Russell ▄︻̷̿┻̿一一

self-introduction

Age:13
Birthday: 23th February 2002
Hobbies: gaming (duh!), acting, philosophy, socialising


About me:
  Hi, I am Luo Rui, Russell. I always believe that everybody plays a character. For some, it may be shy and quiet, for others, it may be open and friendly. Characters will adapt to different acts and other characters, but no one would change altogether. I think I am perhaps a witty and cordial guy, who loves making the jokes and keeping the situation light. I am pretty well read, and is quick to adapt to scenarios. I love being together with friends, and as the saying goes, the more the merrier. I like acting and just plainly making people happy. I prefer heavily strategic games like Civilization V to the regular shoot-em up or mmorpg those of my age play. I listen to old hits (not those abominations called k-pop), and love FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!
My holiday:
RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 
Have I mentioned RV60?!?*
RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 RV60 
Other than RV60, I did manage to get a glimpse of the outside world. I went to a some mountain in Johor. When I started climbing, I was full of energy when I started climbing. However it ran out when I reach 200m. However I preserved and used my endurance and spirit continue. However it ran out when it rained at 400m. With the last of my strength and will *dramatic music* I carried on, as the tropical thunderstorm struck down one me. However that was lost when the top of the mountain was closed off by the government for a military radio tower. So I slumped down the mountain, soaked to the bone, with this old uncle guarding the gate yelling at me for taking a memorial photo. This taught me the important life lesson that giving up is better than failing. Kappa.


*ps:RV60

Extraordinary RV

I snapped this picture at the via garden, a project we did last year. A few months unattended by the students and some plants has withered and plots have been overtaken by weeds, other plots, like this tomato plant, as read from the weathered sign, flourished. Us students, without a incentive to go there to trim the plants and pluck the weeds, wrote our reflections and ignored it, leaving it alone for reclaiming by mother nature. A few months ago, this had been a booming garden, but now it sits sad and lonely, falling apart. Students walking past when I took the photo did not even bat an eye to look at the garden, showcasing how little it meant to them, just another patch of grass in just another part of the school. This picture is extraordinary to me because it showcased how willing River Valley students are at giving up on projects when it stops benefiting us, when all the via hours are received and pats on the back given. Yet, the deeper meaning to the picture is, Mother Nature wins in the end.

Poverty and happiness

HPI is not a good way of calculating pure happiness. In fact, what it calculates is which country has the most sustainable, long and comfortable life. A better data set would be the world happiness report, which ranks Singapore as 24th and China way back at 84th, yet even that data is not accurate, as there is no way of measuring happiness accurately. However, is wealth and happiness related? Of course they are, as almost all of the top nations in happiness are somewhat rich. However a nation's wealth is not influence happiness decisively. There are many other factors to consider too, like population density, government, social expectations and so forth. If all the other factors are similar, being richer would not hurt. However the least happy nations are ones suffering from extreme absolute poverty, with corrupted governments and unrest, and have really backwards economy. This creates a catch 22, a economy is essential for stopping people from being unhappy, yet if the people are unhappy and cause unrest, there would be no economy. Thus the conclusion is that while you need not be happy to be rich, you still need to be well-off to prevent unhappiness.

Chingay reflections

Chingay 2016, themed "Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore", celebrates the legacy and wisdom of our founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and other founding fathers based on the core values they preached, such as Racial Harmony and Social Cohesion, Caring Community, Resilience as a Nation, Can-Do Singapore Spirit and Upholding of high moral values.

The first Chingay parade was held on 4th February 1973 was partly as a result of the ban on firecrackers. To prevent a damp in the holiday mood, the People's Association and the Singapore National Pugilistic Association jointly organised a day street parade from Jalan Besar to Outram Park featuring the floats, acrobatic acts, lion and dragon dances, stilt walkers, and the like, performed and watched by mostly by people of chinese ethnicity. However, the performance has since shifted towards a more muti-cultural, sometimes even muti-national character, by inviting performers of all races, religion, and nation. This is shown by the many Chinese, Malay and Indian cultural performances, from Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Taoist and Hindu background. There was even performers from China(including Taiwan), Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, USA and Thailand. Despite the massive change, much of the traditional performance, like lion and dragon dance, are still kept.

-The first chingay in 1973, showcasing small scaled performances centered around dances and acrobatic acts, and held in the day to emphasis on that. It traveled through predominantly chinese neighbourhoods (before EIP was introduced). Target audience - residential chinese living near parade route. 

- Chingay 2016, large and grand with more than 8000 performers, centered around lights and pyrodynamics(like the neon cloths and fireworks), held during the evening to night to showcase this. The performance goes through the CBD, many tourist sites, and some residential sites, broadcasted on many channels regionally. Target audience - tourist, residents(regardless of race), television audience local and regionally.

The change is attributed to the change of Chingay from a parade designed to quell unhappiness from the firecracker ban and promote the holiday mode, to a performance designed to craft a uniquely Singapore identity as well as attract tourism. It is also made to promote interracial relationships and understanding as well as to let Singaporeans understand foreign culture, rather than please the Chinese.

The main goal of the parade organisers this year is to promote living by the core values of our founding fathers, as well as to move forward to a brighter Singapore. I believe they failed the former and but manage to salvage the latter. This is shown by their utter lack relevance to the core values. Although the values of Racial Harmony and Caring Community are shown through the muti-racial performance by people from different walks of life, it was nothing new as such performances are shown every year. The rest of the values are pretty much ignored.

- Big banks paying CEOs 10,120,000SGD promoting income equality (social cohesion)... The squirrel looks more like it is freeloading on the community rather than building a stronger one.

- Brighter Singapore, brought to you by toto. Even though its legal, it is still not really upholding high moral values.

As for moving on to a brighter Singapore, I felt the floats made to show that is not very inspired, as it is just floats with the words pasted on it. There was no explanation for the PAYM members wearing LED shirts, although it looks pleasing to the eye. However, their lack of creativity here is at least balanced out by the ingenious idea of the colourful light bulbs they made the audience wear. With a mediocre, even lacklustre performance, the light bulbs saved the show. It was unique, casting the whole performance in a different light, the twinkling of the bulbs providing a wonderful backdrop for the show. The light bulbs was probably meant to demonstrated a brighter Singapore, literally, but the MCs failed to explain.

In my honest opinion, Chingay 2016 has failed to demonstrate its purpose that it written. Yet, is that the point of Chingay? Perhaps the point of Chingay is not what it pretends to be in black and white, a tool to promote national pride, but is actually, like in the past, a show for Singaporeans to watch and enjoy, for us to bond with neighbours and friends while watching it, to create a closer knitted community. If that's the case, the organisers have succeeded. Many of the performances, which has nothing to do with the theme, is well choreograph and captivating. Thus, I believe that if the agenda of the organisers was to social engineer nationalists, they failed, but if it is to let us have fun and build understanding between Singaporeans, they have managed to accomplish it.

3-2-1 reflections

3 things I have learnt

-population control via policies to limit births is a subject in the grey area. While certainly successful mid-term policy in limiting the effects of overpopulation, it also take away civil liberties, cause aging population and shrinks the active workforce.

-increased population density usually increases unhappiness and unrest

-communism best communism.打破旧世界，创造新世界！革命万岁！中华人名万岁！

2 perceptions I have gained

-it is hard to change people's opinions, but with media support and force, you can convince people to accept, or the least live by new policies.

-when we think of problems, we must think of how it would affect the big picture, and the small pixel.

1 question I have left

-why is communism best communism?*

*ps:I really don't don't know anything

Why must Singapore not be complacent in her achievements?

Singapore has been one successful example of third-way politics, riding the post world war 2 economic wave to become one of the wealthiest and stable nation in the world. A stable tax haven in the middle of the resource rich, but unstable south east asia, and a doorway to the rest of asia, Singapore managed to attract many foreign investments and trade, skyrocketing her economy. Being a place to safely and cheaply operate out of, with educated workforce and great infrastructure, Singapore became a popular choice for multinational companies to set roots in, becoming one of the leading nations in GDP/capita, leading to virtually zero absolute poverty.

However, this is not to last. Singapore is a nation utterly dependent on transshipment and the region's' stability ,yet these pillars are disappearing. 

As cargo ships become more fuel efficient and become able to sail farther, they can sail directly to their destinations rather than stop at Singapore. Additionally, Singapore mostly handles ships traveling between China and Europe, and as China begins opening their ports to the west, it removes the need for Singapore to facilitate the trade. This is evident from the fact that Shanghai has overtaken Singapore as the busiest box port. Singapore's port could also easily be rendered obsolete by changes in the sudden global shipping lanes.

Another dependency Singapore has is on the region's stability, as the lack of it would be a barrier against investment. However, our neighbours are becoming increasing non compliant and unstable, breeding terrorism, corruption and man-made disaster.

With much of Singapore's economy in the red, we must never be complacent. We have no natural resource, no land, and never able to self sustain, thus we must always be looking for more economic opportunities. It is always easy to follow, not lead, thus with many other countries trying to copy our format, we must be the one improving and expanding our social economic system. Fifty years later there would still be sheeps grazing in new zealand, top hats in Britain, but in 50 years, the existence of Singapore would be entirely up to us.

Singapore in the FUTURE!

Sad merlion. Climate change has raised global sea levels by hundreds of meters, and with global trade dying down and oil taps drying, transshipment trade disappeared and so did Singapore, under the waves of the sea and irrelevance. Most of the population has emigrated, the few hundred or so people left living on bukit timah hill makes a living scavenging the ruins and fishing the empty seas. The radio transmitter on top of bukit timah hill has been converted into a makeshift lighthouse, servicing the few carvels travelling through the flooded peninsula.

pre OELP trip reflection
what I hope to learn
1. The living conditions and daily lives of the proletariat in People's Republic of China after the economic boom from Deng Xiao Ping's reforms.
2. The societal structure of People's Republic of China, how they view family, religion, law, economy, and class.
3. China's ideology, whether they are still embracing communism or capitalism in economics and whether they are more liberal or conservative in social policies.
4. The extent of China's Golden Shield Project, as well as press and journalism in People's Republic of China.
5. Dictatorial The extent of government control and influence on day to day life in People's Republic of China.
6. The education system in China
What I hope to do
1.Visit factories to see first hand how China's mass production system works!
2. Eat
3. Visit the house of my buddy (who, dear me, still have not reply my email) to see the exact living conditions of the Chinese people(still zero idea who my dear buddy is).
4. Eat more
5. Take the train to see China's transport infastructure
6. EAT EAT EAT
Goals to fulfil as a class
1. Don't get lost
2. Don't get kidnapped
3. Don't go into the white van
4. Don't fall sick (I'm calling it, someone is gonna fall sick)
5. Don't get detained
6. Don't make radio armenia jokes
7. Don't topple the regime, no matter how tempting
8. Don't mention panaman any western lies about non-existent corruption in the clean heads of government
TL;DR, find out about modern socialism/communism

post OELP trip reflection

Year 2 Suzhou OELP
Name	School	Class	Stream	Period of Internationalisation experience	Country of visit
Luo Rui, Russell	River Valley High School	2G	Integrated Programme	20 May to 26 May 2016	People’s Republic of China
Reflections:   1. I have chosen to go on this trip so as to see first-hand People’s Republic of China’s culture and heritage, economy and education system as such, to learn more about this rising superpower that will deeply impact Singapore in the future. Understanding this would allow me to establish relations with the Chinese easier in the future, as I am able to much more easily understand the point of view they are speaking from and know how we can find or establish common ground with each other.   2. The situation that I come across and felt the most strongly about is the time when we were going through the security checks at Pudong International Airport. The airport has over ten fully staffed immigration counter, scores and scores of plain empty space, yet only one security check station. Perhaps by luck, or more like bad luck, the security that day wanted everyone to go through the full security check- x-ray scans, bag checks etcetera. They were terribly slow, taking almost a minute for each person. What’s more is that most of the people in the airport are China Chinese, and I could not count with my fingers and toes how many of them had contraband inside their bag. I thought it would be alright in the beginning, after all there is a queue, and our turn would come in at most an hour. Yet I was wrong, many of those China Chinese begun to cut our place in the queue, chopping our class into pieces. Then those China Chinese got cut by a bunch of China Chinese that just ripped apart the lines of the queue, who were cut by a tour group cutting the line in front of where they cut. Learning from the locals, I began my own little journey of placing my luggage in front of others, subtlety kicking back others trying to do the same and placing my trolley against one of the gap they are trying to cut through, moving more in that five minutes than the previous 1 hour 55 minutes stuck there. This to me symbolise the character of the China Chinese, that is under a weak inefficient system, they would never seek to rise up and challenge and change the system, but would instead squabble with their own for whatever little the system could provide, and they would not mind being uncivilised or cheating to achieve their goals. Those who try to aim to be civilised and respectful to others are just left behind in their fast paced and over competitive society.   The one person I have seen that has taught me more than what could be achieved in class would be an apple’s sales person at观前街. Me and a friend went in a shop and inquired about the price of an IPhone 6s to learn about the cost of living in China. The sales woman was very welcoming, until she learnt that we were there for a school project. She immediately upon learning that turned a 180 and shooed us out of the shop. This has taught me really just how competitive and realist modern day society is, that money and caste talks. This type experience can only be felt first hand.   The fact that I learnt during this trip is that maintenance is as important as constructing new buildings. Infrastructure maintenance is something we took for granted in Singapore, yet in China, we saw what happens when there is a lack of it. Crumbling infrastructure filled the city, from potholes in roads, dirty buildings with their paint peeling off, and most importantly, rubble, rubble everywhere. We saw many infrastructure projects during this trip, thousands of engineers and blue-collar workers milling around building yet another skyscraper, yet I saw not a single person repainting a wall or clearing a field of rubble.   3.  This trip has allowed me to appreciate Singapore’s relative efficiency, order and calmness. In terms of long term change, I really hope China can change their social culture, after all to me they actually seem like a capitalist utopia, with excess competitiveness, caste system and money being the thing that talks. They were supposed to be socialist, be equal! I have learnt about how horrible government inefficiency can be, how equality can be easily stolen by the top 1%, how capitalism can occur without democracy. To prevent Singapore from becoming such a dystopia, we must maintain our democracy, our governmental transparency, and always advocate meritocracy.

here come dat boi!!!