Apathy and boobs.

I don’t understand why people expend so much energy into discussing issues that do not affect them in a tangible or direct manner. What I am referring to in particular would be school authority. Many of the mainstream students like to proclaim that teachers favour IP kids and IP is given priority, in general. This is most unjust.

To this, I have a few things to say. Firstly, the world isn’t fair. So suck it up.

Secondly, what rewards or opportunities have been explicitly denied from you? If it was about clinching some award or flying to Maldives (for CIP, though I don’t really know why pampered Singaporeans want to go to a third world country and engage in manual labour that probably could be more productively done if you were to sub it out to the construction workers there) and you were eked out by an IP kid by virtue of that very status, I’ll be completely empathic. However, for most of us, I doubt the IP has actually ensnared anything tangible away from you. I personally don’t see myself put in a lesser position and being denied any privileges. Since I don’t crave any of those privileges, I am perfectly content to be sidelined by the IP regime.

Maybe I cannot be completely empathic because I’m not the one who is being denied privileges. Okay, then let’s take my CCA, soccer. We are in quite a dire state, and till this day the juniors have yet to set foot on the field with their gear. Isn’t that, for want of a better word, utterly pathetic? Yet I see no point in complaining during feedback sessions, which I think are just opportunities for the masses to feel like they are being listened to, whereas the poor Council have to deal with the rejection when they pose these queries to the upper management. They can’t do shit about it. What, construct a new field? Or siphon off funds from overachieving CCAs to ours, and have them wryly suggest that my CCA is an insignificant one and we should just piss off? It’s only a façade of democracy; your complaints will never be heard, deal with it and move on!

Speaking of the CCA, I am quite relieved that we wouldn’t have to participate in this year’s Nationals. It is no secret – we suck. If we play, we’re going to get trashed around like day-old sanitary pads. I am grateful that we don’t have to embarrass ourselves on the pitch. Thank Miss Koh for her compassion!

Similarly, I don’t understand why people hate the Principal with such a vengeance. Has she insulted you personally? Well, maybe she had when referring to the new 6-year programme that NJC is embarking on. The school will be able to groom the impressionable young upstarts, whereas we “late developers” will just have to fumble along with the pitiful two years that we have here. Well, I don’t care if she calls us “late developers”. So what if I do? Will it make a difference? I cannot deny that the Principal has an air of pomposity, but my dislike for her lasts as long as her speeches do. She is merely a temporary annoyance. Otherwise, in no way does she play a tangible role in my life and I do not let her minor slips of tongue annoy me. This is also why I cannot care for politics, because caring doesn’t change a thing. I can only concern myself with issues over which I have power, over which that impacts my life in some significant way.

Yes, the principal’s and the government’s decisions will change my life, but there is no point caring since there is little I can do about it, so I’ll just accept whatever comes with stoicism.
Perhaps this reflects a self-centred and egoistic mentality as I only care about things that affect me directly, but I view it as simply being pragmatic and efficient. To mire myself in the cacophony of political chatter would serve no purpose. Despite my apathy towards the decisions of establishments, I regard my brand of apathy as distinct from the lackadaisical indifference that your stereotypical teen possesses. Mine stems from choice and a contempt for unproductive activity, theirs ignorance and a general tendency to engage themselves in superfluity.

But this does not mean I am unconcerned about the terrible waste of time GC and non-subject related lessons are. I don’t blame the school for imposing these initiatives, simply because blaming the school wouldn’t achieve anything. But I fault my teacher for keeping us back despite not having anything to do. That is blind subservience to higher authority, that’s what. In the interest of greater good, rules should be bent. It being pointless to contest the higher authority, I can only fault her for her inability to adapt to circumstances. And I care, because it is my time you are wasting, dammit!

Speaking of non-productive student welfare lessons, I find it extremely hard to take a teacher’s advice for job applications. Don’t most teachers start out being teachers and have stayed in the same career ever since? They can’t possibly be teaching us from experience, since they’ve been stuck in school forever. We all know that nobody teaches for the money, so obviously their number one priority is passion. Passion doesn’t fill stomachs. Does this mean that they will encourage us to go for whatever passion fuels us to do? If I were to follow my “passion”, I’d probably be a sub par fashion design student. Oh, wait. I am a sub par JC student. Ugh.

Well, so I asked my teacher if she ever worked in a different job before becoming a teacher.

“Nope, this is my first, and probably will be my last job.”

“So is this usually the case for most teachers? That they start off teaching and remain teaching ever since?”

“Ya, most teachers are like that. But there are some Math teachers that used to be engineers or accountants and decided to teach.”

During the class, we were told to do research on prospective companies, so we appear prepared and significantly interested in our prospective job. Do teachers really need to do this? They’ve been in academia for at least ten years, and it appears to me quite safe to continue staying in a school for the rest of their lives. I just can’t trust a teacher to tell me how to apply for jobs. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.

I’ve been thinking about the appeal of nice legs. Logically speaking, I think boobs have a much more straightforward appeal. Both breasts and boobs are visually arresting and seductive. But I want to find out WHY. I think breasts have a more straightforward appeal, because when a nice set of breasts are on display, the automatic reaction probably goes like this (this is where I attempt to decipher the male brain, having not been able to discuss this issue with a male):

1. Mmm. Grope.
2. Mmm. Snuggle.
3. Mmm. Suck.

Boobs arouse the infant within, and results in a craving for maternal affection. Whereas for legs, it’s not exactly squishy enough to grope (and it’s not exactly a perfect handful either); one can’t rest his head on legs like you can on boobs, unless you’re talking about lying on thighs (but a pair of toned quads might actually be too firm a pillow); it doesn’t exactly have protrusions one can suckle from. (Toes? Nah.)

Long, shapely legs are appealing because they visually direct the eye to the crotch, which is reproduction factory. Otherwise, there isn’t much you can do with them, in terms of fondling. And this is why I think boobs have a more straightforward appeal than legs. Legs only indirectly lead to what matters (the crotch), whereas the appeal of boobs is so primal and instinctual. Of course, this is not to say that I underestimate the appeal of nice legs.

I think you can explain almost any social phenomenon by way of biological account. It’s my way of reinforcing the fact that we’re all animals at heart. Men go for younger women? Youth = vitality and abundant fertility! Men go for older women? Age = Experience and skill! Abusive stepfathers? Lions that have just taken over a pride habitually eat their cubs so as to ensure that any offspring will be of his lineage! Men are unfaithful partners? It’s in their nature to sperminate as many as possible! Men are faithful partners? They want to keep track of who they sperminate, so they can at least be sure who their offspring are!

It simplifies things, in quite an unpleasant way. We all like to think that we do things because we are clever shit, when really we’re just driven by carnal desires.