Tiny foray into social AWAREness.
written: 9:04 p.m. on Saturday, May. 02, 2009

Roger's match has been affected by rain, which is all kinds of crappy. He's leading by a set and a break, 6-4, 2-1; I'm afraid Djoke would regroup after the delay and get his form back. Not to mention - he's probably going to talk to his coach. Which is all kinds of unfair.

But then, it's nobody's problem but Roger's that he doesn't have a coach, so this is just me being all fangirly and whiny. On the bright side, he's looking pretty solid today - super forehands, relatively good first serves, and a few aces here and there. He still kept getting passed whenever he made approach shots but at least he's winning most of the points from the baseline. Best of all, he's yet to face a single break point! Everytime the score gets to 30-all on his serve, he'd hit some outrageous first serve and kill Djokovic's hopes of getting a break point immediately.

I'm hopeful for a clear, decisive victory, but truth be told, a part of me is still bracing myself for the mental meltdown that he's exhibited throughout the American hard court tournaments. If this was the Roger of old, I'd be celebrating right now; but because he's lost matches this year, and inexplicably so, when he was up a set and a break...well, I'm hopeful, but still preparing myself for the worst. Especially with this stupid rain delay. Sigh.

I really hope he manages to maintain his momentum, and not let Djokovic back into the match. I'd like to see a straight-sets victory, please. Thank you.

***

On another note, since the match has been delayed anyway, I might as well write about this now. I went for the AWARE EGM with Mag and Chloe today, and...it was um, really interesting. First, the turn-out was so massive that we queued for over an hour just to get in. The last time I queued much longer than that was in Taipei, 2004, when I was queuing up to get Jay Chou's autograph. I'm glad this time I was queuing up for something that's objectively non-frivolous.

To be honest, I really don't give a shit about the new exco/old guard thing. I know nothing about the old guards and I won't pretend to champion their worthiness or argue in their favour. What ticked me off about the fiasco - the coup, if you want to be precise - isn't so much the fact that the exco has been changed; it's the way in which it was done, and the highly suspicious nature of the takeover when all the known facts that are known to me are taken together as a whole. The suspect circumstances of the takeover were exacerbated by the comments made by a certain ex-Dean of a certain legal faculty to the Straits Times, which not only raised alarm about the possible hidden agenda of the new exco, but also disturbed me enough, both intellectually and emotionally, for me to get off my lazy ass and haul it down to Suntec on a Saturday afternoon when it's most crowded and spend 4 hours of my time being involved in the business of an organisation that I was only vaguely aware (no pun intended) of before this whole fiasco. Even if it genuinely wasn't a religiously-motived (and I use the word "religiously" here to refer to the beliefs held by the people involved in this fiasco) coup, that certain Straits Times article was damning enough - not to mention Those Emails floating around the Internet. I personally don't place much faith in them as I didn't know how authentic they were when I saw them, but once the impression has been made, it's hard to get it out.

And I'm sorry to even say this, but as a non-Christian and as someone who does not subscribe to any religious beliefs, when a group of people that subscribe to a particular faith, whatever faith it is, band together and take actions that can be interpreted as an attempt to subvert a secular organisation, I'm worried. This country has no room for religious fundamentalism, no matter what religion we're talking about. It's the same reason I wouldn't support a Buddhist movement or whatever to ban meat in Singapore, despite believing deeply in the cause myself (though obviously my beliefs are not related to Buddhism). You just can't force your own set of values down someone else's throat in a country that purports to be, and is, multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-racial, and above all else, secular.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, my interest in this whole debacle is not a manifestation of my anti-religiousness, and neither is it because of the mere fact that there was a change in the AWARE exco (like I'd care if there was a change, considering I didn't even know much about the organisation before this). It's because of the dubious intentions of those who seized power, and my fear as a non-religious person living in a secular country that a secular organisation might possibly - not even probably, just possibly - be subverted by a tiny minority of crazy religious fundamentalists.

And speaking of crazy - this is really, really sad, but it has to be said: I have officially lost ALL respect, whatever little respect I still had, for TeeAsEm. Hearing her speak today was just excruciatingly painful and I wish she'd left out the fact about her being the first female Dean of my faculty. And this is also why the whole affair, as well as what my HRA professor whom I deeply respect said in Parliament about 377A, have been deeply disconcerting for me. I'd expect people that have gone through legal education, people that believe in rights, to stand up for the disenfranchised and marginalised, not further compound their unequal position in society. This relates more to 377A than AWARE, but I was shocked to the point of being quite emotionally disturbed when I read the ST article because, really, I'd expect a highly educated mind to say things a lot more intelligent than what she said. And hearing her speak today just sealed the crazy for me. Sorry, but getting her there itself was a mistake. I'm sorry to say I uncouthly joined in the booing; I couldn't stop myself until it was too late. I did feel a bit for her, trying to talk - shrilly - above the noise, but I couldn't discern a point to whatever she was trying to say, and really, after those atrocious comments to the ST, I wasn't really interested in hearing what she had to say.

I was, however, quite interested in what the new exco had to say. I was SUPER irritated when, at the beginning (i.e. when we finally got in), the new President was trying to make her address and a bunch of people kept making noise and interrupting her and demanding that the microphones be turned on or something. I mean, really, as much as you disagree with someone, you still have to give them the right to make themselves heard. The meeting became rowdy way too many times than I would've liked which really annoyed me because I think it's important to respect the person you're arguing against when you're supposedly engaging in a civilised debate.

Oh, and some random man started going off on some unrelated tangent during the floor discussion and made no sense, let alone had a point to make. HE should definitely have shut the fish up. I know, I know, how Nazi of me, but for the love of my sanity, I cannot stand listening to stupid opinions. I'm trying to be more tolerant and convince myself that Every Voice Deserves To Be Heard (no matter how stupid)...give it time?

Okay, rain has stopped, Roger and Djoke are back on. YAY! GO ROGER!

*

ETA:

WHAT THE FISH THEY'RE SHOWING FOOTBALL. AND IT'S NOT EVEN AN IMPORTANT MATCH. I FUCKING (SORRY KRIS) HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE THE FUCKING LOUSY SPORTS CHANNEL IN THIS STUPID FOOTBALL-CRAZY COUNTRY. FUCKING HELL. I WANT MY ROGER. FUCK SUPERSPORTS. FUCK STARHUB. I'M SO PISSED OFF.

before sunrise // before sunset


Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010