the movie reviews that matter

SMSS Sarimbun Sec 3 Camp

I just got back from leading a group of 19 SMSS girls at my first camp. For the uninitiated, I recently got a job with Innotrek following a hedonistic 1 month of pure ecstasy of getting wasted, drunk, stoned, and watching a hell lot of movies after the As which I really want to blog about but because of afore-mentioned activities I haven't got off my butt to do anything about that. ANYWAY that's not what you're here to hear me ramble bout stuff like that you want me to talk about my experiences leading an all-girls team, which should be pretty exciting for a person like me (haha inside joke).

So right SMSS (a pretty renowned all-girls school in the more expensive part of Singapore) hired Innotrek, and latter company sends us into the deep end because we were short on trainers. Following A DAY'S crash course I was tasked to lead this team named ZEPHYR!! which actually is a fuckin' cool name because compared to the original name which was picked for us (NIMROD) I was speechless. (I told Ain 'WTF WTF HOW CAN YOU GIVE ME AN INSULT TERM AS A GROUP NAME??') I demanded a change in the name immediately and got it on the actual 1st day itself (9th of Jan). Whew. Got past my first obstacle.

I bounded my ass off to SMSS early that Tuesday morning, sat about in the canteen as the girls sang the usual in the parade square. The mood was pretty anticipative then, because along with me there were a lot of new trainers as well, including Xin Ru, Calvin, Nicholas freshly graduated from Innova JC, me; Sufyan; Scott (who was not really new and actually did two other camps before this one); Ain (senior as well) and Cheryl from Yishun JC. Heh we bickered about the superiority of these two colleges, which haha was a joke in itself, especially me and Xin Ru and Calvin and Nicholas, then decided to look for a male toilet in the girl's school, which was a pretty hard place to find. Then at roughly 8AM we were formally introduced by the Discipline Mistress (?) to the girls.

It was a breathtaking moment. Polka-dots meet trainer-boys. As I would tell Germaine (a fellow trainer) later if I had been three years younger I would have wet myself. Peeps who know me from long past would probably know about my numerous crushes on SMSS girls from my secondary school days. Aah I tell you, right then the feeling was not one of swooning though, more like ‘oh shit what did I get myself into’ and a mix of ‘wow I can’t believe I’m doing this’. But having to be professional and all that I took the attendance and bundled the girls into the coach to be sent to Sarimbun Camp.

For those who don’t know Sarimbun Camp is located in a backward-assed place called Lim Chu Kang (which sounds like a rip-off from Chua Chu Kang) which basically meant that it was densely forested and all that, plus with the monsoon season the ground was wet and muddy as hell, a condition I had seriously underestimated. As I sat on the bus I wondered how the next few days would go. How would my group be? Enthusiastic? Sarcastic? Intimidating?

We gathered at the multi-purpose hall and here there was a bit of a mix-up for everyone. Peeps were going from one place to another not knowing where and what to put. In retrospect I now know what was happening, but I was not exactly clear as well because people kept shouting and my head was hurting from all that noise. A noise I would soon have to get used to, haha… Because of all the mix-up the intended orientation / ice-breaking session I wanted to do with my kids was cancelled, leading to a mere objective-stating session which I thought was pretty dull for the kids at this time of the day. But bearing the more important goals that we had to fulfill for the school (something about teaching the girls about leadership potential, realizing their EQ and AQ and all that stuff) I begrudgingly did it, and let them camper about.

Lunch for my group was fortunately Outdoor Cooking for the first day. I personally preferred the first meal of the day to be the Outdoor Cooking activity, which would usually suck because no one would exactly know how to cook the food well and make it platable enough. BUT I was pleasantly surprised when my kids took on the cooking with such efficiency and gusto I was silently proud of them. I figured they were more domestic than I was anyway, but their meal was better than anything I could ever do with just macroni, chicken and potato. They even made French fries which was really cool but a lil’ too hard on the inside. The trainers present there shared a mess tin of weird stuff like salted-with-oyster-sauce macroni and baked beans all mixed together. Needless to say I was hungry for that entire afternoon.

What would possibly be the best thing of the day was abruptly cancelled due to the bad weather. The girls missed out on the zipline (flying fox) and the abseiling challenges, so with a heavier heart I got them to the dorm corridor and tried to teach them this game which was not really a success because they were not warmed up to each other yet (I attribute this to the lack of the ice-breaking) but luckily the hour passed quickly and we got on to the next act which was first aid. I would later learn that some of the girls were pretty familiar with first aid being St. John girls themselves, so I guess the trainers looked pretty silly trying to teach them how to treat burns, scalds and basic things like that. We brought out the really smelly bandages and taught them how to do a simple arm cast. I was chuckling as I tossed the bandages towards the girls and they tried to avoid it like poison because it smelled really bad.

Nature hunt was interesting as well, we had this trainer called Elsie which did it very well. I myself learnt up a lot more on the antlion and how that cute thing worked, but since it was in the classroom I guessed everyone was pretty bored out of their heads.

Then it was dinner in the canteen. Camp food was surprisingly good for all the rest of the days, except for breakfasts. My hypothesis is that the camp cook can cook if it wasn’t too early in the morning, which explains the really crappy breakfasts that we had, some fried kway teow thing on the last day which REALLY SUCKED. I couldn’t eat half of what was given to me in the mornings.

Unfortunately I was gonna be part of the team that did the Night Hike. Now I remembered my own experience being a Scout back in my primary school days, I absolutely adored the Night Hike to bits knowing that it was all cool and relishing the real sensation of being immersed in nature – how grandly quiet it was. Now a trainer, the experience was vastly different. I went up the trail four times, placing light sticks and stuff along the way, slipping on fallen trees and slight ground dis-leveling. Naively I forgot to put on mosquito repellent, and getting stung by the mozzies along the way was really horrible. I returned to the camp site with Aziz (fellow trainer) then learnt that I had to do dispatch duties. I had to brief half of the 320 girls who were present. That very thought sent chills up my spine. Really, confidence is something I might have a lot more of if I had known it was guys I was talking to.

Surprisingly that went well, and pretty soon I had to send the kids off into the dark wilderness of the jungle. Anyway this was pretty uneventful – basically scaring them with a lot of hocus-pocus regarding ghostly sightings in the trees; how you should never turn around if someone taps you on the shoulder; and buncha nonsense like that. Actually I got it all from previous experiences in the same campsite – the seniors always scared me when I was younger. I figured now I was a ‘senior’, it would not be right if I didn’t. I owe the girls that experience as well. Heh. Then I got to touch every girl’s hand (=D) as I labeled them with a number to ensure we would get them all back safely, not missing anyone out in the meantime. Now how many guys get to do that, eh? =P

Soon after everyone got back safely we packed them off to the showers and had a trainer’s debrief session. We were told that we took up an hour later than usual, and I felt bad cuz it was probably all the nonsense I was sprouting during Night Hike briefing that caused the delay. They agreed and told me to cut the bullshit. I agreed. Then the trainers traded some anecdotes about the activities they had that day. Apparently Kayaking was not going very well thanks to the bad weather and strong currents, and that one group had to carry up all the kayaks themselves. We eventually ended at about 2AM, sleeping at 2:30AM.

And the goddamned rain just did not stop pouring. Thankfully though, although the ground was wet as hell and everywhere was choked and flooding, it cleared up for the second day, which would prove to be the most exciting day for the kids. Rock climbing was a blast, but during the briefing I found I couldn’t ascend to the halfway mark on the wall, which was pretty pathetic and I felt pretty pathetic because all the kids laughed at me as they saw me trembling on the wall. I HAVE A FEAR OF HEIGHTS I implore loudly at one of the kids who was teasing me about the trembling. Sigh… I was beginning to wonder if I could last the next two days. Yanti (buddy group trainer) refused to let me down knowing it would hurt my testicles if I hung on the harness for too long. That woman keeps making fun of me. Hmph. I had abrasions afterwards.

Kayaking was a bit of a letdown for me personally. I found the instructor that was brought in to instruct the kids was a bit slipshod on the briefing, and was quite dull as well. I noticed the restlessness on their faces as they kept glancing towards the sea. I foresaw disaster. However the buoyancy test would prove to be one of my personal highlights of the entire camp. I got my group to hold hands and I held their hands as well. In a circle we got into the sea. Right there and then, as we were in the sea together, holding hands in a circle, I felt like I could be doing this for a long time, or a lot of times for that matter. The kids who were shrieking as the water crept into their shorts, and me trying to get them to submerge in the water. It was an intimate and touching moment for me. I know it sounds weird but it really felt good being their trainer right then, seeing the joy (or pain) as they were forced to dip into the water. Heh.

Challenge Valley was just great! Due to the lack of time as well they only did two out of the four stations. I managed to secure myself to be in the Milo Pool (affectionately called because the water is a muddy-shade of brown mud) catching the girls as they went down the long slide. It was exhilarating for them and for me, I was just bemused by the fact that they were getting into a mud pool with me. Ahahaha of course not, I don’t mean anything by that fact. A bit nervous though, cuz the Discipline Mistress (?) was standing right by the station taking photos. I was afraid of being sued for negligence or something worse so I did my job as professionally as I could. But still. =)

Lunch followed and then Area Cleaning. Now I’m a bit of a stickler for cleanliness, especially the Great Outdoors. So I guessed I went a little too far in my cleanliness check, and kept demanding the girls follow me about to check on the A Hut grounds (where they slept) and they picked as I observed, sometimes helping them out as well. No scrap of paper left my eyes. The kids couldn’t believe how sharp I was, but really I couldn’t STAND a dirty campsite.

Then we had some time and the girls put me through a test of their own. They suggested we play Electricity, which is this really horrible game where everyone gangs up on you once you are in the centre. Guess who was. Anyway the game goes that all the other participants except the joke in the centre (guess who was) hold hands and squeeze each other’s hands until the ‘electricity’ is passed to another participant in the circle. Naturally I got into the butt of the whole thing. I was forced to make out with Xin Ru in front of them as a forfeit, which we gamely did. Heh. Sorry bout that Xin Ru.

Camp chief Mimi came over to help me out with the Team Building games. It was a great moment to see the kids really have fun on the moving platform thing. The game went that the entire group must stay in equilibrium suspended in air for 20 seconds, and I’m proud to say that my kids got 25 seconds. It was hilarious seeing them struggle to keep balance. However some of the girls at both ends got a little bored, so I was a little concerned. Never matter though, pretty soon all of them were in the fray. Joanne from my team got up to help, Cora gave instructions, Wanda, etc. Even Joy who I was concerned about throughout my whole camp (she looked really bored most of the time, which quite bummed me out) gave me a big smile as they all got off the platform, having managed to successfully achieve their objective. It was a great success lah.

Alas it started raining, and so the girls missed out the next activity, Hang Out, but nevermind. They went on to Tent Pitching! Which was understandably a little boring for em at first, but again the mood lightened up as the activity progressed. Unfortunately I had to run off near the end of the activity, being Night Walk I.C.

Night Walk was pretty much the same as the first night, and the squelching of mud against my quicksilver shoes grew steadily deeper with each step. I remembered it though, for being infinitely better on this night, due to the sudden change in mood as the real integrity of the activity came through – all the participants kept (relatively) silent as they did the walk. This male teacher gave us a little bit of attitude though, as we followed back behind the last group, constantly irritated by whatever noise we made as well as did shining of the torchlights. Me and Yanti and Germaine were a little ticked off by this, so kept our distance back. Well whatever, it ended successfully and more on time (thanks to less bullshit I sprouted during the briefing).

Thus ended another great day for me in the SMSS camp, and though we all slept even less that night (debrief ended at 2 plus in the morn) it was a good day, and all the trainers wouldn’t have it otherwise.

Day 3 began with a lot of fun. Area cleaning saw me and Yanti’s group handling the field toilets. Now the field toilets have been through a hell lot of stress, being privy to nearly 340 girls constantly cleaning themselves in it, and what followed was black humour-ish. I remembered recoiling as I saw the pink and wet tissue paper which I naturally assumed to be a pad, and the two choked toilets. But it was so darn funny as I handed the girls the pump to unchoke the toilets. I helped out with the worser one, which was really horrible. It stank of shit, looked like shit, and when I tried to unclog it a piece of shit oozed out of the toilet bowl. I was holding my breath throughout as I pumped it in and out and more pieces of toilet paper and shit particles oozed out of the hole beside it. Lucia, one of the girls from the other team, bravely went ahead to pick up that piece of crap in her hands (with a plastic glove thank god) to dispose of it, and the team’s respect for each other really grew that day. It was an unexpected Team Building activity, with me earning their respect (I think) by merely helping out. But I couldn’t help it, I just couldn’t stand a dirty campsite, and toilet.

Campfire prep was a really fun time for them. As I sat there reading their reflections for the past two days, penning down my two cents in each and every one of them, putting in as much effort for them as they did for me in personalizing my message for every one of them, and listening to their enthusiastic efforts in a campfire item they had to put up for that evening, it was truly remarkable what I had signed up for. Here was yours truly really being a trainer, being responsible for once – I know many friends would find this thought foreign – but it was true. I laughed at their campfire cheer/item, especially when they all went really high-pitched and did that ‘boink’ thing at the end of the cheer, I felt like I could really be doing this for a long time. This was what being a camp instructor was all about – you suffered, worked, and laboured your ass off for your kids, but at the same time knowing you have played an integral part in bringing fun and laughter, and sometimes tears for a full three or four days. The only sucky part was in parting at the end, and though inevitable, would only add on to that bittersweet feeling of having done something great for your kids.

These were merely some of the things going through in my mind that morning. The next activity was as fun as well – problem solving games. They were required to flip this groundsheet over with every one of them on it, and I delivered my first true debriefing for the activity afterwards. Sarimbun Challenge after lunch saw the group handling the different stations which tested their skills learnt previously. I wished I had handled the bull frog station though, instead of Trolley. But I had great fun as well. This camp didn’t feel like a job most of the time, unlike the next camp I was in.

Backwoodsman cooking was a nerve-wrecking one. I had never done it in my life, and Andre urgently briefing me as the girls in front of us had their briefing was the only thing left for me to stand on as they proceeded to cook these weird-assed things. An Omelette in an orange?!? What’s up with that? – I thought. It tasted weirdly of orange scented omelette. Weird man. Jungle Donut was great fun though, as mine was a mix of really toasted flour thing, which had a punch of a sweet flavour. Alas it poured again and again, and knots and lashing was a dreary one. Imagine being all rainy and stuff as you learn about some really boring stuff like tying knots and all. This girl actually beat me in square lashing, something I was not entirely happy about. I cursed under my breath as I tried to square lash the tightest I could, but still falling short of this girl’s square lash. Dammit I should know these things – I’m a friggin’ NCC (sea) kid for four whole years in secondary school!

Campfire was a BLAST. It was something to not have it in the open, and though the atmosphere was a little bit off in the MPH without the genuine fire, something erupted in that small space of the MPH. The air was electrifying, there was energy spilling out of that space as the girls cheered, sang and clapped throughout. I gamely did my part in cheering them on, and though a little unfamiliar with the songs, I did my best and had no regrets. Neither did the girls as well, as I would find out. Campfire was a great and raucous end to a splendid camp. And though during the reflection show the trainers put on this impromptu skit on for the girls, and generally being really gay (for the guys) – especially me and Xin Ru because we kept touching each other in front of them – for comic effect, the whole thing was just rockin’. Even the pictures we showed them in the end really made it all worthwhile. It was also the first time I saw the pics, and man it was a recap, a really touching recap of what had happened. With a heavy heart the trainers sent the girls for their last shower of the camp as the night’s event drew to a close.

Then it had to rain. And rain it did, heavily, and without mercy. Me and Xin Ru got out the umbrellas and gamely set out into the downpour to send girls to and fro the toilet, not being really successful but hey at least we tried. I hope they appreciated it though… After being soaked through and through, it was a lights off for the whole camp. The de-briefing was a real bitch though, as we went through the day’s events. Apparently kayaking had the same problem of transporting the darned kayaks and someone had problems with their group and all that. It was a relief to know we were getting up at 0750 hours instead of the 0630hrs we had to contend with the past two days.

The fourth day was a stinker for me as a whole. Knowing that all these were going to come to an end was a real downer for me, as I had really enjoyed myself during this camp. Hell even getting paid was starting to seem wrong to me, seeing as I had as much fun working with my kids. I was to learn later that SMSS was an ideal school to be doing. But as pictures were taken, and the final debrief by Iza drew to a close, and as we sang My S M lies over the ocean… my S M lies over the sea… etc I could feel the pangs of regret of not having known my kids more throughout these four memorable days. I sincerely hoped it had been great for them, as it was for me.

Life goes on. One camp came and went. One more school (hopefully) satisfied with our trainers. Our kids will come and go as well, but what happens during our contact with them will hopefully stay with both us and them - forever. I may not have the privilege of meeting up with these wonderful bunch of kids in the future, but I sure as hell appreciated them when I was with em. This was truly a great start for my stint as a camp instructor. If anyone of you is reading this, I just have one thing to say -if we bump into each other unexpectedly in the future, may we not be strangers as we were before. Miss you all lots! =D

posted by VincentQ @ 8:31 PM 6 comments

Submission Part 1

Submission Part 1

This short film generated much controversy when it seemingly attacks modern-day Islamism.

It unfolds in three acts: the first; the Muslim woman's protest against arranged marriages; the second: the Muslim woman's protest as she is beaten by her husband who is meant to be the 'provider and protector'; and the third: the ignorance of her father as she continually gets raped by her uncle.

Theo Van Gogh's short is tastefully done, and it is clearly done to incite controversy, and maybe even anger. But what is unfortunate is not the film itself, nor the women who supposedly have had those experiences, but of the religion it portrays which similarly (the same as Christianity) risks misinterpretation by its followers to then act upon those feelings.

Fatwas (a legal ruling) were issued calling for the death of Van Gogh soon after the short was aired on Danish television.

Famously, Theo Van Gogh was murdered by an Islamic fundamentalist as his throat was slit and a five-page edict written towards the Jewish, Christian religions and the other creators of his short film stabbed into his thigh because it 'offended him to a great degree'.

Thanks to Youtube, you may watch and judge yourself. I welcome comments on my tagboard.

P.S: Be forewarned that the video may be too much for some.

Submission Part I

posted by VincentQ @ 2:14 AM 0 comments

WHY I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN


I was just reading this from Shoutwire and before I post it out in its entirety below I would just want to say a few things.



I AM CURRENTLY AN ATHEIST, BUT SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING BECOMING A SATANIST.

I DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, BUT I BELIEVE IN LOVE, LIFE, AND EVERYTHING THAT MAKES US HUMAN. I APPRECIATE, ENJOY AND LOVE THOSE WHO DESERVE MY LOVE.

I DO NOT HAVE AN EMPTY AND UNFULFILLING LIFE WITHOUT GOD.

I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE LOGICALLY, NOT FAITHFULLY.

DON'T IMPOSE YOUR RELIGION ON ME - AND LIKEWISE I WILL NOT ASK YOU TO CONSIDER LEAVING YOUR OWN RELIGION.

I DO NOT HURT ANIMALS NOR HARM CHILDREN. I DON'T RAPE MAIM OR KILL. I DON'T MOLEST NOR STALK. I LOVE MYSELF, I LOVE LIFE, AND I LOVE MY FAMILY.

RELIGION IS THE ONLY REASON WHY WE HAVE WARS IN OUR WORLD TODAY.

RELIGION IS THE OPIUM OF THE PEOPLE ('KARL MARX'



I am done ranting, read the following for more. I am sick of Christians coming up to me asking if I have known God. I have, now get out of my face.



(from http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/24854/16_Common_Myths_About_Atheists)
16 Common Myths About Atheists


1. Atheists hate Christians and Christianity. No, we don’t. Personally, I do hate the atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion, the dishonesty of most religions, and the way that they encourage people not to think or question, and not to trust or use their minds. But I don’t dislike someone just because of their religion.

2. Most atheists started out as Christians, and stopped believing because of some bad experience with other Christians. Or maybe we simply started to question, to wonder what happened when we applied the standards of logic, reason and burden of proof to religion, as we already did to everything in our lives. Or, perhaps, we were never believers at all. It happens, you know.

3. Atheists have no sense of morality, since morality comes from God. Ah, the old “without fear of hell, there would be nothing to stop people from being bloodthirsty monsters” argument. It may come as a surprise to most Christians, but there are reasons for being “good” other than fear of punishment - which isn’t really a reason, anyway, and only shows Christians in a very bad light. Reasons like human empathy, genuine feelings for others, and, most importantly, rational principles. Behaving yourself just because daddy will spank you otherwise does not make you a nice child.

4. Atheists are a unified group, like a church. Are we? I must have missed the memo, then. :) If anything, I’d say atheists are more diverse than Christians, because we’re less “sheep-like”, and don’t accept things on faith, or from authority.

5. Atheists actually know, deep inside, that there’s a God, as that’s perfectly obvious; they are simply too proud and arrogant to admit the existence of something greater than themselves. Not exactly. You see, the existence of a god is only “obvious” if you’ve been brainwashed (either by others, or by your own irrationality) into believing it. We are truly convinced that there’s no god, and are not in denial. Really. I’m serious. :)

6. Atheists don’t really know anything about Christianity. Again, it depends. Some certainly know more than others. However, religion is so ubiquitous that, like it or not, we’ve all had varying degrees of contact with it, with its teachings, and with believers. Besides, a lot of atheists are naturally curious. I, myself, have read the Christian Bible - more than once, in fact. Now, dear believer, ask yourself how many atheist books, magazines or essays you have read. Oh, I forgot, they’re all the work of Satan.

7. Atheists’ lives are cold and empty, as they can’t feel the joy and love that comes only from God. Really? I’d never call my life “cold” or “empty” - I have the joys of friendship, love, family, and doing the things I love to do. And, what’s more, I’m self-sufficient, unlike anyone who says “I don’t know how anyone could live without God in their lives” - as many Christians do.

8. Atheists are depressive and nihilistic, since they believe there’s nothing after death, and therefore there’s no point to anything. On the contrary, we, unlike you, know how precious life is, because we’re aware that it’s our only one. And, this may come as a shock to you, but we can love our lives, we can feel the joy of being alive, because we don’t believe that “this is the devil’s world”, or that “this is just a test before the real thing”. Life is precious, and it’s our own - not any god’s.

9. Atheists are cold and uncaring. No, we are not. Having delusions doesn’t make anyone more “caring”. And, again, we treat life as precious, and do what we can to improve it, both ours and that of our loved ones. On the other hand, many Christians believe life is suffering, and that there’s nothing we can do about it.

10. Atheists are arrogant. What, because we dare to use our minds instead of asking “who are we to know”? No, we’re not.

11. Atheists want to forbid religious worship. Wrong. We just don’t want to be harmed by it. Want to believe in God, Jesus, Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy? Be my guest. Want to teach your kids to do the same? I feel sorry for them, but it will still take many years until people realize how crippling one’s reason in childhood is like a bird crippling its offspring’s wings. (*) Want to give all your money to a guy with a Lexus and a bad haircut? Fine. But don’t try to “save” me, don’t harass me in the street or at my home, don’t get politicians to enact laws to give power to you, don’t try to teach your religion in science classes by dishonestly giving it a new name and disguising it as “science”, and don’t use my tax money to write your idiocies in public places. In short, do as you want, as long as you keep it to yourself - just like I don’t go to your place trying to un-convert you.

12. Atheists are incapable of feeling awe at simple things, like a beautiful sunset, as they see everything in terms of cold science, instead of miracles. Ah, unweaving the rainbow - the idea that beauty and poetry only exist if we know little to nothing about how things work. But I ask you: does the fact that you know about astronomy, physics and light make the sunset any less beautiful? Was it beautiful only because it seemed “magical” - or “an act of god” - to you?

13. Atheists live their lives in constant fear of death. Few people actually want to die - those that do are either depressed and suicidal, or are Christians who believe that the world is evil, “please, Lord Jesus, take me”, and all that. A reasonable fear of death is perfectly natural. Also, we may believe that this life “is it”, which makes us treat it as precious, but, at least, we don’t think that there’s a chance of going to a place where you burn and are tortured for eternity…

14. Most criminals are atheists (or, alternatively, the percentage of atheists among criminals is higher than among the general populace). Oddly enough, the opposite is true.

15. Atheists are stubborn and closed-minded. Not unless you define “closed-minded” like this. But, as Ebon said, Ask any believer what would convince him he was mistaken and persuade him to leave his religion and become an atheist, and if you get a response, it will almost invariably be, “Nothing - I have faith in my god.” Although such people may well exist, I personally have yet to meet a theist who would acknowledge even the possibility that his belief was in error. Many theists, by their own admission, structure their beliefs so that no evidence could possibly disprove them. Atheists, on the other hand, are easy to convince - all it requires is for God to show himself in some unfakeable way - say, for instance, by doing any of the many things he supposedly did in the Old Testament…

16. Atheists make bad parents. Again, there are good and bad atheist parents, and good and bad Christian parents. Atheist parents, however, would never do what Abraham was about to do to his son Isaac (and Christians see Abraham’s behavior as laudable!), because, to most atheists, our lives are our own. In fact, even if there was a God, it would not follow that our lives are his.

Note: There’s already a list, The Top 10 Atheist Myths, by Dave Silverman, but mine isn’t inspired by that one. I agree with what Silverman writes, but I don’t think all of those are necessarily the top myths. Not to say my list is better, but these are what I think are the top myths… and a couple of them are actually in both lists. Besides, my list has more myths than his, which obviously makes it better. :D

(*) There used to be something harsher there, where I seemed to (but didn’t) compare teaching religion to children to sexual abuse. I just meant to say that it was crippling, and should be seen as we see parents who refuse their kids medical treatment because they’d rather put their faith in god: bad parents who aren’t capable of being parents. As it was misunderstood, I edited it. Any (pre-edit) comments about it are still below, though.

EDIT: Don’t believe that many Christians actually think some these things about atheists? Please read my new post, Are the myths about atheists real or not? :)

EDIT 2: Because there are so many comments, and because most of them (including some of my replies) were getting too far from the original subject, I’ve closed the comments for this post, and created a new one: Christian myths about Atheism: discussion. If you want to comment, or reply to this post’s comments, please go there.




sincerely,
vincent

posted by VincentQ @ 1:29 AM 0 comments

hey guys so i got a little bored with the whole movie review thing, and I was just reading janice's blog and got a little inspired so i'm releasing these incriminating photos of my flamboyant lifestyle in JC and about.

Haha so here are some stuff that me and my class did last year and this: (i hope they don't mind that i put them up)

after promos last year



Being all young and youthful and sitting on the cheapest mode of transport: MRT! From left to right: Ian Chan; me; Allan



Same threesome looking whimsically outta the window



Photowhoring at Taka! This was meant to be like that - me and Allan..



yours truly in my best hairstyle yet! haha



Manneqified: Allan; me

College Day 2006



I sincerely think we have some of the prettiest girls in my class. It's no wonder I never pon school =D Seen above are: Aisha; Shereen; and Desiree



Heh. Desiree; Aisha; Angela and Shereen



But the boys are where it's at! woot! Me; Yan Guang and Ian Chan



Left to Right: Grace; Yan Guang; Jean; me; Sharon; Ian Chan and Carol



Charmaine; Aqilah



Desiree looking a little apprehensive of the Jester Yan Guang

Geography In-Class Debate 2005



Me chairing the debate and my geography teacher (who seems very amused by what I was saying hah)



Yan Guang as Proposition making a point



Doh! =D



Jean making a stand for sex education (I think) =D



Minghui from the proposition



Sharon from the opposition (you see where the distinction lies don't ya?)



Desiree making faces at Angela ha~



Fidelia looking ostensibly shocked



Sharon; Grace and Kalvin (?)



Bored much? =D



The Class Dictionary Jeremy - who could ever forget his quips? haha



David; Ming Hui and a very enthusiastic Yan Guang



Still looking very enthusiastic =D



Carol probably thinking about David =D



Ian Chan making a point



A close up for all you girls out there



Ian Fun interestedly looking at Shereen



Nithya in a rare enlightened moment =)



'It's all up to you bro' - Jeremy; David; Ming Hui and Yan Guang

STUDYING FOR THE PROMOS



Yep we're engrossed in our books celebrating our love for learning! Ian Chan; Ian Fun



Ian Fun; Chan; and half of Vincent at a late-night supper to take a 'break' from 'studying'



Ian Fun; Chan and whole of Vincent



Where the &^%$# are we?!



(a clearer) Where the &^%$# are we?!



Ian Fun feeling the Ian Chan love with surreptiously positioned beer cans on the left =)



For the Ian Chan fans

(we did study! even if pictures don't say so)

RANDOM PICTURES ABOUT CLASS



Jenny; Ian Chan; Aisha; Fidelia; Sarala; and Janah



Jenny; Fidelia; Janah; Nithya; Aqilah; me; Charmaine; Jia Hao; Ian Chan and Allan (covered)



A familar sight in class



Jenny; Aisha and Lynette



Moi Guitar



Me being all retarded



I Don't Eat Girls! (out)



Allan all chaste



Gotta love these licking pictures hehe



I owe it to this teacher for passing my chinese with a C5. Sarala who's beside her speaks chinese as well!



Yan Guang playing his Radiohead songs on the gee-tar



Sharon; Jean and Carol at the computer lab



Grace guiltily watching Youtube



A study session at the library



Bored much?



Nerd! David



Aisha and Kalvin





and that's it! i love my class and I love Yishun Junior College. We have really bonded these two years, and with the impending Prelims, lets not forget each other.

Make love not war!

sexy people~~ of 129 and 225 '05 and '06



129 at the Beach '05

posted by VincentQ @ 12:44 PM 0 comments