Sigh I guess its the end of the road for the IBO, just got a phone call yesterday confirming me as the NON-TRAVELLING reserve, I guess 5th in NZ isnt too bad. :(
Exams tommorrow, and while others went to school today to do their calculas mid year exam I was left at home with a free day :). However an idle mind is very dangerous isnt it, it turned its thought to scholarship, when instead I should have been studying for stats and phys. The trend of thought went like this:
School work------> Schol-----> requires a lot of study =(-----> already done quite a bit of bio study =( ----> chem, history and stats needs a lot of study =( --------> $$$$$$ :D------> Have a look at the exams....... lots of writing!! :(.
However an overiding voice in my head is telling me, top scholar bio........ Maybe that goal is possible >=).
But then I had one of those deep moments, why do we always constantly want to be the best. At the end of the day its because we want to feel superior to everyone else around us thinking that this will help us achieve happiness.
But then what do we do?
Do I just sit around and do nothing?
Let someone else take it?
What is the point?
So what if I get it?
So what if I don't?
Does it make a difference what we do?
Will I be statisifed by beating as many people as possible?
Is there something more important I should be aiming for?
Will getting it change who, "I" am?
Probably not.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
too deep X(
ReplyDeleteI was about to say "That's what she said!", but as I earlier thought of writing "Could go deeper" I'll pass on this opportunity for a "That's what she said!/Your mum" reply.
ReplyDeleteHere's an answer Naveen, is there a difference in trying to be the best and trying to be better than other people?
trying to be the best is being better than ppl who you might not know, trying to be better than other people implies there are certain people he is trying to be better than... :)
ReplyDeleteor was that a trick question, andi?
man you guys are deeeppp
ReplyDeleteNaveen, the point of being 'better' or being 'the best' is really just challenging yourself and bringing out your own greatest potential. When it comes down to it if you truly have what it takes, even a brick wall can't stop you
:D
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteExactly Andi, will the ego be statified with beating only some people? Only briefly before it sets up its next target. It will constantly seek struggle.....
ReplyDeleteAlysha, then is there a point wasting time trying to compare to other people when instead we could focus on getting "better". lol now its getting complicated.....
You have to strike a balance.
ReplyDeleteYou will always want to have and to be more and better - as soon as one target's reached you set your sights on a new one. You need to learn to find some satisfaction wherever you are.
But you need to keep wanting to reach higher as well: otherwise you're never going to get anywhere are you?
Of course no-one ever gets the right balance.
Ehhhh thats enough deepness from me for like the next 10 years....
Bleugh, what's statified mean?
ReplyDeleteThis is how I can use a 'society's best interest' standard answer while wearing a white hat with 'Pick me God!' written on the top. "If I get Top Scholarship, the title and the money will aid me and encourage me to sooner be able to contribute to the quality of life or the glory of God or the needs of society more than the average person who could get it, because I have the world's best interests at heart. If I try my best it raises the chances of the Top Scholar award going to a morally-better-than-average person. I will try my best to be a good citizen and will be guided by the holy spirit/altruism to act in God's/society's best interests when I grow older to make people grateful that I was the one who was invested in with the Top Scholar and not someone with no idea what they stand for, those who have no direction in life they are guided through. I hold the welfare of the people in my heart for every decision I make. And will bear in mind that there are many people who will go for the award, so I must use the award as good as or better than anyone else who may have gotten it to justify being chosen over them. That is, by trying my best I am making things more likely to be better for society. So that's why I try. Vote for me!"
And the real purpose of Top Scholar scholarships is? Um... to encourage the smart ones to stay in New Zealand, and to get people to try their best and strive for excellence. The government should be investing in society's best interests. Hence if you have society's best interests at heart and you're sure everyone else hasn't, then go for the award. Because that's what's sweet and proper.
I delete a third of what I type. I should really be taking this long weekend as an opportunity for easing into a more healthy sleeping pattern. I guess I should put a time limit, like an hour, for thinking of a reply. Or else I'll always think slowly and when it comes to exams I won't be able to speed up. Speaking of which, how are you guys exams going?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReply to Alex: Hi Alex! Did you notice that names here are either feminine or gender neutral? And not one of us has a blue or orange throat! We do have yellow throats...
ReplyDeleteYou say a strive to be the best can't be balanced because a person can only be either moving towards a target or staying put and feeling satisfied. If you split up staying put and feeling satisfied, so someone can be both satisfied and moving towards a goal, then people can have their cake and eat it too. Someone can set their sights on the target of 'making the world a better place' whilst 'feeling satisfied with all the steps they've done on their way to achieve it'.
I'm regretting a target I didn't set last year of writing practice essays. Taking Level 3 English was still worthwhile, because the movie, text and novel were all terrific to read and dissect. More fun than pinning disemboweled compost worms to a wax tray. Two NAs, an A and an M. But I reckon if I thought about things more beforehand I wouldn't need to write practice essays at all. I just didn't think I could do well, and I was afraid of not doing well despite trying so I didn't try. The excuse to myself was to give me more time to have a look at the other subjects, but once I start thinking on the lines of "So what if I don't? Does it make a difference what we do?", it seems I only do as much as I can get away with. Like now, I run to school to arrive about 1 minute late because it isn't likely I will be told off. Despite knowing that I could just set off a minute earlier and get there in time. Maybe I'm hooked to the adrenaline rush caused by skating on thin ice. Do ponds over there freeze over in winter?
Well, I feel like I've finished my reply. The first half of the reply was my reply to Alex, the last part turned into a self-review again. Well, the biography I've read on Robert Mugabe has the author saying people who can't do self-reflections can't see what they're doing wrong. Describing that with a biology analogy, it's like having no template strange to check off. Biology again. I can never let go of those chances I've missed. So now I seize the day, starting with small things like never missing an opportunity to crack a "Your Mum/That's What She Said" joke.
So I'll round off with one. "as soon as one target's reached you set your sights on a new one." "That's what she said!"
....andi... 4:37 AM!?!?! what the hell were you doing up so late!??
ReplyDeleteAnyway, i used to do that whole "I might not get it so I won't try thing" and later realised i missed out on so many opportunities. And then I started to give things a chance and learned that even if I tried, i won't get it. But that's life. It's better i know that I'm not capable of everything than to go through my years blissfully ignorant.
this conversation is getting off track again ><
ReplyDeleteim so proud of finishing reading Andi's comment.. even though i didnt absorb 90% of it.
Agree with yuanyuan!!
Satsifaction comes with the process. Set a goal, meet it be proud. Set another, meet it, be proud MORE
and so on.
Getting better requires sth to compare TO. Otherwise how else will you know you've gotten better? You need more nancy's and tania's to keep your adrenaline rush flowing faster :D
All these comments are on track. All 100% of them. Pick one and I'll show how it links back to Naveen's post.
ReplyDeleteLike, "why do we always constantly want to be the best."
We've suggested that we can feel happy/satisfied/proud while meeting the process/steps of making ourselves better, instead of only being able to feel happy when we're "superior to everyone else around us", which is only an end result. We're saying we can feel happy trying our best to be the best that we can be. We're suggesting we'll miss out on things if we don't try our best.
Names are cooler when they mean something, isn't that right, tangyuan? Why was I up so late? To finish writing. Why did I want to finish writing, why do I write so much? Because I'd be worrying about it still if I don't think it through fully, like an exam I could have tried harder, better, at. Trying my best at small things develops my skills for larger things.
Deep is my middle name. A fortune-teller said "there's not enough water in your name" and recommended I should change it to one with a bit of water in it. It's pronounced the same as it was and it's spelled the same in English. So what's your names mean?
lol.. clever and elegant. Dont ask. Typical azn names ><
ReplyDeletehmm you know, the word deep can be interpreted many ways. When i say someones deep i tend to mean they are philosophically deep. Think a lot about life and definitions of certain aspects etc.
But then there's the emotionally deep where you feel things about other ppl....
So what actually categorizes "deep"?
Andi, my name isnt tangyuan you ass. unless you werent actually trying to say my name.
ReplyDeletesome fortune teller told my dad the same thing. They were like, your daughter needs more water, add water, add water! and he listened!! ><
So my name is swamped with water.
River's source. 江源. san dian shui. times TWO.
ugh. so as a result my name sounds like it's been picked out of an engineering manual.
I think i'd rather have typical "pretty names" like Jingya.
This convseration has officially gone off track lol. My computer is broken for one day and this is what happens, sigh lol :)Since we are talking about names my name means
ReplyDeleteFarmer, Good news, most heroic.
Quite an unusual combination.
Whooo. Could be a standard textbook answer for a surname. I heard this fortune teller is blind though, so can't have been reading from the same textbook. Must have learnt it from the same person somewhere. He asks for date of birth, and name, I think, and comes up with some really accurate things, like he knew exactly how many kids my grandmother had. That's what I heard anyway. What made you think of an engineering manual? How techical the name sounds? Heh, I think technically my first name doesn't mean anything altogether.
ReplyDeleteHow many characters is it, Naveen? Is that your whole name?
Yea thats my whole name:
ReplyDeleteGeorge Naveen Weeratunga
Do you want my other details so you can make a false identity of me?
So I can make a real identity of you. Until now I thought Weeratunga was a Maori name. D'oh.
ReplyDeletelol george is a maori. Didn't you know that?
ReplyDelete:D
BROWN BOY!!
haha sure, she knows what she's talking about lol.
ReplyDeleteLOL. yeah the fortune guy asked for my birth and stuff. he sold my dad a book with this kind of stuff in it too. and my dad used it for my brother's name.
ReplyDeletehe was lacking wood.
so my dad nearly named him 刘森林 (LMAO - look at how much wood there is) until mum put her feet down and said NO. so he was named 刘江林 instead.
george means farmer? really??
L.O.L.
ReplyDelete刘森林?!
hahaha! change the surname to 林 and then you got the coolest name going :D
Yep, George means farmer lol
ReplyDeleteThe name stamp will look really cool.
ReplyDelete