Year Half

This year is going really fast. i thought last year was fast. haha i think the older we get, the faster time passes. just like how toilet rolls finish faster nearing the end.

Or perhaps its just because theres nothing much to remember by. All that happened, and that i can clearly recall, are things like orientation, cny, council passing down, alot of missing lectures and catching up on studies, taking h3 which is finally, phew, over, and random little things. j2 is probably not the year to have a happening life.

My holidays quite boring i guess. mainly coz hongkong camp was cancelled. nvm. theres still the harmoc concert on the 1st day of sch holi put up by the finest harmonica band in singapore that won the highest honor -- a frigging silver in this years syf. yeah jasonlim! then we will have JTS haha i think ours is one of the last classes to still have JTS. and rachel invited us to her birthday. oh not forgetting the army health checkup which probably will take half a day. im also going to get some sunshine outdoors someday, if i can find ppl.

im working on my csc lunwen these days its so discouraging after you write so much and it reads just like any other essay online.

Dont blame the pigs

My trip to Hongkong was cancelled in view of the fast spreading mexican flu. and from monday everyone would have to bring a thermometer to school. for the past few temp taking ive been using a dummy thermometer coz its spoilt and i didnt see a point in getting a new one coz its just some precautionary formality. haha but its now time to get a working one. the flu is reminding everyone of sars back in 2003. i was watching tv and on the side screen news bulletin was the notice of sch closure with immediate effect. everyone called around in disbelief with considerable excitment. it was around 2 weeks plus of homeschooling which was not a bad idea come to think of it. not that i want the pandemic to aggrevate, but having to stay at home is quite a blessing in disguise. but its quite unfortunate how this is superpositioning itself with recession and if the disease worsens, it could be a mega depression like never before.

About the Council Debate

yesterdays presidential qna saw quite some pertinent discussions and discontents students have on this organisation. i shall not call it council because even the title is now controversial.

some felt that council should be a body that is representative of the students and a voice that challanges the school admin to propel policies for the general welfare of the students. i can understand where these people come from, and personally i agree with that. every year council organises 7 major school events, this is a well known fact by the students and its probably why most would think the council is overly event based, which has blurred its distinction from an event organsing committee. having said that, what most people do not know, however, is the standing role every councillor has. in other words, the council has the capacity to go much further beyond the 7 events every year. but why are the students not seeing the changes? i cant blame it on the school admin because contrary to what most would think, the school admin actually gives council quite a substantial level of support and as long as the case is strong, and the need justified, the school okays it.

well i think the real reason is that everythings going fine in school, and what the students want are things purely unnecessary. ok maybe a little reasonable at times but not absolutely necessary. what the student government does in other countries could be organising protests and strikes, to defend their interest. in the past, hwachong did have a very strong students union that organised strikes. but this is not happening now because things are fine, why should people challange a well established system. so over the year, the council has evolved from defending the students' interests to enhacing them. the catch is to strike the equilibrium btw the school and the students. we do have major events that bring alumni back, and the entire school together. this is actually a great welfare in disguise. personally i would rather have more of such welfare than policies like shaving a few inches off the skirt. another aspect the council covers is the school spirit. its tricky. its sth not guranteed however much you do. imagine cheering without the councillors around.

the council, though not ideal, is an organisation still necessary and deserves some recognition. despite so, council is not a perfect system and it does miscarry from time to time. i agree that council could have done better in many ways but then its always easier said than done. council has limitations, and so does the election process. there is never a perfect system, there only exists a balanced one taking into consideration the logistics and practicality.

things always change, so should our perceptions on them.

Early Planning

Last week was quite mundane, nothing exceptionally worth mentioning. its probably how the rest of the year will be like after passing down. though i need slack weeks to buffer, its boring when free time starts pouring. coz i think i work better under pressure. on the brighter side i can do so much what i havent had the time to do for so long. chilling by the coast, swimming, maybe some fishing, going to camps and stuff.

yeah talking about camp, im going hongkong on a 5 day camp end may. we just had a training session cum meeting in the morning at bukit timah hill. we trekked a big loop and were all so shagged at the end of it.i guess we are just too busy with work so we neglect workout. its so unhealthy. ive people around me hardly exercising outside pe lessons. a famous pe teacher once said, if you are active now, you will be less active next time; if you are less active now, you will be inactive next time. haha yeah its quite the time to check on health. anyw, while trekking we saw quite a lot of stuff. ants of the size of a little finger, lizards of a arms length etc. quite surprised by what the 163m hill can offer.

I hope next week can be a little more fun.

Falling Behind

im really lagging a lot here, and in my school work. since the block test i havent been picking up the momentum to study and catch up. i cant really find a good reason this is happening this way. anyw we just had our second h3 test, something quite sensational. now that all the tests are over, im back to all those fresh from the copier tutorials. and i just registered for the may 2nd sats, it was a spur of the moment decision on the deadline day coz i havent really seriously considered much about going to the US. but i thought i could give it a whack, take first, talk later. haha yeah.

council hasnt been as busy as it was. its elections period which is our ageing sign and a notice for retirement. council has been a journey quite as expected, fulfilling at times, busy and tiring always. shall not go on about council now. maybe after stepping down.

As i see it, most singaporeans are just too busy for any physical qualities of life. i was recently going around tamanjurong to promote a saturaday morning cycling event at ubin. what could have been a healthy and happy family bonding affair was marred by parents having to work and children as little as 10 having tuitions. this cant really be blamed on anyone or any government policies on education or economy (something thats better left unsaid on the internet). i just think people might wanna consider some life sometimes in life.

Something Amazing

Went straight to science centre in the morning for the Amazing Flying Machine presentation. probably the only amazing thing about our masterpiece is that we started making the thing from scratch just yesterday after gp. receiver was fried. motor beeping. nothing was going really right. but still, we were there in the morning and smoked through. actually it was a strategic decision. haha just a better way to put procrastination and screwups. actual flying is next week i hope it can lift off the ground.

Then rushed back school for CSC paper. which was another amazing thing. amazing everyone wrote 3h straight of china studies in chinese. around 5000 words? come and beat that. China Studies is Cool (CSC)

its physics tmr. and im so totally dynamic about dynamics now.

KFC

Something random, KFC totally rox.

i ended school at 2pm today. i was really not used to the early off so i soaked an hour plus in saltcentre. then i went to westmall to recce stuff for welfare week. i wasnt even hungry when i walked past KFC but seeing nobodys queueing made me tempted to just get sth. and i got more hungry after eating it, coz its damn nice.

ive got numbers and matrices test tmr. first H3 test. i dont hope for anything just hope its not too embarrassing