@xiaoyao's

Retirement

2010-01-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

Why do we have so many elderly doing things mostly done by the youth elsewhere? Its really common to see elderly cleaning tables, taking orders in fast food retaurants, mopping floors, and even as security guards. Is it not the time to retire and relax? Do we not have enough social security?

its always thought that retirement is the time when we truly bid goodbye to all the years of hardwork and begin to reap the fruits of our labour over the years. it naturally means staying away from work, and doing things just for leisure. Shouldnt retirement be something we look forward to? why then is the perpetual demand to raise the age of retirement?

Money. They havent earned enough to even make ends meet, much less travelling around and enjoying true retirement. They probably did not have enough CPF deposited. CPF is a fair but cruel scheme. While it encourages one to work hard, those who fail in amassing enough wealth have no chance of enjoying retirement. With the economy going South, getting a job at an old age is already a blessing to many.

New Year

2010-01-06T22:44:00.001-08:00

Havent added anything here in half a year. Blogging is very much like doing sports. Its easy to keep the momentum but once you stop for some reasons, it takes so much to get started again. Preparation for A levels and applications for uni/scholarships end of last year took me away from the blog. but tbh, nothing was fun and worth writing about that period.

Now that exams are over and holidays halfway through, i'm very much relaxed and enjoying everyday till NS, which will probably be some enjoyment of a different nature.

I had a 10-day vacation with lixiang and yiming to Hongkong, Macau and Mainland. If i didnt have to rush back for a scholarship interview, i probably would stay longer in China and continue being amazed by the development in the cities i visited.

Many friends are working now. some on internships, others for fun. I just wanna stay home and rest. But it hasnt been restful lately. found a new hobby. catching lobsters at a nearby nature park. While i havent hooked any lobster, im pretty hooked to this evening 'hobby'. they are really witty and agile creatures.

Heres wishing everyone a fulfilling and purposeful 2010.

Year Half

2009-05-30T03:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-04T08:14:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-12T03:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

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

Tolerance

2009-02-22T02:26:00.000-08:00

sometimes you will just be out of your mind and do something even yourself will later think is foolish. haha but thats just how things work. if everyone has perfect knowledge and exercise perfect discretion then it will be a perfect world. its through screwups that we know whats not a screwup, and how to not screw it up.

till people are more tolerant, there will be endless conflicts. yeah sometimes it just takes so little to destroy so much. while looking at the big picture you think its not worth it, dissecting it bit by bit and everything seems to flow.

and i like the idea that if you are looking for a friend, close an eye. if you are keeping one, close both.

Interlude

2009-02-17T04:35:00.000-08:00

So orientations over and i feel, beneath a shagged exterior, ive started anew. its back to the days without cca. and i was watching fac dance practice in the afternoon. totally felt like a freshman. but once i got home, the piles of work on my bed (ive two beds in my room fyi, one for me and one for books and files and randoms) threw me back to reality. but quite surprisingly with blocks in less than 4 weeks i havent got the adrenaline to mug.

I love OG16 and my junior class. both are not the loudest of the cohort, but are so amazing and pleasant im gutted we didnt spend more time together. but again, those great times are great memories. i just hope OG16 can live on, like OG6! that gathered during campfire! i was so shocked that, after so much, we still made it together and circled around to sing and camwhore. haha OG6!

Friendship day. i was so guilty i didnt bring anything to give, but did receive some cute bits and pieces. I sent Chejian a rose but was thought to be gay. haha yeah Valentines was spent catching up with sleep. and i missed elson ee's total defence SNEC programme and im so sure it was a big miss.

ohmycow

2009-01-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

the year hasnt at all made me feel like a bull.

today was cny school celebration where council put on show whats kept everyone busy for a good 10 worksessions. it was quite smooth and at least i daresay the show didnt disappoint. and relieved the cow head didnt drop any parts down halfway. the overnight session was absolutely torturous for 8h sleepers like me. i met john in the pool after the worksession. i really had no idea why the swim when i couldnt even walk straight. neither could i swim straight. i started from lane 4 and got to lane 8 in backstroke. maybe i just wanted to exhaust my last ounce of strength for a restful sleep like never before. and in that i succeeded. the only thing i did straight today was how i hit the bed when i got home.

i always look forward to cny coz its this cultural thing that brings ppl together. and theres always the reason to slack and then get some work done, hopefully.

Flipping over

2008-12-31T09:21:00.000-08:00

its another year.

2008 was quite a mess for the world, and for myself too. its a year i went through with much more memories than probably the ones in high school combined. its mess because i cant really think of anything to begin with, just everything lumped up, and everyone was just so kind of busy all the time. next years probably worse, 01 and cny are clearly the beginning.

i dont usually have new year resolutions coz i know it doesnt work for me. i just cant wait for 2009 to be over, im really sick of schooling. i cant wait to leave this place and do something i truly like. i will not miss school, except for friends. but still ill work hard to get over with college.

if theres anything troubling me now if would be relationships. i dont quite want to talk about it here coz theres really nth much to say, and nth much i can do. i hope i cant be bothered but that isnt happening. but if anything ill err on the side of caution in 2009

personally i would wanna change a bit. over the chalet i kind of had a reflection/evaluation with ppl and there i learnt some observations they had of me. ill really look into it coz im quite a self conscious person but i frankly dont see anything with myself (maybe thats the problem)

i hope friends can spend more time together but thats quite a bleak hope tbh. i treasure friends more than most other things but 2009 isnt exactly the best year to bond, not until As are over. but bet it will be rewarding if ppl still hang around while they can.

happy new year.

Nippon Week

2008-12-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

Ive been back from Japan for quite a while though you cant really tell from this place coz i havent added a jot since the previous entry on scotland. not quite like scotland, what Japan left in me wasnt the people but the place. id love to know a few jappies there but language is just why that didnt happen. japan is stunningly clean. its a culture to keep trash in the pocket and have it properly disposed of. but if anything i would not wanna live in tokyo coz i cant stand the way buildings squeeze into each other with barely a meter of gap in between. its a modern contruction wonder. the city skyline is magneficient especially at night. we went up the tokyo tower (japan's effiel) and had a 360 view of the city. every corner you turn you see nothing less than all the CBD buildings along singapore river combined. tokyo is just so developed that you feel downsized as you go around. the cost of living is pretty sickening, probably higher than in the UK. i didnt try but i heard a haircut can easily go above SGD50. thats quite awful but i kind of like japanese products for their quality and design.

we visited a school in Kamakura, a coastal city in the Kanagawa prefecture (where Slam Dunk was based). i loved the place for its beach and serenity that offer peace to the mind. if i were a japanese i would work in tokyo and live in kamakura.

the best part of the trip was skiing. i heard it snowed just the day before we went skiing otherwise we could miss skiing. we stayed in the Waseda Seminar House, a lovely resort-style hostel on the mountain we had our skiing. in one of the nights i was playing pingpong at the basement when someone shouted omg its snowing and the next moment everyone rushed outside and started screaming and taking pictures haha it was so funny coz everyone jumped out through windows in their house slippers and did lots of crazy stuff till the RJ teacher (i think) came and gave some scolding. there was a public bathing pool (onsen) too that ivan and i fervently liked. i rmbed one night we opened the windows and scooped snow with a basin, mixed with water and poured onto jiachen jiawei and kahloke that came behind us.

there were lots of other memories in Japan like the all-guy bitching session. ohh and about the girls, its quite a myth jap girls are hot. they are sweet and nice people tho. if theres a reason japanese have better complexions i think its the food they everyday eat. they are mostly oil-free yet not any less tasty than our oily and msg spammed local delights.

Now. Ive anticipated this but when its now really time, i feel quite unprepared. I just dont like the idea of spending my days just on work and of just the home and council variety of it.

Some Wee Thoughts

2008-12-04T12:41:00.001-08:00

As i told all who asked about my trip, Scotland is a lovely place with lovely people. The part of Scotland where we mostly were is a suburban town. Ive been to my hosts' place and i guess the reason why theres hardly people on the street is that their houses are just too cosy. just imagine yourself on a sofa by the fireplace, reading a book with soft music playing in the background, the cold rain clouding the window. dreamlike.

but im missing our scottish buds more than anything else. im very bad at goodbyes if you cant tell. well im not the guy that would shed tears but i prob will emo for quite a while when i come back. and the reason im living a GMT still isnt that i cant get over the jetlag, but the emotional attachment thats really bad. i guess it changed me quite a bit too. im asking for BBQ rather than curry and chilli at macdonalds and never before was i so fond of cappuccino and hot chocolate.

Touching Down

2008-11-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

heaved a great sigh of relief when someone told us theres extremely comvenient access of wireless network in this park hotel that we will be staying throughout our trip. shops around close at a time singaporeans are still working, and not to mention the nearest shop thats easily half a km away. so without internet i dunno just how we are gonna pass our time at night, without being sick of playing cards.

anyway its exactly 24h from the moment my parents sent me off till the time we checked in the hotel. the bulk of it was without question the 13h flight to london and the delay at heathrow airport. even the bus ride from Edinburgh to our current location(i dont really know where) took longer than expected due to roadwork and therefore jam.

but i kinda love this place. esp the tranquility of this suburb county and the really warm and cosy houses that make ppl dont wanna come out in winter. we saw sheeps and cows and horses eating grass along the way. some were painted, some given 'clothes' to wear and some just natural but they were all interesting sights.

here are some of the pics i snapped along the way.

a very typical scottish house

another type

well this photo is interesting. it happened when the group was heading out for the supermart. on the way came three teenagers on bikes who requested to take photos with us. they apparantly knew we were tourists. really friendly of them i thought.

there were lots of other interesting little observations that are just different from what we are so used to. haha quite an experience.

but well, this is just the first day. we are visiting their school tmr, and im looking forward to seeing my buddies and going back with them in the afternoon to visit their house (heard some even have farms)

btw im staying alone in the hotel now. we have 13 ppl and they dont have the room for 3 ppl so someone has to tank it. but the silver lining is that my solo room is of the same size as the 2 ppl rooms, just that my bed's size is made for King.

btw who said British Airways sucks at entertainment! i thought its easily on par with SIA, if not better. it made me watch so much movie that im now super tired, despite being just 8+pm local time (4am in Singapore).

Sloth

2008-11-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was richly spent. Not in the sense of money, but from the moment i opened my eyes till 17hrs later i closed them, i didnt quite have much time for myself. It was meetings backtoback in the morning, fac outing in the afternoon, and sending friends off at night. Its one of the fullest days i spent. Ill upload pictures of fac outing to facebook at a later time.

think of it i havent done much since the last day of school. the only accomplishment is probably OP. i want to hermit at home these days coz theres really nth to do outside. and ill be travelling from mid-nov onward and after i return it prob will be council and council, and not to forget stacks of holiday packages, so i guess its now the best time to be a sloth.

Quantum of Solace was really nice. some people would probably disagress but i liked it.

Blindly watched Blindness

2008-10-27T08:29:00.001-07:00

I had my first M18 (watched officially =P) today. Blindness. It was supposed to be the movie for our faculty outing but since not everyone is 18 yet so i went to watch it with a friend. To be really frank, its a disappointing maiden M18 for me. The idea is cool, but the plot is simply screwed. One word: random. Summarizing it we have people randomly losing their vision and turning blind and coming to a random isolated place doing random things. not to mention the ending which was as abrupt as the randomness of the plot. its like people suddenly regained their vision, w/o saying why, and thats it. and the nudity and sex scenes can be totally taken out without anything affected so i really have no idea why the producers wanted to put those things in and deprive our faculty a chance to get scammed together.

Decisions

2008-10-22T05:12:00.000-07:00

I thought about it. I struggled over it. and ive decided to drop my H1 econs in exchange for a H3 maths. i was really kinda passionate abt econs at first(thats why i volunteerly took it at the start of the year). haha come to think of it its really funny when ppl asked about my subject combi and i would reply pcmcsce and they would go 'huh? means....'. yeah its pretty extra but i really liked the idea of econs complementing csc, which could be why i did well for the csc promos essay on the chinese economy.

Frankly i was very much disappointed by my promos performance for econs. and this was actually the reason that made me really sure about the my decision. but this decision was not due just to my flagging enthusiasm in the subject but a confluence of other factors.

We never stop making decisions. it is like your path is diverging and you need to choose one to continue. you never know whats coming but surely your chosen path will diverge again somewhere sometime. and this never stops. so if you have made 10 decisions that are somewhat linked, it is as good as having chosen a path out of 1000 over possibilities.

And now im about to make another decision --- which H3 math module?

FOS

2008-10-07T05:19:00.001-07:00

The basketball games ytd were initially exciting, then tiring, and finally paralyzing. Haha i knew theres gonna be some injuries, just a matter of big and small. yet both got me. i heard and felt the cracking of my ankle. it should have been game over for me but i continued playing with jason's ankle guard, only to invite a few more cuts and small fractures. haha but liuxiang(actually lixiang) said man has to bear cuts and wounds so i guess its okay.

went to see doctor today about the ankle. the chinese doc's message was nothing but some excruciating agony. but it did help after a while and he said the sprain isnt too serious.

played bowling for sabbaticals. bowling is fun but not really if you are doing it for 6 hours straight. and it was drilling most of the time =( haha and the chef for the cooking sabbatical is our GEMS trainer wth

Stress and Pain

2008-10-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

ive been thinking how i can make myself less troubled by work. i realised the end of promos doesnt quite mean you are free to do things u want and not things you need to. ok i did feel a scant of pleasure the moment i passed my last paper up but thats very shortlived actually. there i was in wildwildwet trying to lax a bit and have fun and soak into the holiday kinda atmosphere. quite good actually. just wished its bigger.

and then another pain is interpersonal. its not really that stressful but always i see the need to appropriately masquarade yourself and the trick is to not overdo it. even as i write this im trying not to sound overly frank nor too pc. ppl like to say just be who you are and everything is cool. but think about it. thats bullshit. what you are doing is who you are. and when you wanna be who you are, you should do what you are doing. so it still boils down to what you do, which is some real pain in the ass. following my logic, there arent really hypocrites. there are only those who cant masquarade well enough to conceal their true selves. anyway, if you didnt catch it, im saying what people do is who they are (instead of the other way round). what im quite thankful for are those frankos around that makes you wanna be frank too and i think chatting with frankos is truly fun

Court

2008-09-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

OPENED was a new indoor basketball court just a block away from my house and it made me dig out my long deflated ball and again pump air into it. The last time i really played was 3 years ago just before the court and its surrounding were fenced up for renovation. Its worth the wait i guess coz the new court is adrenalin rushing. AND the best thing is they have solid regulation on the prohibition of soccer playing in the court i.e if you want to play bball but see some others playing soccer you can press 3 times the button 9 and seek help from where our tax money goes, tho its quite mean.

Lets wake up greenday

2008-09-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

I havent blogged for so long i really have a lot to say but i dont quite know how to put them in a few paragraphs.

Its been one work session after another. Its revolving about council now. Its like ive been trapped in the centrepiece and everywhere i turn i see nth else but the octagonal centrepiece(till the extent tht i drew octagons for my benzene ring). When i finally come out of it, i see loads of emails from sponsors that are waiting for replies. and when they are done, i receive sms telling me cup noodles are out of stock.

Coco and i went to collect sponsored goodies from a few sponsors last wednesday. I dialled-a-lorry from Hock Lim transport. It took the driver 30 mins to find the school which is kinda of shocking coz we both thought lorry drivers should have mugged the singapore map well(not like its alot to mug anyway). another shock was the lorry itself. Its like 5 times bigger than we had expected. Well that at least taught us the what tonnages refer to in lorry terms. Quite amazed by our efficiency (3 of us including the driver loaded 200 over cartons of newater onto the lorry in 20mins. the forklift driver was on leave) The driver was pretty funny so it was quite a pleasant trip. There will be another 2 this week.

Sunday totally rocked. ive never enjoyed a sunday like yesterday's. i slept until 12. had brunch. slept again till 2+. walked around the house. ate some snacks read newspaper and slept again on the sofa till 5+. then our family went to west coast and had a pretty relaxing evening chilling by the water.

the council has really worked a lot for maf so lets hope the rain wont diminish its credits.

spammed

2008-08-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Lately my inbox and junkbox have been spammed with scam emails. it actually started a few months back. while it wasnt too much of an issue when all the spams were channeled into the junkbox, spammers seemed to have outwitted the hotmail team when spams are quickly finding their way into the main box. For instance today i found 16 emails in my inbox, of which 4 are "winning notices" and 2 from unknown senders prompting me to reply them. Its kinda annoying having to delete some emails each time i open the browser. If it takes 10secs a day, its about 1 hr a year. 1 good hour spent doing spammers a big favour (most are actually paid by their big boss for a number of active emails reached). Unemployment is high, oil price is high, inflation is high, its tough time now, but there are always ways to earn a living without having to make things difficult for people thousands of miles away. and if you really wanna trick people, make it more realistic. Dont just give millions of dollars for reasons like internet lucky draw.

Hiatus

2008-07-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

I dont feel like blogging these days. These = a few days.

Quite plain.

Cash Power

2008-07-22T03:29:00.001-07:00

$1 MILLION for information that helps to nab Mas Selamat. This is already late july. Mas Selamat escaped late february.

Its alright to be confident of our army. but sometimes you just cant underestimate the power of money.

Had the 1 million appeared earlier, Mas Selamat could be attempting his second escape now.

Overcrowding

2008-07-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

A beautiful Sunday. I woke up early coz i slept early last night. So we decided to head out for breakfast. The 1st kopitiam we went didnt have enough tables. so we left for the 2nd one, only to be disappointed again by the lack of parking space. It was so hot outside. So we went back. and i dialled pizzahut. a auto message was heard in the receiver saying they are open only after 11am. Since it was already 10+ after the kopitiam tour, i thought okay shall wait till 11. so i called again after 11, and another auto message was heard saying sth like "my call is important to them but i still have to wait coz their staff are busy". Patience at test, i continued waiting. I was finally attended to after 5 mins of holding the receiver and listening to their repetative and crappy advertisments. delivery took around 40mins.

A pleasant Sunday breakfast turned out to be a delivered lunch. Its perhaps time we review our population policy.

大寿

2008-07-16T04:22:00.001-07:00

this is my 100th post. nothing big.

got back all the bt results. nothing big too.

but heres something big. mrs tam's estimation is +- 19%.. haha thats random too.

I think blocks made everyone much stronger. more tolerable to setbacks. tougher than ever. and maybe new friendships too..

A:"how many fail?"
B:"3"
A:"high five"

jokes aside. i know of many people who didnt do well for the blocks. though its all kinda expected, its still very discouraging and disappointing. its like gambling. you knew you wont probably win, but when you lost you dont really feel ok. but you cant quit school like you can for gambling.

Day by day. night by night. time's taking flight. you know youve gota fight.

Swimm

2008-07-11T07:28:00.001-07:00

Haha its friday again. think its week 3 already. JC somehow gives the idea that you dont have to care about time, just pai all the way and things will turn out fine. at least to me lah. Anyway, havent been quite active on the blog. just hopped around some blogs, and saw that most ppl started their recents entries with "sorry for not updating..." which is kind of interesting because its like once you joined the blogosphere you are obliged to blog and are responsible for updating regularly. for me blogging is really out of the blue or as and when i feel there is something to write abt. im quite an impulsive blogger. in fact im quite impulsive a person too.

Swimming for PE lessons this term. its super fun i tell you. the instructor managed to teach butterfly in 20mins. and surprisingly, most people could swim like a butterfly, or at least a moth, in just that 20mins. good instructor. now that wev'e learnt all the strokes in just one lesson, i wonder what will happen for the rest of the term. and s63 is an amazing class. almost all the guys showed up (their sexy bodies) for swimming. good PE rep.

Our class is making muffins tmr for GEM at ulu pandan cc. hope we wont waste too much food. will be back will photos, if i have

Cayaking

2008-07-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

Kayaking was fun. there were also many other interesting sabbats like capoeira and muay thai and akido and windsurfing and skateboarding and many many others, but i could just choose one and i was lucky enough to get my choice. i cant really write about what happened but the fact is, to learn some water mobility in a sealocked country might come really handy some day. haha touchwood. anyway we each graduated with one star kayaking degree after the 2day course and it would in future allow us to borrow kayaks and paddle around singapore water and probably beyond. yeah you cant kayak without a license. in fact our government is so caring for its people that you just cant do anything w/o a license. i learnt that capsizing is not an embarrassing thing, its something i quickly enjoyed. during freetime, i spent much more time in water than on the kayak. then we learnt some capsizing drill which i hardly see the point since capsizing is something so instinctively coordinated and executed. but the overall experience was superb. just that i was sun burnt and am now going through a dark period.

other than the sabbat, the past week didnt quite offer anything remarkably memorable, sad to say, esp since its after blocks.

blocs blog

2008-06-27T07:01:00.001-07:00

the papers were alright considering they were blocks tho i hope they were really traditional blocks standard. notice the "tho" spelt without "ugh"? how come i spelt it that way? its all inspiration from GP. thats what they asked in the compre. ehh people should just forget about physics and get on with life. no point emoing over common screwups. for each answer you didnt manage to get, there are easily hundreds over who didnt get it too. it wasnt the people it was the paper.

and now the blocks are over. was feeling a moment of sudden respite. and then i opened my diary, and the whole world went crashing on me. think about it. blocks were still okay. at least for one whole week you have just one thing to focus and worry about. now that its over, that one single stress factor is shattered into pieces of random pain. here and there. all over.

thats why i find it interesting that people are celebrating the last day of blocks. perhaps its a transitional buffer. perhaps they just havent flipped open their diary. whatever the reason, i so frigging regret i didnt just join the fun. why worry so much! just laxing man

at least i stretched abit today. played an hour of bball in the 3pm sun. some real scorching fun. then borrowed rackets from the pe office and played another hour or so of tennis before some teachers wanted to play so we left.

i actually wanted to chill around in the evening with schoolies but they were like so far away frm my house and i was so tired. and since they were there for movie, i would have rather have my bed than the cinema seat for dozing purposes

happy birthday cj. just realised ppl around me are quickly turning 18. one after another.

Ripple

2008-06-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

blocks isnt all that scary after all. its all man-made tension and self induced panic.

its like when blocks are around, you wouldnt want to disturb your friends and when everyone isnt disturbing and noone is being disturbed, you have a whole lot of freetime, which ideally gives way to mugging.

i hate blogging abt studies and mugging coz naturally ppl are hopping around blogs for a moment of peace and serenity without wax. but when nothing is really happening and you really wanna blog, just treat this as current affairs alright!

oh thats sheila's pet (one of them). how i wish i too have one to play around with.

Row 4

2008-06-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Just a sneak preview...

i bet you wouldnt wanna read any further, as much as i dont wanna write any further. MUG or DIE (though you could still die despite mugging)

Man Yue

2008-06-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

One month into council, something worth celebrating for.

the 40 plus of us had a party at weiling's house. food and fun were all we had. jonquek wilson and i swam 3 times (jump in, swim, come out x 3) coz swimming was cool, literally so as the day was hot. haha and because of that we missed out pretty much on the food. had a swim while they were still preparing. but we somehow ended up talking cok and, efficient as councillors always are, they finished the bbq before we went down to join in. haha so we were cold and hungry, luckily there were still some ready food and satays and wings left. i just realised coco is quite hyper. which is a good thing. no more worries carrying stocks around.

Whenever there's a pool there's always a flirt
whenever there is school, there'll always be homework
whenever there's a beat, there's always a drum
whenever there's liquor, there'll always be drunks

Overkill

2008-06-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

Another person wrote in to question the purpose of setting unrealistic standards for school based tests. Arguably, the main intention of such imba paper is to wake up people who are complacent. people who think they can do well but actually cant. so that they, upon receiving the results, would be spurred to mug. But such mass killing strategy, as i see it, is fast losing its desired impact.

When everyone fails, if doesnt matter if you fail. its just a bonus or an ego-booster if you happen to pass. When failing is the norm, people have nothing to lose, especially when parents are increasingly aware of such tricks. Also, how would you feel if you have not been slacking but later failed all the tests? would that give you even a wee bit of motivation? i cant disagree there are people who are motivated by failure, but the fact is that more are encouraged by improvements.

Im not suggesting that schools should intentionally set papers so easy that scoring low As are embarrasing, just that block tests shouldnt carry the apparent intention of making sure everyone fails. Setting moderately tough paper will be fine. since its only reasonable to pass people who have studied. Only then would grades reflect genuinely of the standards of the test-takers, which is essentially the purpose of grading.

haha schools are somehow competing over who sets a tougher paper.

Old-ing

2008-06-10T08:37:00.001-07:00

today my classmate drove me back. he got his licence just yesterday.

i used to, and perhaps still, think that automobiles are yet another adult exclusive thing. not that i was wrong, guess its just a checkpoint marking our gradual entry into adulthood. as much as we wanna continue being teenagers, we really are turing adults. its quite scary, especially when i looked into the mirror and spotted nothing in me thats adultlike.

just a random thought though. haha lets just not think about life coz nothing can be done anyway

Photos on demand

2008-06-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

Half-life

2008-06-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

In the blink of an eye, half of holidays gone.

2nd week summary
Monday- Lunch buffet with CJ, Mingwei and George at sakura
Tuesday- Digestion of buffet
Wednesday- Passing down/council room cleanup(makeover)
Thursday- Schoolies outing
Friday- Welcook (JTS)

I actually wanted to do some serious work this week but sometimes, its really not about what you set to do, but what you really did, which for me is next to nothing. haha but its okay.

today i made omellette at sheila's house for welcook. it wasnt cooked very well though. coz i forgot to add salt. but i think all the dishes went wrong in some way or another, since most ppl went "it shouldnt be like this!" ahaha so i guess its okay to screw up the taste a little. Sheila has 3 dogs at home which intimidated me quite a bit when i first entered her house, which is literally a stone's throw away (though the stone could land in high school if thrown too hard). i dont mind sleeping in her garden next time if i need to go school early, provided her dogs behave =P anyway thanks sheila for the venue sponsorship.

thursday. kbox with the schoolies. we met up at marina square for lunch and went kbox after that. HsiuHsien's(sorry if the spelling isnt right) singing was imba. koala's wasnt bad too, voice very clear and her qianlizhiwai totally made me feel like jaychou. dinner was at a steamboat restaurant. 3 of us shared a set, which was hardly enough for just one person. so we ate lots of rice instead. and koala was nice enough to treat us icecream cone after dinner which made us stay till 930 chitchatting.

Council room cleanup was, to me, like moving a house. phew.. but it all paid off seeing our new home much cleaner and more organised.

Buffet was like. erm.. just eat lor. and ofcourse nothing without the good chats with good friends.

Too much work. Necessary?

2008-06-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

Lately theres been a discussion(or debate rather) on how students' holidays should be spent. generally people are sympathetic with the younger students (kids at K2 having tuitions and stuff everyday during the holidays). but on a pragmatic level, most parents find it necessary. so do schools that give their students compulsory remedials during the June vacation. Only a few schools did not follow suit (RGPS, HCI and Cedar girls).

I think its a surely trend so long as competition exists and intensifies. Schools have the primary function of providing education, while the best (and probably the only) way to assess their quality is through exam results. Though true education does not quite mean academic attainment, parents, expecially Asian, steorotypically keep track of their kids progress through solid results black and white. However, most schools today see the need to educate their pupils through not only knowledge impartation but also skills equipment and character development. However, the latter can only be achieved at the expense of the former, therefore schools are at the catch-22 point: give up true education to appease parents or pursue true education and piss the parents.

It is pretty obvious that we should all pursue all rounded education which would yield results in the long run, say 20 years later when students become established scientists, businessmen. But here comes the catch. If schools stand firm to achieving the ultimate goal, it is highly likely that their students would lose, in terms of results, to their counterparts from mugger schools. and for parents who choose schools based predominantly on the academic track records, such sane schools will probably not receive the cream of the crop. and it would be a downward spiral since.

So its like a gamble. Disappointingly, most schools choose to bet small, or to simply abstain.

theQuest

2008-05-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

went for theQuest organised by nEbO which is more like what we do during orientation amazing race in school than a national event for the youth. our group was kinda disappointed with how it turned out but we still had fun tiring ourselves and going escape for the free rides. im friggin tired now, so if u are interested to know what happened, heres an overall impression by my teamate yiren whose pov i would totally agree.

----------------------------------------------

walao the day was plagued with troubles from the start. somehow the nebo people failed to collect the registration forms from college side. leading to alot of frustration and delays and whatever. i don't know who to blame, the teacher or the nebo staff. but anyway we filled up the form again and submitted it. and race begins!turned out that there are like 30 different checkpoints, but each grp is like only given 7. to ensure its totally (well as much as it can possibly be) random.

our first stop was botanical gardens. where we had to hunt for like 3 totally obscure plant species out of the entire damn gardens. called yichen to google. but failed. since botanical gardens obviously doesnt have the time to document all the various species all over the gardens. and the passport had these little quizzes on ntuc. where the answers were given on posters on the floor or something, rendering mugging and cheating totally obsolete. i feel so sorry for those people who had to lug around laptops. ahaha.

so after burning 1++ hr looking for these plant species, we headed to the next station. after wenbo suanning the station masters like crazy. for their absolute rigidness at following the rules. they refused to give us the time deduction for this question: just because the word wasn't copied exactly from the poster. bo bian.. have to continue. but at that time we still felt good. quite confident. and so we boarded the bus to fort canning park.

jay walked across a tunnel and climbed alot of stairs: we reached the next checkpoint., there, they gave us this poem. perhaps some of you have heard it before.

teddy bear teddy bear turn around.
teddy bear teddy bear touch the ground.
teddy bear teddy bear climb up the stairs.
teddy bear teddy bear say your prayers.
teddy bear teddy bear turn off the light.
teddy bear teddy bear say goodnight.

so 2 ppl are supposed to spin this skipping rope, 1 guy jump in the middle, 1 guy read the poem. only 4 ppl need to do, so i volunteered to sit out. obvious. what makes it difficult is that the guy jumping has to do these actions as well. so the station masters gave us 3 trials. and said. 1 fail, all fail. so we were thinking.. fine. then wenbo skip first. finished. then xy skip. then he tripped. suddenly the stationmasters step in and say. "thats it! next station." then we were like wth. haha. 1 try only?! so its like obviously make or break in 1 go. i suspect they bs us so we got only one.. but its only a suspicion. no flaming invited! ^^

so we headed to city hall to take to paya lebar MRT. started raining halfway. supposedly we're supposed to head for this fairprice to look for items. at west plaza or something. but somehow we cannot find the checkpoint! win. then we saw this other grp sitting outside... at like 12+? they said they left that one. but they cannot find. so they sit there 1+ hr alrdy. thus, we went look around. called the help line: they say look in the mall. nothing! then suddenly we notice this closed up nebo umbrella. where all checkpoints should be located under. then we and another grp were ?!?!?!?!??!. since there was noone. then we saw the stationmasters: across the road well hidden in a void deck. full marks for camouflage! so we finished the activity. nothing much, pretty basic stuff. name all the household brands and whatever.2nd last checkpoint. its at pasir ris town park. walking halfway out.. then suddenly started raining. not too heavily, so we broke out our umbrellas and ponchos and kept going. we thought we didnt need take the bus. then halfway, it suddenly start POURING. and instantly drenched all of us totally from head to toe. soaked all the way through my shoes and saturated my socks. now my shoes are seriously black. wash time. then we took the bus... and went to the station. which was piggybacking 20 times. so we carry mingyang and spam. though thats illegal. hahaha. so the guy was nice and gave us 2 min. yay for nice stationmasters. some of them were really ...super kb. oh well. so we caught the bus back. and headed for DT east. last station! by this time the rain stopped alrdy. and can see abit of sun.

so we reached dt east! and it was drizzling abit. then we headed for our last checkpoint: shuttle run. but we just DAO the whole thing and head straight to submit our logbook. i guess we're hopefully in the top 50%? but heck la. we know confirm lose already based on all the cheating we saw on the way. as long as the super imba routes that some groups get. while we spending 1 hr at botanical gardens, they can just fail their activity and pia. and still win. since their stations are pretty. uh. different.then we went to collect our goodie bags. weighs a damn ton. but i guess the vouchers were worth it. we daoed the stuff going on in the marquee and headed straight for escape theme park. but there were like only 4 rides worth taking. so we went for rainbow first. something more passive since we just had lunch at KFC. nothing much though. then we went inverter. i was thinking confirm gg. sure vomit. but then it was nothing much too. so we went viking. bleh. the kids behind me were screaming their heads off though. nearly punctured my eardrums. so we went final stop: gokart! waited for 1++ hours. but had a great time. first time gokarter. ahahaha i overtook this other woman. and tried to prevent xiaoyao from overtaking me. but to no avail. i no guts speed down a 45 degree slope la! suicidal people. then i found out from my friend later that some imba (read: cheater) team clocked like 1 hr +. which means they completed 7/6 stations in 2 hrs? even after all the deductions and stuff. at most is only 1+ hour. seriously la. if that isn't some serious cheating i don't know what is. either that or their route is so freaking imba that they can actually..nvm.

personally i think thequest became more of a physical activity (read: run like crazy, run like mad to save a few minutes) than an intellectual one. comeon la, all the answers were like on the board? really need mug haha. but rite. the one thing that gets me the most is the way they carry out the competition. the teams were left TOTALLY ALONE for the entire duration of the competition. not even a fac to follow the teams around to ensure safety and whatever. NOTHING. and the rules aren't standardised, routes aren't standardised... its like comparing apples with oranges: and saying apples are better than oranges because its flesh feels better. obviously cannot rite! so maybe if they had like selection rounds, or prizes for the different routes then it might be better. or at least cut the damn number la! so many people how the heck can anyone keep track. but of course i realise that its merely a publicity stunt to get more attention. congratulations: you succeeded. and thats a saturday burnt.

----------------------------------------------

yeah. not very exciting but its at least something i would remember for my june holidays.

Pwnage

2008-05-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

I just got pwned.

If you hardly game or have never heard it before..
Pwn (/poʊn/, /puːn/, /pəʔˈoʊn/, /pɔːn/, /piˈoʊn/, /pwəʔˈn̩/) is a leetspeak slang term, derived from the word "own", that implies domination or humiliation of a rival

Imagine yourself putting lots of effort in something that you think is gonna impress, before chancing upon something similar by someone else that totally pwns what you did. haha its damn sad. coz you will think you are lame duck for wasting so much time on something so worthless.

Anyway, holiday has been quite mundane. its boring at home, even more so in school. and theres nothing outside, not anything new at least. CJ just returned from Vietnam. He gave me a red shirt with a yellow star. something like..

my drawing sux so if you cant tell the design im very sorry. haha i dunno if ill get caught if i wear it outside. imagine a group of people walking around in that. cool eh.

Holiday 1st Day

2008-05-26T03:29:00.000-07:00

Had lots of good sleep these days. which is kinda great.

Anyway, i was in school most of the day for welco and open house meetings. By the way, im the sponsorships ic for open house. so the whole committee was convened for a meeting with mr melvin lim, the propaganda chief for hwachong, if you get what i mean. anyway hes a nice guy who made us really excited about what we are about to put our hands to.

sec 4s out there, if you miss hwachong open house on 10th Oct, you will probably jump down from clocktower after you find out whats in your goodie bag. so far ive got Samsung, who's sponsoring handphones..

beginning to feel restless, seeing all my friends flying off one after another, to canada, auss, uk, us, japan, malaysia, cambodia, vietnam and the friggin africa! ive nth against others travelling. just that i will feel abit sad walking around Singapore town. if you are lonely tooo, you know what to do =D

Basketball Match

2008-05-22T08:21:00.001-07:00

I always wanted to watch an interschool basketball match as early as i started watching Slam Dunk. So today it happened. we were down for basketball finals. Hwachong won both A girls and boys. Congrats congrats. the last quarter of the girls match was super exciting coz they caught all the way up from 15 points behind RJ. Anyway RJ played quite well, just that they were either too complacent or tired towards the end that gave hwachong the chance to catch up and eventually win the championship.

Guys match was much faster and thrilling. too bad the audience and councillors were too exhausted after the girls match to really cheer for the guys. anyway they still won 98-71. they actually wanted 100. but again its just luck.

i dont really have the end-of-term feeling that used to make me kinda high back in high school. most ppl compaint that their holidays wld be burnt. i dont quite know how mine will look like but theres minimal optimism.

Batam

2008-05-18T05:39:00.000-07:00

so the 2D1N stay at batam concluded today.

the trip was pleasant, notwithstanding the fact that 90% of the group were adults more than twice our age. so naturally we hanged around in our teen clique. we did lots of crazy things. like catching a palm sized crab with cloths and bamboo branches and then having fun playing it (yeah its kinda deprived but who cares). spa-ing(not the science prac) 3 times in one night. disco-ing in the resort bar till 2am. swimming in the sea despite spotting jellyfish. and many other moments that are perhaps trivial but definitely memorable. all in all, it was a timely break for me. but i missed the council camp for all the fun at batam.

some snaps

the resort

the beach
the clique
the captive
the town

the ride back

and now im back. back to those darn important and serious and interesting stuffs. like csc holiday remedials, which is some unbeatable fun.

Nature

2008-05-14T06:08:00.001-07:00

we should all love nature, and respect those who love it. Apparantly some geologist predicted accurately that an earthquake in Sichuan was imminent few months back. but ppl ignored. Millions of toads fled the city. but the officials said its mating time. Animals behaved unusually. but ppl shrugged it off. Our materialistic pursuit arguably disconnected us from nature. Ppl just want economy and money. Compare the no. of ppl taking Econs to those offering Geog. If we dont develope and advance, there wont be global warming and climate change. and even in an earthquake, there would hardly be casualities coz there wont be buildings and chemical plants. but that wont cut any ice with anyone. even im convinced that development is necessary despite all that it leads to. Nonetheless, we should live harmoniously with nature, as the taoists believe.

My deepest condolence to those affected by the recent natural calamities.

M&M

2008-05-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

it means mug and mug.

CSC mugged the hell out of my class. or is it the other way round. whatever.

Anyway, after the test, kapped with mingwei and chejian. we talked a lot a lot. joked as much as usual. haha beginning to see a glimpse of life after all that School-Had-It-Totally.

And today Hongsheng came up with his own theory after Yiren publicized his. it went something like "conservation of tests -cannot be created or destroyed. can only convert from one form to another". and so we have GP compre tmr and the physics test next week and the blocs many weeks later and promos and prelims and A level and... haha like an asymptote.

and welco rocks.

1st Council Duty

2008-05-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today i did my first official council duty. the sales executives, me and coco that is, had to count all the stocks in the welfare room and storerooms. we did it with senior linghuan and meijie. anyway, i was super careless at counting stocks. that is bad. coz stocks = money. but im good at counting money, surprisingly though.

I think the council is earning too little too slow despite the immense effort put in. I mean. look at the fish-uncles. all they do is putting hotdogs in buns and the money would auto go their way. But we shouldnt compete with the uncles. yeah. friendly competition.

keep a lookout for the welfare room offers soon! and do spend generously there coz its gonna be goooood stuff.

Injury

2008-05-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

Happy labour day! though its just like any other sunday. coz have school tmr! cant we just borrow the weekends first and go school on sunday? or simply discount the friday larh haha

Anyway im very sad. physically. I sprained my left foot. not ankle. foot. How did it happen? I bounced onto someone, and by newton's 3rd law, i got bounced back and my left foot landed on a protuding bolt. Even with my shoes on, the pressure sent my foot swollen like a bun. it's much better than yesterday cos i can at least walk a bit now but is still recuperating. so if u see me walking with a limp in school tmr DONT laugh.

I'm the sales executive in council. Basically my duty is to shop. yeah shopping is my job. BUT the freaking thing is i hate shopping. nvm i hope ill learn to love it. just like how i'm trying to love CSC among many other things. so im off for csc assignment now!

What the URL really means

2008-04-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

I opened the folder containing all my photo collection for the past 2-3 years and browsed through them. lots of sweet and sour memories. seems like as you grow older, time goes even faster. so its really worthwhile to invest in a good camera and make an effort to capture life checkpoints every now and then. coz it feels great looking back at them.

sec 2 camp. 2G! (overall champion class) Keming pri classmates reunion

sec 3. Outward Bound Sabah bunkmates

Sec 4 projects day gp. Coastal Conservation Clan

Sec 4 teachers day. with mrs KhooSec 4 batch dinner

Holidaying down under

Boatride to Fraser Island

Beach
a typical aussie family

The summer palace. BSP immersion 07

Fishing at bedok jettyOG6!!
CNY S63 LaoYuSheng!
STJ Class Outing @ Kbox

HAT THAT!

haha thats it!

FOEcus

2008-04-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

I took started on this CSC assignment at around 8. I was searching online for info but subconsciously fell into an abyss of distractions. and its now 1130 and the GaoZhi is still like 400 blank squares.

and look! im actually blogging. hehh

The day i thought about my days

2008-04-27T05:20:00.000-07:00

I didnt go out the whole day. Nothing tangibly productive. I rested a lot and thought over a lot of things.

I was thinking how much longer i can still run. Lactic acid is already gushing up each and every of part of my muscle. In this aimless and seemingly endless race, im just hoping for true companionships to finish it together.

many other things also went through my mind. Some personal, some lame. all in all, i just feel fortunate to have those really good friends around. should really spend more time now with family and friends.

Forget about the winning the race, slow down and enjoy whats around.

Hindsight

2008-04-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you're right. my personality doesnt quite suit the role i initially wanted. its more than passion and competence.

looking at other offers now. I'm not power hungry. i just hope for a role that im really comfortable with. its more than credits that shape your day after all.

Going Going Get Going

2008-04-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

tuesdays used be the longest in my timetable coz econs dragged till 5. thats all before council came into the picture. gota quickly adapt to change. in sec 3, life was more hectic and a little haywire. could vividly remember how my pocket diary was spammed with deadlines and appointments. haha those days.. anyway we are cheering for our rugby team against acjc tmr and if u're free do come and add a few decibel for hwachong. its 405pm at tennis court.

what used to be the most reliable bus service to Bt Timah for the past 4 years is kinda screwed these days. usually i could stroll up the bridge and finish a whole song from the bus stop to CT bench. But this morning, it reached 10 mins late. and everyone was chionging up the stairs. heh but owells.. so long as it shows up punctually at my hse i'll continue to flag it.

ive got a very important GP presentation to finish. it wasnt so important till Jason and co. brazenly spoiled the market with their 79 slides show.

Anyway, do support GetGoing(GG) co-founder JOLYN FOO of 08S61 for president! and Barry Obama as well, though in a different race(oops.. pun unintended)

Early April

2008-04-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

this place would be as good as dead if i procrastinate anymore after two weeks of inactivity. and therefore this entry.

Time passes really fast in JC. not totally because of the breakneck pace at which things are going. but rather how im drained so easily in school. Im guilty of sleeping more than 7 hours a day yet dozing off during lectures at times (though sometimes lecturers have a part to play as well)

and i got into council. there is nothing to celebrate over, seriously. securing a place in the 50 men(and women) strong council isnt quite like striking 4D. its a year long commitement the 50 of us have chosen to undertake, for a myriad of reasons, personal, pragmatic or otherwise. Seniors almost uanimously agreed that council is frigging time consuming. but i know myself too well. i need a commitement to drive me along. we will see how it goes anyway.

Over the months, ive known my classmates well and have realized that S63 is quite an uniquely bonded class. We hardly scream and shout or celebrate birthday in fishtank or canteen, yet i could feel this pleasant atmosphere in the class which has a decent balance of fun and mug actually. and most importantly, the people are nice, ever nicer are the food they bring to school and SHARE.

Today during CSC we watched some really classic commie production. It was super entertaining and our friend yiren actually borrowed it from the teacher for personal viewing pleasure. haha WHO SAYS CSC NO FUN

There are really lecturers around in school like Mrs Lim(who can really grab ur attention) and Mr TANKS (who is super funny and has a huge collection of random but cool toys). Just count yourself lucky if u get them.

Enough said. I gotta do CSC SBQ now.

Change of Boss

2008-03-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

just heard that Dr Ng became the new education minister. though i dont quite see how manpower is linked to education, i guess ministers are all multi-talented ehh. hope he can match up to if not surpass our cool Mr Tharman who did a great job while in office

Before the lids close

2008-03-28T08:14:00.001-07:00

i dont feel like writing.

coz ive piles of things to write over the weekend.

i dont feel like talking about council.

coz nothing is for sure right now

i'm no longer as high as before. not to say i was very high. just that. im even lower now.

coz its just uber complicated.

im just gonna take a really good rest.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Mild Mid March

2008-03-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

a new term marked by a series of blocks for the j2s. I didnt feel at all fortunate/happy/relaxed seeing the seniors mugging like hell coz naturally we will do exactly that in time to come.

My hols, as always, was packed with a myriad of big and small things. i actually paid $50 for the OAC YLTC which was a 5 day camp during the holidays. I was hesitatant about joining OAC because of their UG-like trainings. and since i'm running for council, i pulled out the last minute, albeit without refund. I guess it was a right decision, coz i aint regretting it.

Ive since put in quite some effort in the election. i believe in believing wholehearted in what you believe and give your best. no point biting more than you can chew, and digest, and get constipated. though evey endeaveour is an experience so uniquely irreplaceable, its super important to choose correctly or else its all sufferings.

We had our JTS at Aranda Country Club. im now super tired coz i played mahjong for 7 hours (11pm-6am) straight. I now feel like puking as i type "mahjong". Other than that, we had BBQ and movies and cards etc. a timely vacation for the seniors i guess. chalet was great but it simply screwed up my bio clock. im like perma tired even after sleeping the whole afternoon. i need more sleep.

Alternatives

2008-03-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

The toilet break of Mas Selamat Bin Kastari (yes i mugged the name coz this guy aint ordinary, hes history) raised controversies over the effectiveness of the police force and its facilities, the detention centre to be precise. While the question that first strikes most people is arguably how the hell he even made possible his escape in a place as tightly secured as a detention centre in the heart of Singapore town, it is at this point in time more meaningful, and exciting, to discuss what should now be done.

It is without question that Singapore, despite her size, possesses one of the most efficient armed forces around. But you cant possibly hunt a man down with F16s and Radar. Thus, we see the most primitive method of searching, man-hunt-man. It is actually quite a pointless thing to do i suppose. Not only is it an unnecessary waste of human resources(if SAF treats it as a land force manoeuvre drill i seriously have nothing to say), it traumatises the suspect who is obviously hiding in somewhere safe. He would thus choose to lie really low till the hunters lose their morale before making a well planned escape out of Singapore and issue a victory statement.

Soo.. Let the public do the job! they are 4 million strong. but here comes the catch. Would you call the police if u see him and hit the ST frontpage the following day for your civic-minded act as a helpful citizen, in exchange for a space of your name on JI's deathnote. Totally absurd. MYOB concisely explains it all. Few would involve their asses with Selamat by informing the police when they spot him, much less keep a constant lookout. for the simple fact that although not posing a direct danger by himself, Selamat has a vast network of "good brothers".

So what should the government have instead done.. hehehe

Give cash incentive of 1 million SGD (peanuts compared to whats already been spent) to anyone who leads to the capture of Selamat, and have his/her identity undisclosed. This would relieve all concerns the general public may have. I would say a neighbourhood search would prove more productive than queueing for TOTO if that were to be true.

Station all military personel by the coast instead of inland to eliminate the chances of him escaping out of Singapore (he is a pro at mechanics and could drive a boat effortlessly). Then, give all NS men 3 days off to go anywhere they like in plain clothes to find the suspect. Anyone who successfully nabs him will be granted immediate exemption from NS =)

Okay the above comments are just personal and carry completely no intention of misleading readers. Whatever the case, lets just be more careful in future. who knows, it might be a good thing.

Awww.. the ache

2008-02-24T04:31:00.000-08:00

Orientation 2 begins tmr, and ends tmr. They say we will relive the joy and laughter we had. But friend, some things are irreplaceable. they really are.

New classmates are coming in, even though its gonna be just a handful at max, it still is something to look forward to coz we will soon find out who the CSC patriots are. Speaking of CSC, i think theres a test coming up either this week or the following. We already had one a few weeks back and it wasnt a good experience. I can still recall how i crapped up 2 pages and it was worse than tackling physics.

There is chem test first thing tomorrow morning to prepare the newcomers for a year of mugging ahead.

Ciao

February Post

2008-02-17T04:27:00.000-08:00

ooh i havent blogged for very long already. cos there are 101010101 things to do in school and at home.

Crosscountry
i ran and ran and ran but since i was in the competitive cat, everyone was piaing, so it didnt make quite a difference running faster than normal.

Valentines
I didnt give anything but did receive some chocolates and stuffs from classmates and friends and that made me feel really bad. I shall give double come 2009 valentines!

Class
we have a class blog @ 08s63.blogspot.com and its really heartening to see how our class has bonded so well over just a month. Hopefully all can pull through the 2nd intake but whichever the case, we had a really great time together and thats whats important.

School
JC curriculum is disorganised if you dont make an effort to put things where they should be. But this takes lots of time and discipline which are both lacking in me. thats bad.

CCA
this is one of my most headache choices to make in JC. im at a loss of what to choose after 4 years in a discountinued-in-jc cca. I wanted OAC but look, theres a 5day camp during the march holidays which i seriously dont have the time to spare. ohh well

Personal
I dont know what to say about myself. JC is different definitely but at a personal level, life is as it was.

Istana Garden Party
I was at(invited to) Istana Sunday afternoon for what was supposed to be a new year celebration, which instead turned out as a mass photo session. Always remember, "Bigshots are where the cameras are". I was totally turned off by the number of people queueing for a picture with PM lee. So i went around for pictures with people i knew.

Mdm Ho Ching whose competence i really admired

Wife of PM Lee/CEO of Temasek/Forbes Most Powerful Woman

Ex-transport Minister Yeo

Defence Minister Teo
Manpower Minister Ng
Home Affairs Minister Wong
NTUC Sec General Lim

i was super tired at the end of everything. but more so for the ministers i guess.

Orientation

2008-01-13T04:48:00.001-08:00

and now the orientation is over. i didnt really enjoy it as much as my friends did. i hardly find excitment in cheering and screaming. the songs were not bad with meaningful lyrics, but was kinda early to really feel the content. then it was the mass dance that challenged a significant majority. war games were exaggerated, whats the fun with 1000 people charging aimlessly around and siren sounding unneccessarily frequent. campfire was really awesome though, despite the rain. the only dramatic feeling i had was when the classe lists were out. other than that, orientation was pretty like a camp for you to mingle around and cheer, and just as you got to know your groupmates a little better its over.

ohh back to reality. schools starting tmr.

Cursed.

2008-01-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

Had a swim in the morning. took a nap and went for OG outing. i was late and it rained when i was about to play so didnt really get to bball with OGmates. Had a change of clothes and went down to IRC. Pooled for ard 2 hours. was pretty fun. yupp thats OG6!

My running shoes were conveniently thrown away by some painters this morning probably cos they were obstructing their work or sth. Either that or they flew away cos they were still outside last night and out of sight this morning. Anyway they were quite worn out already and its about time for another pair. Frustrating it was though. So i went around scouting for shoes only to realize how inflation is getting out of hand. I got that decent pair of asics for 80 bucks 2 years back and now the cheapeast is around 140. in the end i got myself adizero which burnt me a hole there.

On a speechless note, he is still around, and made it into 08S63 of which im a member.

Just how lucky things can get.

Here we go again

2007-12-27T06:36:00.000-08:00

Its really fast.

Celebrating the end of a series of exams and Chinese Os was like yesterday to me. and now the holidays over. I shall make this post a brief account of the two months.

3 main parts in all: Aussie trip, Beijing immersion, Back here.

The Aussie experience was as good as expected, and my expectation was very high considering who the sponsors were and what my friends from the previous year group said. In other words, it was a pleasant trip with everything paid for. and the people traveled along were pretty friendly and cool. so we had all the fun we could ask for. Some snaps to share.

A day after i returned from Australia, i was en route Beijing for a month long immersion at a local school. I shall not comment on the programme itself because if i do, the next few hours would be spent frantically hitting the keyboard. also i think its only fair to give this rudimentary concept a few years to get fledged, if it ever will. I was considerably familiar with Beijing so i had fun exploring the place myself during free time at night. Other than the time i had for myself, it was visits to places of "interest". Did i mention we were each issued a student pass (which is still with me) for entry discounts. Other than Beijing, we had short stays in Xi'an and Tianjin. Time passed somewhat quickly there and soon i was back here in Singapore.

A few pictures here

I returned on the 14th. I have since been really slack to the point that i find it early to wake up before noon and silly to do anything other than slacking in the afternoon. I only went out with friends once for movie and a few times for afternoon tea. Anyway i think ive rested enough though i'm still feeling tired in the day. Strength probably only comes with truckloads of work.

Hows JC gonna look for me? Ive no idea. I just wanna try my best and get it over quickly, finish Uni and army and go into society. Its gonna be fast. Really.

Best wishes for 2008!

Outdated

2007-11-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

sorry for the late post. There is no excuse for updating a week after chinese o lvls other than procrastination. Blogging isnt a chore but logging in, recalling things that happened and typing them out etc are time consuming especially in the midist of gta frenzy.

So the day after the paper we had a class chalet at aloha loyang. It was fun probably bacause i hadnt expected too much from a 4E chalet. I hardly talk about my class but since the year has come to an end i shall comment a bit to conclude my high school days. We had a really nice form teacher who paid for the chalet (although his wallet would have shrinked much more had we gone for fish & co) and gave us treats like mooncakes on special occasions. The class itself only started to bond better this year when ppl of different sec 2 classes got to interact with each other more and the presence of this 'catalyst' did help, significantly. People find joy in mugging and naturally it came without much surprise that 4E topped the cohort. But there are really nice ppl around. Thats basically it. Back to the chalet, there were cards, mahjong, psp, ps2, bbq, boardgame, movie, cycling, swimming, wildwildwet etc. oh and some learnt to play their first game of mahjong in life so it was kinda educational.

The following days were spent mostly in bed so shallnt write more.

Im leaving for Brisbane this Sunday for a week in Queensland. After i return, will be going to Beijing for a month long immersion so you probably wont see me often till mid december.

Friends taking O levels, feel for yourself the slackness im now going through after tuesday. and ofcourse, enjoy your hols!

O level

2007-10-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

Its now about 12 hours before we flip open O level higher chinese paper 1. Actually it isnt so scary. But somehow there is this stupid feeling about the paper in hwachong, arguably the best chinese school around, ironically.

The Dinner

2007-10-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Its gonna be a short post and will probably end abruptly cos ive no idea when unconsciousness strikes.

Just returned from batch dinner, had a refreshing shower, which is whats keeping me awake.

This occasion to our life is pretty like A380 to Singapore's aviation history (coincidental huh). Yes. a milestone.

Very rarely you see people (esp from my class) sitting around a table throwing all thats study related away for a night of fun and memories. Even more seldom do you see the cohort singing their lungs out during the finale. Even though the people around you tonight are the same people you will spend another 2 years with, the dinner is more of a checkpoint of the 1400 over days in high school. Dig out the photos 20 years later and you will appreciate every single shot you took tonight.

Very lucky i was tonight. Despite warning from the control station officer that i was likely to miss the train from Jurong East to Bukit Batok, i made it minutes before its last departure.

Before i sleep, just a few snaps to share

After tonight, the daunting truth manifests in a weeklong 8am-3pm intensive mugging.

"Time Flies"

2007-09-29T09:42:00.001-07:00

Had a really bad headache in the morning. but panadol pills did the trick.

Yesterday was decidedly an unpleasant start for my EOY. I woke up as early as 645 (come on it takes 17mins to reach sch frm my hse). I left at 710, thinking it was still early, headed for 7-11 and grabbed a sandwich. Without paying too much attention to the little wrist gadget, i almost threw up upon knowing it was 15 mins before 0750 and i was still waiting for bus. Fortunately, 852 was the first to come (imagine it was 157). Climbed up the clocktower slightly before 8 (e official starting time). pushing open the door, i received heroic welcome. Imagine the kinda shock seeing Beethoven giving out the paper and before i could even catch my breath, "you may begin".

Didnt know the post's title is a metaphor till paper 2 was taken.

Checkpoint

2007-09-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Birthday today.

2 days to exams.

How timely.

Its been long.

2007-09-03T05:03:00.000-07:00

Teachers day was pretty happening this year, mainly because most performance was put up by familiar faces. You wont know hwachong has so many crouching tigers and hidden dragons till really see them in action.

Had the one and only party in 4E after celebration. Teachers though invited to join the class for pizzas were all trying to store space for the staff lunch later. Each was then presented with a card signed by the class and photos taken the day before. The take-a-picture-with-your-teachers idea is quite a good initiative by the council coz definitely it carries more meaning than a wilting stalk of flower.

Then it was 6AA class gathering. Turn up was even more pathetic than expected but still had fun nonethless. Just dont land our asses in Mac again and ill be very thankful. Best of the luck to those taking o lvls including myself coz Chinese is scary okayy.. or so has it been constantly portrayed by the department. Didnt turn up for chinese remedial this morning coz mdmwong made it optional despite her words of sarcasm. Its been rumoured that chinese prelim is on the first day of school but who cares. language seriously isnt a muggable subject but remedials are good confidence booster.

Happy Holidays!

The Period

2007-08-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

Theres this period of time every year when ppl will mug their lungs out for exams. and its coming.

Anyway, just returned from tjcc. had tj camp meeting there with ccc and yec ppl for the 3k grant they are offering us. and its the whole night okayyy.

The entire afternoon was about walking around in the sun. went to bras basah for guitars. chose one with a reasonable price and design and comfort and quality hmm.. quite satisfied. but the delivery is gonna take a while.

tmrs the last day of sabbat! to be frank, this sabbat is the only one throughout the 4 years that i have really enjoyed without staring at the clock and looking outside. ive learnt to choose the sabbat of interest instead of ACE. anyway its the last one for the sec 4s. all i hav to say is tht sabbatical is a intelligent byproduct of ip.

on a random note, both proj attained A* with the resource package being nominated for grand finals. not that i despise gf, but having to go through auditions and rehearsals is annoying cos its gonna take up timetimetimetimetime. and i have this zaobao project to work on if i want the australia tour package worthing 4k over.

thats for now..

2007-08-14T02:37:00.001-07:00

im not sure whether you stabbed me from the back but my gut feel is that you did. maybe im too sentitive but i seriously think you did. ive known you for so long and i know im not gonna be wrong. people are selfish creatures i understand but you are the despicable one.

dun stab. and thats how you get respect.

and its getting lame carrying on with ur jokes and nonsense. not that im mature, but having to put up with ur lames makes me feel childish. im not gonna be too diplomatic about it, but if u sense anything, trust ur instinct.

not disclosing ur identity isnt unintentional, i just wanna keep it low. if u happen to chance upon, u know its u.

the chase.

2007-08-09T02:44:00.000-07:00

yesterday was decidedly unpleasant.

Violence of the aggressor unleashed the ugliness of the victim from within. People who were once so friendly are now so ugly.

Whats wrong with the world.

breeze

2007-08-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

Im now somewhere ard westcoast. pleasantly surprised by the availability of wifi in this remote area by the sea. so decided to blog a little considering i havent really been updating so regularly.

Running through the test calendar, we are left with IHC coming tuesday and IHE a week later after the ND break. Should be alright. and ive already died once for physics. Then comes sabbatical. Just logged in the online bidding portal and saw 1500+ points accumulated in my account (didnt use it the previous rounds due to prebooking). Since this is gonna be the last sabbatical for the current batch of sec 4s, guess everyone is dumping all thats left in the coming bidding execise. Think im going for guitar, but thats not gonna be a hot favourite among ppl. so yup.. its 1000+ points wasted. they should allow points converted to cash! =)

Hosting nanchang ppl tmr, as in bring them out the whole day, make sure they have fun and are all safe and sound. Some of us are attached with 2 due to the pathetic strength of bsp scholars. Should prepare them mentally for a tiring day to come coz touring singapore is juz about walking around in the sun, taking pictures and wiping sweat off the face.

In pursuit of a happier life now. Thats sounds childish. But think again. Why are we doing what we are doing? its all for mental and material satisfication which translates into happiness. But its so hard to not even think about school and work. We are tuned.

so move on.

DEdust

2007-08-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

couldnt use the comp over the weekend coz a speck of dust happened to find its way into the cpu and landed its ass on a silicon that transmits signal to the motherboard.

Just had english term test. I wrote the essay on a quote about environment but most chose the one on technology. people who wrote 5 pages simply piss those who crapped their lungs out and penned less than 3 pages, including me.

Nan chang people came for exchange. They were stoning at the back of the class exactly like what happened to us in shandafuzhong last year. we are to bring them out on sunday and the idea turns most ppl off cos they dont look like a shopping group unlike who we were when we went over last year but the only thing here is to shop.

mr t was pissed. tmr is his test.

Half. Half.

2007-07-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

"Lets all go home now!"

I cant really recall what mr hon said in kk hall other than the above. so we were officially released at around 11. in that instant, the lower secs sitting below us were like a crazy batch of ethiopians running for food. thats by far the best description i can think of.

Had project_2 discussion till ard noon which wasnt at all productive. but since someone called for it i just went over considering the afternoon was still quite empty a slot.

Westmall is getting smaller... or so it really seems.
Scouting for new time burning grounds.

An Update

2007-07-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

Havent been blogging for quite a while.

bu zhi bu jue, its been 3 weeks since sch reopened. things did happen but just dont feel like writing cos ive probably forgotten them all.

Afternoon was about writing chinese essays. from 2 to 5 plus. would have finished earlier had we not joked so much. but it was undeniably fun and bu zhi bu jue, we overshot the 2 hours given by almost another 2 hours.

used the gym after that. strangely there werent too many ppl other than some JCs struggling with the bars.

Then it was bball with slc ppl (i was there first. they came later) until 8pm when zhonghan disappeared in the darkness.

as i trudged my way home

Sloth in Disguise

2007-07-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

weekend was average paced. busying with proj till 3am everynight coz i only started doing at around 12 haha

haizz dont feel like i have rested enough for another week to come. anyhow, ive been very slack since the beginning of the term. Seems to have truckloads of stuffs to put my hands to but im doing nth in practical.

just returned from a jog around nature park cos ive been facing the screen the whole afternoon.

Etched.

2007-07-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

I just cant forget.

anyway, on a relieved note, projects' finally gaining momentum after kicking some peoples ass. Semi is in less than a weeks time and it is only now that people are really starting on their work. Call us efficient.

was skimming through the emb when "ironman creativity contest" and "ACE" caught my attention. after clicking on it, i was, for once in a very long while, filled with exhilration when reading emb cos the msg read :"ACE allocation as follows..." so im getting 4 physics ACE for emerging as 1st runnerup in that competition held so long ago.

haiz.. but just dont feel right.

cos i still cant forget.

The break, if there was even any, is over

2007-07-03T07:13:00.001-07:00

MAS concluded today. Two full days of talking and typing is much more boring than classroom lessons. Most of the time, energy was used on keeping my eyelids open in the midst of discussions. and now its officially over. Looking forward to Mun though, coz i do wanna participate in such events instead of merely facilitating.

Think there is math test on binomial theorem tmr. Since its a self study topic and that the test score is computed as ACE pts, i aint that worried. But surprisingly, people ard are. so if dont study a bit, i will bottom the list considering how hardworking and clever 4E ppl are. Its so unfair.

Projects semi is like an omnipresent shadow, constantly reminding me of the terrible truth. But i shallnt let it affect myself too much. Trying my best is all i promise.

Slept really late the past few days. gota catch up.

Thats probably the end.

2007-06-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

Wanted to finish some of my schoolwork before touching the keyboard. But no. I pressed the button that reads "On/Off" before i could even take out my file. and so, theres no end to it. Think i seriously need some/more self discipline.

Today was totally.. i dunno how to put it but if u are interested juz read on.

First was ncc ceremony tht took up the entire reading period. and as a result, i was, for the first time, unable to see mr tieu. ironically enough, it was the form teacher period.

Then had a lineup of lessons that failed to catch my attention cos donning the armour just makes u friggin hot and stink. Brought along my pe to change after school. Played soccer after lunch then worked out.

Basketball court was where i met him, also where i realised how brotherhood and comradeship are just bullshit in this power oriented organisation. arrogence and contemp wont carry you far no matter how pragmatic ppl are today.

Was totally exhausted and drenched after 5 hours of glycogen-to-glucose conversion. Apparantly worried abt how to get home as i lay on the toilet bench since i have nth more to change. If dun change, ppl on the bus will suffer, but if i rinse my shirt, i will probably catch a cold. But i still rinsed. cos even I couldnt stand the smell of deo+sweat. As i found somewhere to stand on the bus back i realised a full blast aircon overhead. wth

3 days no school. cool.

everyday muz go out. darn.

Thursday

2007-06-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

Huang laoshi returned today. together with her appearance was a piece of compre.

Assembly tan vp talked about moral education in hwachong. i agreed with him, cos what he mentioned is very true. so much so that no one went up to challenge his pov during the dialogue.

Then it was math. needless to elaborate.

afternoon we had physics theory and chem prac. most pracs this term are in the afternoon so ppl wont doze off.

then gymed with hongsheng who insisted on doing 3(san) sets till sunset lol. there werent too many ppl possibly because of the time. then during intervals, took some shots. for what? fun lor.

preparing uniform for ncc day tmr. has been quite a while since i last ironed my no.4. and the feeling is just great.

haha and heard mr tieu will have 'xin zao xing' tmr..

2007-06-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

term has just begun.

and im fast losing concentration and energy.

listening half heartedly during lessons.

some are asleep, some awake. some half half.

if half asleep = half awake

(half cancel cancel)

asleep = awake.

ShoCkSHockshOcK

2007-06-26T01:52:00.001-07:00

I spent a day on UNAS. I completed it. But was told that we are to choose one of the topics from each of the seven sections. and i chose one of the sections and finished all the topics inside. Depressed.

Mingwei just lent me a movie with a depressing plot.

and im watching.

Embrace Life

2007-06-24T04:01:00.000-07:00

few hours later, everyones returning to school and will be seeing faces that are one month older! and i miss sum ppls hairstyles like yuming, n possibly alfred, with <1mm! haha then uncle jeffery is gonna take the mic over from the morning announcer. holding the stand with his right hand while stretching out his left palm, he wld ask "particularly the upper levels" to cut their hair "if [they] havent done so". Talking about hair, just had a haircut at JESS Salon and the stylist was keep asking me random stuffs like "do u like eating fish?".. like shes gonna cook me dinner erpz -_-

I slacked the whole afternoon off other than packing my bag. Currently troubled by the progress of my 2 projects.. but constantly deluding myself with the idea that last minute work has long been a tradition in school.

Anywayzz, term 3, albeit busy, is a concoction of excitment, craziness, stress, emotions and unexpected things thats truly making life, school life that is, colourful and memorable. For instance, there are tests on first few weeks, followed by a host of competitions including projects semi, ACE deadlines, MUNs and the list goes on.

If im not wrong, first period tmr is bio. If im still right, liu**** is likely to suffer from insomnia tonight =P

Bus with sofa, the lastest threat to Taxi uncles

2007-06-23T04:17:00.000-07:00

Todays the final day of the Strategy Alpha course. We gave our feedback, went through the SAT test and received comments on our essays. There was also a mini prize presentation on Best Essay and Most Improved Essay award, and I got the latter with Jess (the near-perfect scorer for SAT test, who said it was pretty difficult initially) and Alfred (heard his intro was also radically revamped). and so the moral of the story is: whenever theres such an award, give your best only at the final shot (though personally i didnt know anything abt this beforehand).

The prizes (below) are some pens with harvard logo. haha but dont think i will use them cos they are too big for pencil box (some ppl thought they were markers)

After which, they shared with us some experience petaining to university application. Though i cant say what they mentioned was remarkably useful since its often the same old ideas conveyed over and over again, it was no doubt refreshing to hear things beyond literature context.

Then went for half an hour of basketball. Since there were only 7 of us, which was coincidently formed by 4 HPs and 3 BSPs, we played a HP against BSP match. Scorewise not important lar so long as we had fun.

Went coro with hongsheng and had chicken chop at Prince before landing our butts in KAP where i finally felt a sense of accomplishment for completing the math Holiday Assignment! (take note its only the "Holiday Assignment", not all the math hw for holidays =(

We boarded a bus that shocked the eyeballs out of almost every passenger on our way to KAP. Feel the power of advertisments!

Its a bar in the SBS bus!Cool eh?(as in the sofa. apologies to e guy)
Remember one of my recent posts on the Homework Bill at KAP? Check it out.. (whoa.. feel like a newpaper journalist)

Fullstop

2007-06-22T07:23:00.001-07:00

Cant believe i actually spent the last official day of june hol at home. din even step out for lunch. Actually wanted to meet up with my instructor to fine tune the essay before final submission, but just didnt feel like it the last minute.

I'm quite easily distracted so the entire stack of math ws is taking me eons to complete. I did a simple calculation just now, assuming i score roughly the same for the subsequent math class tests and max up my ace in term 3, i would need a 54/100 in end of yr exam to grab an a1 overall, which instinctively led me to the next qns: why pia so hard? But there exists so many unexplained wonders in the world and i guess that is just one of them, where "MUG, and you shall understand" cant be applied.

Speechless

2007-06-21T04:28:00.000-07:00

Handed in my essay in the morning and got it back during individual conference. She said a whole lot of compliments like amazing language and great philosophical ideas, but still, "failed to present an argument based and centered around the book" (Rachel, pg 4) which, in short, means a lack of the friggin evidence. Anyway, sat for a mini SAT test (A level, US) today which was probably an upgraded version of the Aussie Eng Competition. Then with a few friends, headed to coro and had some faeces looking but satay tasting chicken for lunch. While waiting for my turn for the conference thing, i did some MATH!

Heard from somewhere that a guy handed in an essay copied entirely from the internet, totally ignornant of the fact that his instructor is a top 5% Harvard graduate, who later googled his thesis statement and found an completely identical article written by somebody else. So the moral is: S^2 = slack smart.

Essay

2007-06-20T00:54:00.001-07:00

Trying hard to put content into my 1k essay even though the intro was done last night. I havent been doing literature for 1.5 years and naturally it takes a while to digest and adapt to the style of analysis. I loathe writing essays based on prescibed readings cos i hate being reined, and lazy to find all those quotations.

Mcdonalds @ KAP just passed a new bill that forbids homework in their restaurant. lol! i thought its only a matter of time before such a rule gets nailed on the wall cos its ridiculous to spend the entire afternoon sitting on their sofa in an aircon environment to complete a folder of assignments with just a dollar plus coke on the table.

Strategy Alpha

2007-06-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

Holidays fast coming to an end.

currently attending this Stretegy Alpha Expository Writing course conducted by Harvard graduates and its only today that i realised the 'exposition' they are talking about is actually the literature kinda answering style with quotations from a prescribed text. as a result, i have to redo a 1000 word essay. The 6 days course is however not as bad as i hav imaged since its all half days.

Holidays so lifeless. cant even find a free soul for a movie or outing cos ppl are all inundated with hw, cca and other committments. HOngsheng was telling me how BSP facils are going for regular outings.. omg i WANT! haha but din sign up for the camp. anywayzz heard quite a lota scandalous stuffs abt the camp but thts kinda expected when u have combined camps haha

3 days left. 3, 2, 1..

Back

2007-06-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

and so im back here in singapore.

piles of unfinished assignments and projects is twisting my nerves giviing me a really bad headache. Holidays shouldnt be given hw at all. its a time for people to relax and restore 'vigour' so as to be at peak conditions on the 1st day of school. If people really wanna mug, let them study at their own will.

Its contradictory when we talk about independent learners as we are being spoon fed by big mouthfuls from time to time.

School starts early (i.e coming monday) for some of us who had signed up for the harvard writing course. I dunno how the course will go but its 6 full days! Harvard muggers are no different from local ones.

I aint gonna write about my trip now but will probably do nxt time

Departing

2007-05-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

This is my 2nd time blogging in airport and i can safely conclude that the internent connection in terminal 1 is much faster than 2! and because of that i now only have about 2 mins to wrap up the post cos there are ppl waiting behind.

Anyway this entry is supposedly meaningless but would still like to write sth on the last day of term 2. yup.. its been a hectic term for most, though term 3 is probably worse. but no matter what.. there is always psp, yugio, poker etc! haha really looking forward to playing card with classmates.. and ms cheong rox! free period..

ehh really gtg

Happy holidays!

A summary.

2007-05-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most joyful and relaxing lines ive written on this blog: tests, exams and all those annoying shits are finally over. Its like crawling through a shit pool and finally you have reached the other end of it.

Geog exam was kinda unexpected. While i cant say the qns were tough, they required so much writing that i found myself scribbling most of the time yet couldnt finish the whole thing, with satisfication.

Today was decidedly boring and the only excitment that kept me awake was mingwei's deck of cards which we even played during Geog lesson since exam was alr over. Mrs tay was very nice.. And since its our last Geog lesson in the semester, mrs tay didnt leave without saying emo things like i may not teach you again next term and some other thigns along that line

Mr Low came in for the 1st part of our double-physics-afternoon(seeing the three words alone would mesmerise half the world) lesson and did a survey on our attitude towards a particular member of the class who was asked to perform a week of classroom duty after ponning flag raising for one whole week. I shallnt elaborate much though i would say people's attitude on sth/sb wont change that easily. you reap what you sow.

The heat in clock tower classrooms is fast getting unbearable. Most ppl find it impossible to refrain from stripping for the first 2 period including RP. Even teachers were complaining. I wanted to highlight this on PSB but after considering how similar posts were noted but not addressed or simply ignored, the thought quickly dissolved. Anyway, holidays coming and hopeful they will doing sth over the one month break to give their leaders of the future a little more comfort.

OHshit.. just flipped through my diary and ive come to the shocking conclusion that i havent touch the bio assignment thats due tmr. PW X 2 is draining every muscle and brain cells of mine..

OOOShit.. dad just reminded me that i havent packed my luggage yet.

Will be flying off tmr at time 1655h.

Will be back on 12th June.

Have a good break and Enjoy!

This and That

2007-05-18T04:50:00.000-07:00

I wasnt able to log in blogger for the past few weeks, therefore no recent entries.

My memory's degenerating so i cant really remember things happened earlier than today except for that incident..

lessons were as usual.. just that i screwed up SRQ--which was supposedly easy coz most ppl improved by leaps and bounds

Mr lu's presence during IHC caused quite a brouhaha and people were blatantly playing PSP and cards. Mr lu is apparently the most WANTED teacher in the whole school because as soon as he steps into the classroom, it indicates a teacher's absence.. and that offers a timely break for all.

The most fervidly discussed topic lately is decidedly the bus driver incident. My take is that the public should be more forgiving and our judgement on things shouldnt be influenced by the crowd. ppl are born to make mistakes, only through which can they truly learn about life. The aggressor should be forgiven since he is repentant. Though violence is undesirable under any circumstances, teens are biologically more impulsive.

Anyway, ppl are relating this incident to the school and i daresay most are doubtful about hwachong's moral education and character development. Firstly, i think the stupidestest thing anyone on Earth would do is to put a void ez-link card togather with a functional one in the same wallet. Secondly, using physical aggression towards an elderly is immoral. and (while my opinion here is quite personal, its by no means propaganda) the school shouldnt be held responsible for such a incident. If anyone were to be really blamed for, it would be the family. How much can the school do afterall? you think the teachers, deans and principals are omnisicent gurus that know their students from head to toe? NO.. family plays a much more significant role in character education while the school largely accounts for academic achievements. Therefore, it remains questionable whether hwachong should shoulder part of the responsibility and have its repution sullied over such 'misunderstanding' (yupp.. the only thing i guess hwachong shouldnt have done is to refer the incident as a mere 'misunderstanding'. well.. if somebody can accidently tear a person's pocket, it is equally likely that he would donate his asset to the Red Cross by accident.)

Anyway, BSP people went to watch (really tempted to write "fill up the seats in audi for") the finals of Interschool Chinese Debate competition between RI and Nanyang.

Nanyang won by a small margin though i had expected more considering what an eloquent 4th speaker they had. Best debator was awarded to RI (as a consolation).

Holidayss are coming up as soon as exams are...

The auspicious no.

2007-05-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Now this is really depressing.

Mrs Goh and Sow both gave me 2 for OP this term. Though 2 is just next to 3, which is the max one can get, it is mathematically a B3! and it implies that either ive been too quiet or did not ask higher order thinking qns.

Think its because of the former. But look! you dont have to raise your hand and provide an answer as redundent as a yes or no to hit 3 pt and show you have been participating actively in class. Offering that kinda answers is an insult to one's intelligence i suppose? And for science subjects, there is no way you can anticipate what the teacher is going to say unless you have done prior mugging, which isnt at all my style.

and therefore, 2 pts.

its auspicious in a sense that its 66.666666666..%

A short interlude

2007-05-05T10:32:00.002-07:00

hey ppl..

tests are over and sabbaticals coming up next! not that i love sabbs but it is highly appealing to even imagine how i wont have to care about academia for one whole week therefore have ample time to catch up lost sleep and do cool things, which is seriously cool.

most are camping overseas next week though i dint opt for any for the simple fact that im really burnt out and have failed to see the need to pay 2K plus to challenge my physical limits further by running on mongolian grassland or going somewhere ive already been to or would be going soon. So yours truly will be camping in bukit batok, singapore.

Open house officially ended today and thats good news, which comes one after another after test weeks. I have made the following observations:

1) Most P6s sticked to their parents all the time though activities were organised for them at SRC and art blk.
2) CIP booths were somewhat ignored when parents had the stereotype mentality that academic achievement is all my son need to succeed.
3) Most parents have done sufficient literature reviews and background research about hwachong before coming over, inferred from their questions posed to us.
4) DSA is gaining popularity among KS ppl.
5) OT did not give me lunch.

Time 2am. going off le..

Physics cool, for the time being.

2007-04-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

So far ive found no mistakes in my physics paper! Feel so happy!! Reason being everyone has different answers and nobody has the faintest idea of whose is right. Thats PHYSICS.

I like physics for the simple fact that excessive mugging isnt at all proportional to the score u get.

Our class performance was a joke. A very unpleasant one, at least thats what some teachers thought. Haha being in 4E, i would say the just the presence of our class on the stage alone deserves a standing ovation. What more do you expect from a class as 4E as ours?

"I m perfect" is imperfect

2007-04-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

Is life all about getting perfect scores and is getting full marks what everybody wants? So what if we dont? Almost every person i met was telling me how they screwed up tests with a 80+ A1. I mean wth? Just understand the concepts and no matter how u score at this stage wont really matter so long as you filfull the end-of-year requirements which isnt at all a challange to most.

All you need is a few such ppl in a class before 90% of the rest get completely influenced from head to toe creating a deadly atmosphere thats threatens friendship, class bonding, joy and the list goes on.

I seriously think theres no pt. You idiots are stiffening up the entire otherwise condusive studying environment. Thats precisely where asians lose to americans n europeans in the global arena. Asians sweep all the gold medals in science and math olympiads internationally yet how many such ppl make significant contributions in the later stage of life? Asian Nobel laureattes are less than a handful and the reason fundamentally lies with our mentality.

But what to do? Tmrs physics test and surely ppl are mugging now.

I dont wanna say it right in front of u but its totally annoying each time you turn around with your nasty expressions as if u are the only rational creature on earth whenever ppl raise a query in class. Ps stop it and get a life.

Yes You! the guy with slackened suspensory ligments.

2007-04-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

I have a classmate of mine who recently lost his SYF competition i.e. not even getting a gold. and right now he is putting all the blames on the judges tht assessed their performance. Any living beings with a complete cerebrum could sense his depressed and gloomy mood, esp so when he just lost another competition he has prepared one whole year for.

I wanted to tell him something and because it so happened that ive chosen a really untimely opportunity, he misinterpreted my intentions and thought otherwise, which is what most ppl under lose^n circumstance would instinctively have in mind. too bad. was really chessed off with with that guy anyway.

It is undeniable that judges are always right, even when they are wrong. See the irony? Thats life. Judges are there because of their experience, expertise and credibility in the relevant field, therefore, although they are not absolutely right, they are in the best position to make decisions. I have personally come across biased judges but to do? Lose a competition and then blame everybody else except oneself is really sore.

Why do we have competitions? because the world is naturally unfair! and we need that to fight for the uneven distribution of resources.

What for so serious? its only a game. What goes around comes all the way back round.

Gone are the good ol' days

2007-04-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

Well maybe i should just accept the fact that it isnt as widely received and celebrated as Christmas or New Year, but it certainly worths the mention.

Todays 22 April aka the Earth Day!

I'm a pro-green person and i'd say its all because our mass media and schools have done a remarkable job in inculcating in me a great sense of environmental cercern and awareness. The aircon over my head hasnt been on for months i suppose? I rarely close the toilet bulb circuit when taking morning showers and its not at all because of the electricity bill which isnt really a significant sum as compared to other expenses, but due to the fact that the damage man has done, and is still doing, to Earth is substantial and has time and agian spelled disaster. Typhoon Katrina, Droughts in Asia, Warmest winter in US are evident testaments to what environments can do. Billions of ppl are expected to suffer from a shortage of water in the next 2 decades and right now we still see water flushing down the urinals in school toilets like theres no tomorrow, literally.

The powerful and brilliant man-kind has contributed so much to pollutions and global warming to the extent that our suvival is threatened by our own deeds. and yet these crippled and lillitupian figures are doing so little to veer things back to its set-point.

If we take Earth Day as a joke, Europeans and American are gonna melt on Christmas and we the chinese will probably see our steamboats frozen on the new year eve.

Cherish

2007-04-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hospital visits never fail to provide food for thought. This time is our form teacher Mr Tieu...

He's a stong man, a nice guy, a teacher who wont mind spending time sharing life lessons with his students , something like what Morrie did to Mitch in tuesdays with morrie. But now he's lying motionlessly on a hospital bed, with a drip needle pierced into the vein. Nothing distinguishes him from other patients who all share the same stereotype hospital-sick-looking expression and like everyone else , hes in great pain.

Life and death are the 2 stages every living creature on Earth experiences in life. What happens in between, though largely controlled by our inner self, ultimately loses its significance as we die. Illness is decidedly part and parcel of our lifes. But whenever i see people lying helplessly in hospitals, i start to appreciate life more and become very contended with whatever i have(which is essentially a healthy body). and i sympathize with those patients, for i know how they feel.

Lets hope Mr tieu will get well soon.