:: dear death ::

You are morbid. You are feared. You seem "dirty". You are oft visited when one thinks that there's no way out.

Today, I saw death in two distinctively different light. One in the case of a student who looked to death after a frustrating confrontation with his FYP prof, another in the case of this year's Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film.

The movie, Departures, was a poignant story of a man, who gave up his career after unsuccessful attempts, as a cello player in an orchestra, which was forced to close down. He went back to his old home in suburban Japan. He looked for a job in the classifieds section and came across one from NK Agent. It was a job to work with "departure". Thinking it was a travel agency job, he went to apply. In reality, it was a job dealing with the departed, in other words, it was a person who take care of a dead person, helping to prep a dead to get ready for entering the coffin, departing to another world.

The people around him, including his wife, played by 广末凉子, thought of it as a improper job, even leaving him saying he was dirty. But through ways, he proved to people it to be a noble job, respectable and something he is proud of.

An understory of him with his father was told, with his parents divorced and his father being a useless man who had extramarital affair. In the end, when he found out his father was dead, it took him a while, until he decided to visit him. With his wife, they drove to a little town and saw his fathers body. It was extremely touching seeing him looking at his fathers face and matching it to the face he has long forgotten since he last saw when he was a child. Unhappy with the way the undertaker took care of the body, he stepped in to do his job, and sent his own father on the final journey. Overall, it was touching, something that felt close to heart and not at all unfamiliar.

On the other hand, an Indonesian Chinese year 4 EEE student from NTU took his own life, slashing his wrist before jumping down a a EEE block. (yah, he jump from a basement level and died, proving the theory tt u can die in NTU even if u jump from a basement) but before tt, he stabbed his FYP professor several times at his office.

So was it a case whereby FYP professor was over demanding that the student could not tolerate. Or was it that he was simply too stressed. I would prefer to think that the prof played a part in this whole disaster. Mayb I'm biased, bit, I can't think of any reason a student would stab him. If too stressed he die himself can le ma.

Still, it's sad la. Why couldn't he just tolerate it for awhile more, project finish in a month or two, then he will grad le. So wasted. Sad la! Stress.. Who is not stressed?haiz ~

I fail so many times, also live on. Tsk. Don't set too high expectations la, be it the student or the prof..

Fun facts about NTU EEE accident:

-ntu south spine highest level is level two. At the EEE buildings, one is Level 1 to basement 5, the other got basement 7.. The two extentions (which I guess is where accident take place) got basement 1-5.. No levels abover ground, haha..

-some say FYP stands for Finish Your Professor. Cruel but funny.

-that guy who died was from hall 4. He was once my neighbour la... Dun noe him personally though.. Someone even said maybe hall 4 will hold the wake, rubbish la!