…it wasn’t even funny >.<
More than anything though, more than once I would get the impression from her that I was considered as the “liability” of the team – the weak link hanging around in the chain, “if-anyone-is-going-to-f&%k-things-up-it’ll-be-you” kinda thing…which only served to add to my insecurity with regard to my debating abilities and further perpetuated the negative cycle in my head >.< Before all these doubts were even completely banished from my head however, the draw had came up on the projectors:
Cork Worlds Round 1: Room Q6
OG: Muenster A [Germany]
OO: Ottawa EDS A [Canada]
CG: Stockholm Economic B [Sweden]
CO: Swarthmore A [United States of America] (oh yes Mr. Andrew Loh!! XD)
Putting the draw up took AGES, and I was struggling to keep my eyes focused on the words that were rolling up so inscrutably slowly on the projector screens >.< Even Wai Yung and Trinna managed to drop by and hang around with me LOL – it took that long @.@ I suppose I should have expected this – with more than 300 teams in the tournament, and the fact that the draw had to be put up more than once (teams had a chance to see their draw and debate venue four times each), it was bound to take more than the standard 10 minutes usually associated with debate room announcements lol. I examined my opponents in detail and was slightly apprehensive that I knew next to nothing about most of my opponents; save for perhaps Swarthmore – having debated two of their teams in a single round back at the Yale IV. But even then I was sure that Swarthmore had sent more than two teams there, and more than one here, so even that little bit of information was next to useless >.<
So essentially, I would be flying in complete darkness for my first ever World Championship round – and not know if a pack of world champions were lying in wait to rip my guts out and tear my debate self from limb-to-limb in Room Q6.
And then it finally arrived – the motion for Round 1; the very same that would in and of itself kick off Cork Worlds 2008/2009 and set the tone for things to come:
CORK WORLDS ROUND 1 MOTION: This House Would Ban All Forms of Gambling.
Screw Mugabe, screw American elections, and above all screw your Somali pirates LOL!!! To warm things up, Round 1 of Worlds was essentially nothing more than a standard morals vs individual liberties round! To be honest I was quite relieved about that – I didn’t feel all too awesome about having to talk about more “complicated” stuff like that of Georgia and Abkhazia so early on in Worlds. Amy and I had picked a good position towards the end of the room and were the first out of the gates, setting off at a very fast trot towards the Quad and discussing points and arguments as we went
It is worth noting here that Amy and I were actually the first team to make it onto the University Quadrangle for the rounds of Cork Worlds (we were ahead of the others by at least seven feet XD), and had the random honour of being the first targets of photography of the professional cameramen stationed there waiting to cover the event for the local dailes LOL!! I remember being photographed on both sides as Amy and I rushed into the antechambers of the building…I have this random feeling I must have looked pretty intelligent – what with my Economists hanging out of my bag and my debate-notes in a well-organized file in my arms XD.
As we ran (and were photographed XD) my inner self was jumping inwardly, high, high, higher!! =DDDD!! We were actually off! I was debating at Worlds!! No kidding when I tell you it was a high school dream come true for me – and actually being able to represent a Western university, and a former World Champion institution at that only made it that much more awesome for me =) Perhaps my enthusiasm showed, as the 15 minutes prep I had with Amy was one of the very best I had ever had in ages. We worked as a solid, coherent unit, had our points finished and ready to go in 10 minutes and felt extremely pumped – an awesome feeling to have in any day and form =) It was also fantastic that the two of us would start in our strongest position of Opening Opposition (OO)
Alright, here’s where I unveil my coup de grace – I promised you guys exclusive material in order to make up for my abject lateness in writing this up; here they are: actual excerpts from my notes, written in real time XD SO now you can see how my sick mind works, and appreciate the hieroglyphical and doctor-ish tinge to my personal handwritings =p
Hey, this is authentic Worlds memorabilia I tell you!! XD + =p =p
Round 1 Notes, Page 1
Round 1 Notes, Page 2
Round 1 Notes, Page 3
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As you can probably make out from the writings of this scribe here, Ottawa EDS A went for a 3-2 points split, trusting the Opposition Leader (me) to come out with more substantive as opposed to attack. I should not here that this has never been a position in which I am accustomed to be in – I have always thought of myself as an attacking speaker as opposed to a constructive and defensive one. But it seems to work in BP, so we elected to use it. Amy was tasked with carrying the brunt of the attack home instead.
With all respect to them, Muenster A turned out to be a decidedly less-than-average team, carrying only a single point in the PM’s speech and later a very suspect second argument in the DPM. The Opposition bench was on fire – it turned out that Swarthmore A was actually a bit more than just good lol – they were tearing into Opening Gov like no tomorrow, and it took a LOT of shadowing (note: competing for POIs from the floor) from us on Opening Opp to keep them out of the game for as long as we could…I felt like a jackhammer the way I peppered the PM with POI requests lol. It succeeded though – Swarthmore didn’t manage to get a single POI in until Closing Government began their speech, the quota effectively taken up by Ottawa EDS A. It was good for us on 1O that the PM was a bit slow on the upstart because as it turned out, my enthusiasm and energy in prepping did not translate into a good performance – I was rusty and uneven to say the least. But I did my job, presenting all three of my arguments in time and rounding off the whole affair by – if I may – crushing the PM to the point of no return.
I have to say here that having Rory Gillis (a Canadian, but of Yale University) as the chair in your room can be one of the most imperious experiences a budding debater can have. Impassive, hardly taking notes, and with a quizzical look in his eyes, thy guy intimidates me every single time I give a speech in front of him o.O
DPM and DLO passed in pretty much the same manner – Amy delivered her two points of “Addiction Being The Core Problem” and “Gambling Tourism” to latch on to mine which dealt with “Individual Liberties”, ” Harms of the Potential of Driving Gambling Underground” and “Feasible Alternatives”. Closing Gov turned out to be a shade better than their opening half, and sort of redeemed the government side a bit, but I still felt we had the better of them – this was good; what looked to be at least a second place in my first Worlds round ever was more than I had ever dreamed of. The question now was, could Swarthmore deliver?
It looked like they could – Cyrus Stoller was as impressive as I have ever seen him, giving a speech MUCH more well-organized and structured as opposed to Amy and mine combined on Opening Opp. Clearly trumping us on style, the guy waltzed his way past the meagre resistance offered by Closing Gov. There was one problem though – his argument of gambling tourism wasn’t exactly a novel addition to the round. The second half of Amy and my strategy had come through – we had burnt the turf and taken all the good arguments, leaving none left for our closing half; we had actually put Swarthmore A in trouble.
I suspect the Opp Whip – Julie Baker – sensed this as well. Her speech was fantastic and immensely deceptive as Opening Opp was never in any way alluded to in her rebuttals and constructive issues; it seemed like she was trying to walk AROUND us to avoid the penalty given to teams that failed to bring any new matter to the round. I was very impressed (as I always am with good whip speakers) with the show that these guys put up – and for good reason too; Swarthmore A would later break to the Octofinals in 21st place with a handsome haul of 19 points. That was actually a breaking team right there with us.
At the end of it all, I thought she had done it – to me she had managed to differentiate their weak extension in a manner that it seemed a lot more awesome than the stuff Amy and I had put together. It looked like we would collect two points from Round 1 – not bad at all; to me there was no way Ottawa EDS A had the same degree of showmanship that Swarthmore A had @.@
The round ended overwhelmingly in Opp’s favour – the question was now which side of the winning bench would take 1st and 2nd, and who would get 3rd and 4th from the losing half. We filed out of the room to wait, and a rather long wait it was – it would be 15 minutes before Rory Gillis hauled us back in for his RFD. After we had settled down he began speaking and said that he would announce the results in descending order and continue from there.
I had the shock of my life when he said “So we gave the first to Opening Opp, and second to Closing Opp…” at the top of his RFD. I remember just sitting there, stunned that we had actually done it – we had upset a team in our very first round and claimed all three points @.@Even better, the reasons why we had won was exactly due to the way in which Amy and I had applied our strategems to the round – we had burnt the turf, and Swarthmore failed to differentiate. Game over for them @.@
This stunned feeling would propagate even further on break night when we heard Swarthmore A was actually of breaking pedigree lol XD
So that was it. Amy and I grinned at each other, exchanged high fives and took care to shake the hands of everyone in the room before we left =) It was a wonderful and stupendous feeling to take all three points in one’s first ever World Championship round – I couldn’t help grinning to myself; with the way the tournament was set up, this actually meant that for all of three hours, Ottawa EDS A was ranked as one of the Top 74 teams in the world LOL XD
Yes yes this is me doing some angkat-bakul XD Allow a man some room to celebrate his little victories lah hahaha!!
But on the other end of the spectrum, this probably meant that we would be in a room as hard as nails for our next round lol. Amy and I laughed about it on the way back to the Boole Theaters – we decided we would actually not turn up if we got Oxford A, Sydney A and Harvard A for our next preliminary round LOL XD I caught up with Trinna and Wai Yung and heard they took a 3rd in their opening round, and were slighly disappointed as I recall; UT Mara 1 of Aerie and Jo suffered similar sentiments as their fourth place left them still stranded on zero points =( MMU and IIUM were equally on fire however, both teams grabbing full points to somewhat lighten the mood in the Malaysian camp as I saw it.
As it turned out, Amy and I weren’t that far off from feeling like we should make good on our threat of ditching the next round lol. After lunch (if I recall it was some sub somewhat filled with cold turkey and old withered veggies =.=”) the draw was released, and although I was gratified by what our escapades had earned us earlier, it did give me a bit of nerves to know that my next round would be as rough as hell lol.
Cork Worlds Round 2: Room Q7
OG: Koc A [Turkey]
OO: Inner Temple A [England]
CG: Oxford B [England]
CO: Ottawa EDS A [Canada]
Hello hello England XD I had the less-than-enviable job of opping an Oxford B team that would obviously be one of the best in the world in my very second round at the tournament LOL. Fun stuff XD Amy and I laughed our heads off at the draw – we knew all teams there by reputation as it was, and settled down to plan our next round. It was decided that I would act as the opp whip because Amy felt there would be a need to rebuild the team at the very end of the round. I didn’t protest as I didn’t exactly envy coming up with an extension that could differentiate itself from Inner Temple A and survive the tirades of Oxford B LOL @.@
Then the motion popped up and I just wanted to blind myself lol:
CORK WORLDS ROUND 2 MOTION: This House Would Fire The Senior Managements of All Corporations Which Receive Government Bailouts.
Bleargh econs >.< Not exactly my strong suit. It was indeed going to be a rough ride. Our prepping went pretty well by all accounts (not much to prep for on Closing Opp anyway eh?), but I was slightly unsettled by Amy’s refusal to settle on ideas for a possible extension right there and then. I don’t know, but I’ve never been big on prepping points in-round. Fine it may work, but why go through a wall when you can just use the door eh? @.@
Koc A from Turkey, and hosts of next year’s World Championships kicked off the round – they did pretty well as I remember, but I was forcibly reminded of my mantra of not losing out to teams I knew I could tussle with; this was one of them. From the moment the bell rang to signal the end of the PM’s speech I had decided – I would settle for nothing less than third in this room. For real man. We could take those guys down if we worked our asses off. Inner Temple then turned up and swallowed Koc A whole, just breaking away at their arguments and effectively throwing down a challenge to Oxford B to decide which was the better English team in the room. I admit to feeling ridiculously annoyed by the way in which the latter team would give their speeches and ask for POIs – there was this accent about those that to me sounded extremely pretentious and grating to mine ears lol.
Oxford B answered the challenge with much aplomb. Shengwu Li’s extension speech was by far and away the best speech I watched in any of my rounds – incredible stuff; it’s going to take me eons to explain both his extensions to the round (yes there were two), but rest assured they reeked of pure genius – we on Closing Opposition were totally taken aback; this same person would later go on to be ranked 7th best speaker in the world; his partner would be joint 18th. Speaking of us on 2O however, my fears with regard to our prep time came horribly true in the final moments of the closing half; I began asking my partner as to whether she had an extension ready – those of you in debating circles will know that in order for closing teams to win a round, they must provide a unique contribution to the round – by way of an extension – which should be provided by the first speaker, and supported in full by the whip. Thus to me it was vital that I knew what the extension was in order for me to effectively construct a whip speech to save our asses. After Oxford B had raced past Inner Temple, all I could think of was stealing 3rd place away from the Turks -
But my partner didn’t have an extension, even when it was only five minutes before the speaker ahead of her sat down – and she never would. I don’t want to sound like I’m condemning anyone here, but I have to say I wish we had communicated better.
Round 2 Notes, Page 1.
Round 2 Notes, Page 2.
See how full that second page is? That’s me trying to engage Shengwu Li LOL. It didn’t go too well, as the RFD of the round later told us ahahahaha (you try whipping after one of the world’s best speakers and see how you find it XD); Jason Rogers – yet another Canadian – was our chair for the round, and proceeded to explain matters just as Rory Gillis did earlier. As you may have guessed, Oxford B won the round handsomely. Inner Temple were a distant, distant second whereas 3rd and 4th place were both close tussles between ourselves and Koc A. With proclamations that “the whip speech was only effective defensively” and “there was no distinct extension that we heard coming out from Closing Opposition”, Koc A were handed the 3rd place and a solitary point ahead of us.
Talk about being brought back to Earth lol. From a high flying 3 points out of 3 we were suddenly handed a flat zero for our next round and told to begin over >.<
I was disappointed, sure: I had really wanted that 3rd place – the exact same way that I so desired the same result in my brief stint at the Malaysian National Health Sciences Debate in where I was paired in the same room with UT Mara 1 (Danial and Masai), MMU 1 (Big Boy and Kandahar) and a random UM 3…I would end up disappointed then, and today was no different. Thus it was with sinking hearts that Amy and I made our way back to Boole – we were now stranded in the middle of the debating pack and anything could happen to us from now on.
The other Malaysian teams as I recall did really well – USM hauled themselves onto 3 points with a spiffy second place finish, whereas IIUM consolidated their 3 with another sole mark. UT Mara also got their account going – it was only myself at the EDS that didn’t go anywhere. I tried keeping track of the other Canadian teams as well, but they were frankly too numerous to keep tabs on, literally. All I recall from then is that York Canada A – Jeremy Larkins and Rudi Lof – were also on 3.
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Cork Worlds Round 3: ORB G01
OG: Ateneo B [Phillippines]
OO: TCD History C [Ireland]
CG: Ottawa EDS A [Canada]
CO: Yokohama A [Japan]
I have no idea how you guys are coping with reading all my recollections of debate round after debate round, but there’s just one more to go for this post so hang in there =) It was a couple of hours after the second round had ended that the debaters congregated in Boole were handed a third motion and draw to tackle with.
The method of announcing the draws at Cork Worlds 2008/2009.
CORK WORLDS ROUND 3 MOTION: THW Allow Soldiers To Sue Their Government For Negligence.
I had suspected we would be thrown straight into an infinitely unpredictable mix, and I was right – for Round 3 we had an incredibly diverse mix: a team each from the Phillippines, Japan, the hosts Ireland and also Canada. Of the teams here, the only one I knew by reputation were none other than the folks at Ateneo de Manila…it’s kind of hard to not know who they are when you start debating in a region where they have been the dominant force for ages lol. I informed Amy about this, and she seemed unpeturbed. Oh well, at least I appreciated the fact that we didn’t exactly get dumped to the sucky end of the 3-point bracket lol. The motion to me was pretty straight-forward, but apparently not everyone in the room agreed – 10 minutes into the round and Amy and I discovered that despite their squeaky clean performances and well structured arguments, Ateneo B had apparently struck a nerve with the Irish team as they went about accusing the Filipinos of a squirreled or tightly defined motion.
From where I was sitting as the extension speaker for Closing Gov, it didn’t look like it was that big of a deal to be honest – I thought the definition was essentially fine, although in hindsight I imagine it could have been because of the fact that we at the EDS may have prepped the thing entirely wrongly as well. Our extensions came in the form of discussing how the game of modern warfare has changed in recent times – with smart bombs and maiming weapons and such – thus necessitating a faith from the soldadu with their military’s intelligence agencies; we argued that because times have changed, so should legislation. There was another minor point with regard to increased enrolment in the army upon higher guarantees of safety if I recall correctly. What I remember for sure was that Amy was brilliant in this round, posting her highest score of the tournament as we sailed to a second place just behind TCD History C and ahead of the apparently-squirreling Ateneo. The Japanese, EFL speakers as it were, were relegated to the wooden spoon.
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So that was it. A win and a second place from three rounds, with a third ending in mass disaster and damage to our rankings lol. I was reasonably happy with how Amy and I had fared on the opening day, and if we proceeded at this rate for the rest of the tournament I didn’t have much to complain about lol. So it was in such a state that I returned to the Jurys Cork Hotel after dinner. Only upon arriving did I realize how effing tired I was after three straight rounds of debate. I was so exhausted that I just collapsed on the sheets and lay there until I missed the women’s debate that took place later that evening LOL @.@ I only woke up in time for the social down at the Women’s Night locale.
I was going to write here that I do not remember what exactly happens next but then I realized that I actually do. So I headed down to one of the bars that the Org Comm had booked for the Women’s Night, redeemed my free drink coupon (a can of pop please, and thank you very much) and found Aerie and Wai Yung at the front of the bar. It wasn’t long before we in turn bumped into Trinna, Hafiedz, and the very drunk and alcohol-laden Masai LOL XD I had a stupendous chat with them then, finally being able to catch up with people who actually knew who I was and figured out what would interest me. The dirt of all the Malaysian debate scene that I had been missing was finally catching up with me, and boy was I glad to hear of it for fun’s sake =) + XD
Lots of inside jokes and Malaysian-isms aside (this includes more than one reference to how ridiculous and pseudo-kiasu we can be down in the Peninsular and Borneo XD), I actually felt at peace at this debating tournament. Again, gone were the fears that I had always seemed to face at debating tournaments ever since I started studying in Canada. For some reason the very borders that for some reason keeps preventing me from making contacts and staying on excellent terms with them at any international tournament I had previously attended were completely disintegrated and made irrelevant with this bunch. And no it wasn’t because we were all Malaysian; before long other faces had joined in – it was here that I met Mr Thepparith Senamngern (TJ) of Assumption University for the first time ever via an introduction from Hafiedz.
Before long the latter suggested that we all go somewhere else for more drinks on his treat; happily in the mood, all of us complied. Before long we were down at another locale just a few streets away, laughing our heads off at TJ, Masai and Hafiedz’s jokes – those three made a fantastic team together man. And there was Wai Yung, drunk as nuts and guzzling his beers like there was no tomorrow LOL. Beside him, I was just content to eat the free peanuts on offer and admire pictures from Assumption University Worlds 2007/2008 on TJ’s cellphone lol. Some bits of regional satirical jokes were brilliant while that was going on XD My fave has got to be the suggestion that UT Mara should try and bid to host Worlds, and in the event that they get it have Hafiedz as convenor LOL.
And it doesn’t stop there – I had discovered for the first time ever that elephants – the international symbol of Thailand, as it were – had actually made an appearance at the last Worlds Final LOL!! TJ was showing me pictures of how he RODE one into the grand final hall and proceeded to begin the round proper from there on end – I was so amazed and pleasantly surprised lol @.@ That would mark the beginning of my phase of incessant regrets for never having made it to AU Worlds ahahaha XD
Anyway we were suggesting that UT Mara Worlds should try to employ the same idea – have a local animal of some sort be carted into the hall, with the CA Hafiedz on it’s back XD Some one suggested an orangutan LOL, which was then improved on when some smart(er)-ass suggested that it should be a Proton instead hahahahahahahahhaha XD XD XD!!!! There was silence for a bit and then someone else spoke up:
“Maybe it should be Hafiedz as the animal. He’s hairy enough.”
I don’t know which caused me to fall from my chair in laughter – the fact that Hafiedz was INDEED ridiculously hairy and animal-esque in physique that night or the fact that the good man actually mimicked crawling across the drinking table LOL XD XD With bulging eyes, curled eyebrows and hairy arms included – all those of you who have been up close to Hafiedz will know how prominent those oculars and brows of his are LOL XD
We continued in that fashion for a bit before we finally headed back to the buses and called it quits on Cork Worlds’ Day 3. This post would have been ended right here and now – with me noting that nothing else of interest to my general audience happened after my night out with the lads – if not for the final, very awesome thing that occurred to me after I boarded on the buses to go home. Even after all this while I still consider the events of that very point in time ridiculously significant and important to me – so much so that I’d like to inscribe it here as part of my excellent memoirs of Cork Worlds…it was after all that binge laughing that I met little Miss Prae for the first time =)
Most of you already know (or suspect…damn you =.=”) the very good and close rapport that I have made with this extremely fun Thai girl over the past four months, and well, here’s where it all began I guess lol. Having been the first person on the bus after TJ, the seat beside mine was empty and it possessed the strong advantage of being in close proximity to Mr Senamngern, which I assume up to now (I have never asked) Prae had wanted to speak with. After promising her that I’d send her the bill for occupying the seat next to me after she had asked for it (no this didn’t actually happen XD) she sat down to my immediate right and we just started flowing in conversation I suppose.
If you had told me right there and then that I’d still be fantastic companions with her and keep in touch after all this while (~4.5 months?) I’d have told you to go and sit on TJ’s lap on that bus lol. I randomly note I haven’t seen her much for quite a bit as of late though; really hope you’re doing well + balik cepat-cepat tau!! =)
After that noteworthy busride ended however, it was a quick night for me – I stumbled up to my bed in Jury’s Cork and changed quickly before passing out. As my eyelids fluttered shut I remember that my final thoughts of the day were as follows: I was somewhat worried about my baggage’s apparent pertinence on remaining missing in action, but was still having enough fun to note that I had finally managed to break my jinx of starting relatively poorly at BP tournaments by setting a new record points haul for the opening three rounds. And tomorrow the journey would continue.
=)
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# 4:
Boy (Remastered): Deluxe Edition
10/04/2009.
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# 5:
October (Remastered): Deluxe Edition
10/04/2009.
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I didn’t know they sounded so catchy and of more-than-decent quality even in their earliest years. Their sophomore album (October) to me is particularly outstanding – although I’m sure the bulk of the music world will readily disagree with me lol. The fact that the editions that I own are not only remastered, but also come in a nifty booklet, have a well-restored hardcover casing and a bonus audio CD to boot only sweetens the deal.
And let’s not forget that orgasmic 20% discount at HMV =p
All that scrouging and saving came up to these two albums, and I have to say that I am more than satisfied =)
Here’s hoping the collection rolls onwards!! =D
I suddenly don’t want to have children @.@
The idea of being tied down by my own soccer teams suddenly seems a lot less fun and amusing man.
o.O?
Note that these are the incoherent thoughts of a single 21 year old in the midst of writing his 55% Field Studies write-up due at 5.00 pm this evening (it is now 11.32 am).
@.@
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