"I Guess" II

Welcome to I Guess I Guess I Guess Guess Guess II. Same rules apply. It won't be as easy as last time.

1. Futures

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When I was in grade 2, I lived behind my church. So on some Sundays, people would come to my house after the service.

There were a few of us small boys, and there were two girls, one of whom was called Katie. I don't remember if we liked her at that time, but because she was a girl, we weren't supposed to like her very much. She was a loudish girl, who always liked to be the pretty princess, and enjoyed hearing her mum's stories about how she would be able to go on a horse date with a handsome prince, if she kept up her manners.

When the people came over to my house, the boys always played computer games, primarily a game called Duke Nukem, a 2D game with levels and bosses. There would be a time during the game, when the gaming atmosphere became tense, because we know that a super boss would come jumping out without warning, or a discernable pattern of entry. Abe gave the super boss a name, and this is how it happened.

While fighting the boss.
Abe: "Hey...it's...Katie's future..."
Nicky: "What? Katie's future??"
Abe: "Ha-ha-ha-ha."
Nicky: "Oh yeah, it sort of does look like her..."

Of course it didn't, but small boys always like to tell girls about how ugly they are right? And this was not just ugly; this was, robotic, stiff-jumping (like a kangaroo), square, metallic, makes weird machine noises, unhuman-like, a pain in the butt, an obstacle to life, plus all the bad descriptions, and most significantly, shockingly SCARY.

From that day onwards, that boss character received the name "Katie's Future". As kids concentrating on finishing a game of Duke Nukem, the name "Katie's Future" would fly in fly out, sound in sound out, and it came to a point when it wasn't even funny anymore, because we were so serious on completing the game.

But now that I think of it, it makes me laugh. It makes me wonder how our English became so capable to have thought of such a name to describe someone, to predict someone's future in two words, and to use these two words in a context as an adjective and a noun. Oh, I haven't seen Katie for 9+ years now. I wonder what she is like, now.
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As for my future, I have a blurry-clear picture of what I will be doing. I will enjoy what I do and I may be overseas at times. But, as for now, I enjoy all the time by myself, vegetating in my own world, which mind you does do a lot of good.

2. Economic Implications

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I found it hard to connect to anyone in my economics tutorial last semester. Talking to people was fine, but without the connection at a good emotional level, talking became empty.

It was until... one normal tutorial, a girl, who looked of Chinese descent, and didn't usually attend our tutorial walked in, and sat on the table next to mine. I didn't pay much attention to her, until the tutor told me to move to the next table because he wanted to make even groups.

And there I was, sitting in front of the new girl. I didn't really look at her, and she didn't really look at me. The point of making groups of about 4 was so that we can discuss the economics questions, and formulate the answer as a group. But in reality, when the tutor says: "Okay, now break into your groups and discuss among yourselves the answers to (a)", everyone silently grabs a worksheet and a pen, reads the question with their heads down, and after a while starts putting pen to paper without even saying hello to their own group members! Come on, you're in uni here.

After our time of 'discussion among ourselves', the tutor started to explain the first question - firm theory. I somehow had an urge to ask a question about some of the theory, and as I raised my hand, the new girl also raised her hand to ask a question.

The tutor saw her hand first, so he said to her: "Your question first."
I looked at the girl as she spoke: "I'm just wondering whether elasticity of demand would change if quantity increased?"
As I watched her speak those words, the words floated in my mind: "Would...elasticity of demand change if quantity..." and her voice and lip movement played back in my head as I stared at her. Her accent was half-canadian, she didn't seem like she was wearing makeup, but her skin was shining, and her eyes were about 3-4mm wider apart than the average, which made her very distinguishable among a group of people. For the next 10 seconds, my senses were fixed on her, and that was not under my control.

Suddenly, the tutor said: "Yes Sam, your question?"
And I said: "...yeah, would...elasticity of demand change if quantity...increase?"
The tutor expressed amusement with his face and hands, and said: "I just explained that."
To my surprise nobody in the class laughed, or expressed acknowledgement of my dumb mistake, because I figured afterwards that it was economics. I could tell that the girl knew why I had asked the same question that she had asked, and she felt uneasy to be facing me for the entire lesson. A mistake.

After the incident, I had still made no connections, and therefore, every class after that was to me, the same.
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3. Phone crook

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I received a call from a Chinese lady one morning. She said that she was from some Hong Kong International Olympic Committee, and asked me if I was going back to China for the opening ceremony later on this year. I told her no.

Then she ask me: "Xian sheng na ni ke zhi dao (Sir would you happen to know) ... the winner of the 400m gold medallist for 2004?"

I said no. So she said: "Ahh? Bu zhi dao ah? (what? you don't know?)"

Then she asked: "Then do you know the event that China, historically is best at?"

I said no. Because I didn't know. "Ni zhen de bu zhi dao ah? (You really don't know?). Ni shi zhong guo ren ni ying gai zhi dao. (You are Chinese, you should know.)"
"Wo bu shi zhong guo ren. (I'm not Chinese)."
"Ah-ha-ha... shi ma? (that so?)"

Then she asked me: "Do you know what date the opening ceremony of the 2008 Oympics will be held?"

I said no (it was a long while back!).
"Ni bu zhi dao?!?..."
"Bu zhi dao."
Then I heard her laughter a distance away from the phone receiver. A frustrated laughter.

She said: "Ok, congratulations, you have been selected by our office to enter a special Olympics draw. Would you like to enter this competition? You don't have to be in China to receive the prize."
"Yes-s-s... ok... that is fine with me."
A few other unimportant things she said to me, then we hung up.

Very suspicious. I figured later on that she was trying to ask a normal communist question that ordinary Chinese would know the answer to. And once they tell the answer, she would say something like: "Gong xi ni, ni zai san ti nei da dui yin ci huo de quan li can jia wo men de chou jiang. (Congratulations, you answered correctly within three questions thus you are awarded with the opportunity to be included in our competition.)" This was to make the opportunity seem more real.

BUT. For a person like me who didn't know any of the answers (which she probably had not encountered during the entire week of calling that she had done), it seemed like she was just asking random questions before asking for permission to enter me into the "competition".

True enough, four weeks later, the lady with the same polite voice called back and said: "Xian sheng, do you remember four weeks ago [bla bla bla]...? Well you won, fei chang gong xi ni oh."
And I said: "Oh, hao hao, bu cuo."
"Ni zhong le gang bi $860,000 (You won HKD worth $860,000)."
When she started asking for my bank details, I told her to give the money to somebody else.

Even if the lady was telling the truth, which she wasn't...

I would not have wanted to receive an amount of money that I did not earn by the investments of my own hand, otherwise the free money would be a stumbling block for the future investments that I will make with my own hands.

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That is all. You may take a pick 1, 2, or 3.