77. Singaporeans only know how to complain but not praise.

Singaporeans nowadays are preoccupied with their work and busy schedule such that they could only see things that inconvenience them, such as poor customer service and poor facilities. Thus, they would complain and demand the relevant authorities to remove the inconvenience.

Being a typical busy Singaporean, I am also guilty of this. I seldom see the benefits of my friends’ actions and often dread assisting them. I would complain and pushed myself through the job and forget about it later. I almost never praise them for what they had done for me.

However, there are still a minority of Singaporeans that are considerate and understanding. They are not stingy with their praises and commend people for their good intents. Although they are only a small number of people, they are very influential people and more are becoming like them. If they are given time, they would become the majority and Singaporeans would also know when to praise and complain.

18. Some people say that it is difficult to get to know someone much older or younger than yourself. How do you feel about it?

In the past, I felt that knowing people who are older or younger than me is a very difficult task. However now, I find it to be less of a challenge. This is because when I was influenced by my good friends, Melissa and Tiffany, who were the more talkative and noisy ones. As compared to me when I was in primary school and in secondary 1, I was rather quiet and a less vocal girl. Due to this, I interacted less with my seniors or even juniors in primary school and secondary school, what more people outside who are much younger or older than me.
Yet, now I know juniors from my CCA and other CCAs through Melissa and even Tiffany. I also know how to make friends with them and interact with them. As for people who are older than me, after being a vice-chairperson of my class, I had to be more vocal and I started to talk a lot more to teachers. Under the influence of my friends, knowing someone older or younger than me is less of a problem now. I find that having someone younger or older than you is a blessing. They can actually help us in many ways, socially and emotionally. If you are afraid of making that first step, maybe you could have a gathering with some close friends and other people, so that it would be less awkward.
In conclusion, I find that having to know someone older or younger than me is something that everyone should have because it is always nice to have another friend.
- Corrina

65. Do you think practical jokes can be harmful? Why/Why not??

I feel that practical jokes can be both harmful and not harmful, depending on the extent to which the joke is carried out.
Wherever you are, be it in school or when you are working, there is bound to be times when people pull pranks, crack jokes, and make fun of one another in the means of creating entertainment for people around them or just themselves. Sometimes people simply play practical jokes on others just because it has become part of their hobby, or because their aim is to embarrass the ‘target’.
Practical jokes are not harmful when the purpose of the ‘joker’ is just to provide entertainment for others. That is also provided that the person on whom the joke is to be carried out on does not mind being the ‘target’ in the first place and that the joke is not carried overboard. Jokes can help to reduce the level of stress during stressful situations such as before exams. Practical jokes can also help to lighten the atmosphere during tense situations such as during a meeting. This way, people tend to be more open with their comments or opinions and will not be too concerned on how others look at them. People enjoy interacting with other people who are willing to just be themselves and with those who are able to engage with others easily with whatever they say. This is usually done through small jokes as the jokes will help make the conversation more fun-filled and enjoyable for everyone. Practical jokes can often cheer people up as well.
However, practical jokes can be harmful when it gets carried overboard. That is the case when people tend to make fun of just one particular person, and thus this might eventually be termed as bullying. This is especially so when the person whom the joke is intended on does not express his or her unhappiness. When this happens, the ‘target’ will most probably feel upset and keep his or her unpleasant feelings inside and not tell others, fearing that it will upset the mood of the atmosphere. The ‘joker’ will feel more complacent and think that everyone’s (including him or herself) enjoying the joke and thus continues with it. This will result in depression of the ‘target’ to a worse extent.
No matter how much laughter or fun people can receive from a practical joke, it is still wise to consider all parties and not let others feel hurt or upset over what the joke is intended upon. Practical jokes can be both good and bad, depending on the situation and the type of joke. Whatever it is, everything and everybody has a limit. However high a person’s tolerance level may be, it is still best to have a limit to everything and of course to every joke. If not, a friendly joke might just turn a person into an ugly monster.

-xx

16. Why do you think people keep photograph albums?

Everybody has at least a photograph album, be it an album of the photos taken when they were babies or photos of their families or even friends. Even I keep photo albums; in fact I have a whole drawer-full of photo albums.
People keep photo albums for various reasons, one of which is for it to serve as a source of entertainment during their free time. Some people treat it as a hobby to just rummage through any one of their albums and have a good laugh at the hilarious and unglamorous photos taken of themselves or their close ones. To them, it’s a form of entertainment and relaxation technique.
Another reason for keeping photo albums is to ‘store’ all the memories of their past times and childhood. Time can never be reversed, therefore in order for people to remember those wonderful memories they have had; pictures are taken and ‘stored’ in the non-living book-like brain of theirs. Especially for people who have very poor memories, keeping photo albums is a perfect way for them to recall things. What more, pictures speak a thousand words, so wouldn’t it be better to keep a photo album to tell the stories rather than just through words in a diary?
I’m not a person who likes to take photos. I will only take photos when necessary like say for example during a special event or occasion. But when I was a kid, my parents always took pictures of me. Photos of me eating, dancing, cycling or just of me simply doing nothing. However it is amazing how all those photos can help a person reminisce on the past, not mentioning that the photos also bring in colours and laughter into a person’s life.
Sometimes, when I am feeling stressed out or have nothing better to do, I will just take some time to flip through the folders of the photo albums I have.
To me, the albums are like my story books. They are not stories written by others or stories about others; they are stories about my life.

I spend my free time watching the television most of the time. To me, television serves as an entertainment for me when I am free, especially when I am bored. I love to watch cartoons, so I will always switch to the program with cartoons, and soon, the time seem to past so quickly. I will take this time to relax myself too. Cartoons normally make me laugh, and it will really keep me away from all the stresses and problems i have. However, I also love serving the net. But, I only serve the net when there is nothing to watch on the television. Normally, I would blog about my daily life, or I will just view other people’s blogs. I would also use the computer to chat with my friends online. These will keep me occupied and not be bothered about my troubles. Other than these, I would also call up my friends to chat with. We would chat on out daily life, as well as catch up with each other’s personal life. Sometimes, we will share jokes with each other, and make each other’s day happier. When the day seems bored, I would also call up some friends out to the mall to shop. Shopping will surely keep us busy because we girls just love to shop. Whether is it window shopping or shopping, it will be the same. We will go from shop to shop, looking for the things we want to buy, if we had the money. This not only keep me occupied, but also makes me happy when i buy something.

13. Do you think young people do enough to help out in the community/the less fortunate?

I think that young people do not do enough to help out in the community. This is because young people like students are too caught up in their studies that they do not have time to commit themselves in helping out the community, or they are too reliant on others to plan projects that can help the community.
Nowadays, young people are all leading very busy lifestyles, especially students. Students have to study for tests and exams, participate in co-curricular activities and school events. How would students have time to help out in the community? Hence, these students do not contribute enough to the community.
On the other hand, other youngsters are spending most of their time going out with classmates or friends. They are wasting their money and time on movies and arcade games. Furthermore, they do not spending their precious time helping out in the community. Thus, young people are just not doing enough to help out in the community.
In addition, there also young people who do not even bother about helping out in the community. They do not have the passion and empathy to help out others in their community. Therefore, they do not want to do anything for the community. There are also those who are selfish and are only busy with helping themselves and not others. With such attitudes, how would young people like them contribute enough to the community?
In conclusion, young people are just not contributing enough to help out in the community as they only rely on teachers to help them plan community service projects or they just do not care about contributing. Hence, to encourage more young people to help out in the community, perhaps someone should start the ball rolling, perhaps starting with volunteering in school or at community centres.

If you were given the choice to work in another county, which country would you choose and why?

If I am ever given a choice to work overseas, I would work in Korea as a member of a game development team. I chose Korea as it is where most of the brand new online role-playing games are tested first before publishing. In addition, there are many varieties of exciting and amusing games to try out and complete. However, I also understand that such a career would be exhausting.

Since I am far from being qualified from working as a member of a game development team, being able to participate in simple part-time jobs with my friends is sufficient for me. Although students’ main focus is supposed to be study, I strongly believed that doing part-time jobs once in a while is beneficial for them too. I think so as doing occasional part-time jobs provides the students an opportunity to learn and experience new things in the adult world. This will also prepare them for their future. However, the students should not be too occupied with part-time jobs as by doing so, they would have lesser time to focus on their academics.