honors thesis

Honestly I believe people place too much hype into the notion of “FYP” or “thesis” or “GP”. When it ultimately comes down to ‘doing’ this, it’s just a matter of hard work, empirical data, and good writing. It resembles that of a typical term paper, or essay, just that it is extended over a period of 8months.

If you ask me, you just need a question (about society) in your head in which you try to elucidate by conducting surveys or interviews, and then start writing. Of course this is not completely exhaustive nor is it in some form of order. It could be writing a little first, and then head out conducting interviews (research) and back to writing again.

It’s simple. However, I do agree that you would need to have some form of intellectual foundation in terms of concepts and theories to establish the framework of analysis. Other than this, if anyone tells you the FYP is gonna be a killer or, gonna be the death of her/him, simply re-assure the individual that it is simply a matter of hard work (and perhaps a lot of coffee too).

After all, it is only within the undergraduate level where writing is considered to a large degree, ‘fun’ as compared to graduate or postgraduate levels. Find something interesting, go out into the ‘field’ and collect data, and eventually manifest your thoughts in writing. Some people go to even greater lengths to enact ‘change’ and awareness; i.e. exploitation of foreign and domestic workers. All in all, enjoy your FYP/GP/honors thesis experience, for it only happens once in your undergraduate life.

the nerd in me: pc upgrade

I finally managed to acquire 3 pieces of hardware that would enable me to tide the waters of future gaming demands that may cometh by. It’s been awhile since I’ve got down and tinkered with my PC, researching for good hardware grabs and the ‘in thing’ for PC upgrades. So I decided to upgrade 3 things that were really outdated; my graphics card, power supply unit, storage space (hard disk) and my 6 year old CPU casing (which is getting really rusty).

Fate

Between technology and chance.

The automatic pistol and the Russian Roulette.

frustrating discursive gender practices

Quote Yancey Martin (2003):

When women see and/or experience groups of men mobilize(ing) masculinities in ways women cannot frame as working, they often perceive men as acting like men, instead of like vice presidents, chemists, or engineers. When this occurs, they experience a range of negative feelings-for example, feeling exhausted, different, excluded, unsure of themselves, and, as Valerie said, as if they are “in the wrong line of work” (Yancey Martin 2001).

Modernity is Death; History is Undeath

You know what, Modernity is Death. Why do I posit such heroic assumptions? Everything that is perceived as ‘modern’ has to die, as such, a product/ideology/myth/narrative that is deemed ‘modern’ is created to die, it has to be extinguished or be in a perpetual state of decay in order for a newer element to take charge and replace the dead or dying; thus being reborn as ‘modern’ again.

History however, is undeath. It is so because of the political manipulation of history which results in ‘heritage’. It doesn’t die, but it is reinterpreted, reinvigorated, and of course, exaggerated. It is more or less blown out of its primordial proportions in terms of its master narrative and is often attached to spatial elements such as a particular site, that is deemed as ‘heritage site.’ Thus in the perpetual state of decay which characterizes our state of existence of modernity, comes the undeath, heritage, to haunt modernity and to lay claim to recollections of past history in order to recreate a sense of a ‘present’ in which is tied to the prognosis of a ‘modern’ future.

Hence our state of being, is always in becoming, achieving the various ‘moderns’ in order to die again, becoming modern. Modernity is a paradox, it is perpetually dying but builds upon the undeath of history; the eloquent romanticization of history to create a sense of identity for itself, which builds the threshold of modernization.

We are perpetually striving to achieve the dying, and our identities tied to the undeath. Biologically we are dying, and ontologically we striving to achieve the dying. What a paradoxical existence we lead indeed.

the rusted one

Veiled glances and individualism

I think that the wearing of shades/sunglasses among individuals, is deeper than it seems. Though it may be used for utilitarian purposes such as reducing UV rays and such, the (post) modern era has created several constructions that surpass it’s initial purpose and is now used as an apparatus to galvanize individuality and difference.

It is an unquestioned phenomena that people only look at other people whom they don’t know for a maximum of 2~3secs, and any longer, could present a negative social function or gesture; people avoid this typically. Wearing shades encompasses a form of “social invisibility” in which the element of “being seen” via the pupils of the eyes, are veiled, thus substituting a visual gesture of intention (looking at people) with passive aesthetics of ignorance. Could this conduit enable these (in)dividuals to bypass the traditional social norms of rapport construction in order to have glances longer than usual upon others? (In which a stare may be considered rude) But perhaps my own subjective opinion constrains me as of now, in terms of observation. Probably more in-depth ethnographic studies are required, and perhaps, formal rationality could have transcended onto the realm of aesthetics. But one thing is certain… this looks like an appropriate piece for my assignment 1 of my projects.

PS: Nevertheless, could this be a product of passive individualism as opposed to the 80′s “rock and roll” era where shades are used as a social conduit for norm affirmation? cf. The Greasers