Thank you to all the people who commented, spoke to me and whom I spoke to regarding the previous issue I raised in the previous entry. I'm feeling a lot better. I haven't spoken to my academic advisor, I don't even think he knows I exist, I haven't even seen him around. In fact, I feel more comfortable speaking with my Freshman Seminar Professor than with my academic advisor. Anyway, for now, I think I'll work doubly hard for this semester, not just on my modules from the school of arts and social sciences, but that of my home faculty as well.

After all, I am in university to learn and get a degree, so I might as well do the best I can do. Of course, I anticipate that the doubts will rear their ugly head from time to time, especially when the workload starts piling up and the stress levels hit the roof.

Speaking of stress, here's a queer thing. While I was sitting in my biodiversity lecture on Tuesday, a group of researchers from the school of medicine came in and asked us (the students) to participate in this study that they are conducting. Apparently, these doctors want to know what stress does to our nasal system. So they are paying each and every one of us $20 to fill out a questionnaire, which I certainly don't mind because I am a quiz junkie. Now to convince my parents to sign the consent form as I'm under 21 and not in full control of my actions, though I seek to differ.

I was thinking, that given the frequency I stress myself out, my stress levels must be twice that of a normal human being's. Hence, the probability of getting called up for the 2nd round of the study (saliva swabs) and earning $100 from it is pretty high. Talk about benefitting from my stress.

My mum's birthday is about 3 weeks away, I'm out of ideas to get her. My boyfriend and I tried getting her a wallet to replace her worn out one last year and she doesn't want to use it (it was the same type as her worn out one), I do jewelry almost every year so I'm a bit sick of buying it again (though I'd probably go back to it if I can't find any ideas). Any bright ideas, anyone?

My phone plan is almost at its 21st month, the thing about living in Singapore is that we change our mobile phones like we change clothes. Almost every major telco operator has a condition that allows customers to change their phones and plans after the 12th and 21st month. My phone has been with me for close to 2 years now, I'm pretty happy with it, though truth be told, I get a little irritated whenever the phone hangs or the battery charger goes wonky (I'm using the 2nd charger which I bought around 6 months ago and even that is starting to go wonky). Plus my phone is a little on the big side, being one of the first few 3G phones in the market back then. Should I change? Or should I stay faithful to this one till it really starts giving out on me. I'm not even as fickle as my elder brother who changes his phone every 9-12 months. Of course, I shouldn't compare, he is, after all, only a guy.

I'm in a better mood today probably because I went shoe shopping and came back with 2 pairs of shoes. And I finished the 2nd Socratic Dialogue in my philosophy readings.

Plato/Socrates asks interesting questions.

Should a son prosecute his father for murdering another man?

Can virtue be taught?

These questions came from Euthyphro and Meno respectively. Prickly questions, really. How do you prosecute the man who brought you up, responsible for making you the person you are? Yet how do you shield someone you know to be a murderer? The mind says prosecute but the heart objects. Which dominates? What is virtue? We all think that we know what virtue is, we all think we have a picture of it, a description of it in our minds, yet when we try to put it all in writing, in words, we find that we fall short. We simply cannot describe virtue in an acceptable manner without falling into certain loopholes. If we can't even decide what virtue is, or educate others what we think to be virtue, how do we even decide if it is teachable?

Philosophy leaves all these thoughts floating around in your head that you have no idea how to answer because there really isn't an answer to it. Maybe that's why I prefer the hard sciences, because there is always a right answer. Except when it comes to ethics of course.