WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS.

I have been blessed with fairly reasonable results in school even though I really haven't worked hard as I should. I managed to get a chance to experience science research even though I hardly deserved it. And, I am still able to watch football even though my parents loathe the huge price increase in sports channels. Yet, nothing can compare with what I've felt in Your presence. Thanks for everything, really, everything.

FIrstly, I really hope to serve my friends (all friends) more in the future. I can be very helpful at times, yet, sometimes when I'm just not in the mood, I can be irritating. Very often, whenever I help others, I want recognition. I want others to be thankful, so much so I sometimes get upset when they aren't. This really is a case of having incorrect priorities. Surely, as everyone would know, true satisfaction comes from knowing that you have been of service to someone, and that you've made their day that better / less troublesome / easier.

Secondly, I hope I do not get too fed up and frustrated over trivial matters, and if I do, that I can control myself and my words. The saying goes 'Never say anything when you are angry', because you will regret it. And let me not have to face such guilt too many times in the future.

Thirdly, I want to have that sense of Godliness in me that I have lacked for so long. I will devote more time, and put in more effort for your kingdom's cause, and in return, let me be more mature, spiritually.

Lastly, I know, being the person that I am, that I can easily string a few sentences together which sounds fairly decent, encouraging, and perhaps even inspirational at times. But, talk is cheap, and actions speak volumes more than words do. At times, I have not been 100% sincere or true to my words. As much as I would like to, I cannot afford to keep relying on my words, and instead will have to back them up with actions. Thus, please keep me accountable for my words, be in through that timely reminder, or a straight talk from a friend.

Thank You, once again.

rêves + perception visuelle. AMONG OTHER THINGS.

I'll like to start with dreams, as I've had some very interesting ones as of late. Just yesterday, I was playing soccer with my specs. on and somehow they totally got smashed when i went to score a header goal. I could hear everyone cheering and yet I was feeling so much pain as a piece of broken glass had fell into my eye and my hand that touched my eye was cut with blood too (I can remember this surprisingly vividly for now). Someone was attending to me but obviously that guy knew nuts about how to remove the piece of glass from my eye so I went off and after that I don't know where I went, but i just kept feeling something stuck underneath my eye (scary really) and a lot of pain. When I woke up, I continued to feel the pain in my eye and my one hand was straight away touching it (no blood of course), but I must say the pain felt really real for quite some time after I had woken up. I really wonder, if the pain, the heartbreaks, the happiness we feel in our dreams are really....as they would really feel. There are people who have dreamt of being shot, and said that they really felt the pain of a bullet, even though they have never been shot before in real life. Is it really true? Well I guess like some people who can know stuff through visual perception like Gerry McCambridge (who appears on this very amazing show called the Mentalist on AXN which I highly recommend), we seldom believe such things until we really experience them (and then we find it ridiculous that other people don't believe them). After saying all this, I think the same can be said of God's presence. Yes, God works through people, and it is one way in which we experience His presence, but I think what non-believers find hard to believe is the internal joy and satisfaction that can be experienced during worship sessions among other intangible aspects (This was at least how I felt during a couple of years ago). And really, once it is experienced, the 'why can't people understand' feeling starts to develop. Thus, the difficulty is really in bringing people in to get this first experience of it. And that we really need to put ourselves in the shoes of these non-believers, something I've been struggling to do, I realised. Comparing God's presence to visual perception or mind-reading, I think the latter is so much easier to experience - once will be enough of a shock, and if you need more proof of things it can just be repeated (ask whoever to repeat? watch again? really the things are so specific that it will be really hard not to believe once they are performed on you). The former is quite different in fact, and is certainly not easy to experience as it requires personal effort, not a lot of it but decisive effort. Yet, in this world, there are so many more believers in God than there are believers in visual perception, something testiment to the efforts by people in outreaching to others, and of course, to God's strength and empowerment.
I've probably made many assumptions there and digressed a lot, yeah but that's just something that sprang to my mind just as I thought about dreams and visual perception.

More about my dreams next time perhaps. I've had some really scary ones too! I really do find dreams intriguing. It is an aspect of medical science I am interested in, the other being, of course, sports-related injuries (metatarsals?, haha). Well, so much for not taking bio anyway, haha.

Moving on, JC service recently was just so impactful, from the mere occasion of it, to the atmosphere, and to the people who went on stage to speak, none more so that raph. Also the past few weeks have made me become really grateful to be in the cg that am in, the people and everything, and that I have so much more to contribute. And I'm sure next week will be the time to build on all this spiritual momentum.

No attachment this week so it's certainly freed up my schedule to do other more interesting stuff - exercise, reading up on stuff that interests me, friends. Football is really routine though so it's not classified under 'more interesting' I suppose.

Arsenal are really impressing me more and more. The only reason I have been so frustrated in the past was because they kept missing sitter after sitter, and post-match comments that really got onto my nerves was those that said 'a draw was a fair result' when they really dominated. Now the team is scrapping big time. Against Villa and Newcastle we were dismal and probably deserved to lose both games, and yet we got 4 points out of those games, and even managers admit that the point at Newcastle was 'fair' when in all honesty it was so not. These are really signs of the team establishing a new reputation for itself and I think we will certainly keep contending for top honours although we probably would not win any this year, something which I'm fine with, certainly after offloading Henry. Offloading is really the word to use right now, with 16.1M really looking much better a deal than it seemed.

Was under the weather last week, first time of the year where it was really bad to the extent that I had to stay home all day I think, heh. Thinking in this sort of way puts a positive spin on it, although yeah I really hope it won't happen again at this sort of time next year.

Lastly, I've received a message that it has to be done by this year, and I guess I've waited long enough. I really do hope there will be a sign of when it is most appropriate to be done though, and that it will turn out well.

"It is through memory that we hold on to those we love"

The holidays can be said to be well-and-truly underway, after oral presentation is over. And boy am I glad that it is. My group's preparation for it has been relatively smooth (compared to WR...) though, and I'm glad the presentation went pretty well. Since then it's been outings and meeting friends, which has been great really. The downside to all this is...of course...that I have ended up having to spend more money. Still it is money worth spent, especially when I get to see the comedy of errors displayed by JJ and Weelic and the ends they will go about $3.50, as well as the nice frappes. that I got to enjoy at Starbucks with Leon. The buy-one-get-one-free offer for earthquake at Swensen's meant that between the 5 of us relatively light eaters we had 2 earthquakes to share, and it turned out to be a great way to gain weight, which was of course delightful for me, although perhaps the same cannot be said for someone like Sherhan, haha. Of course, more importantly is the time spent with the people I haven't been able to hang around with too often over the year, and that is priceless. Thus, I really look forward to the rest of such outings over the holidays. I probably do not have too many great friends, but I do treasure the time I have with every one of them, and most importantly, I'm very satisfied and grateful for those I keep in touch with. =)

Something else that I would really like to do is play soccer. While I used to just go on those lonely runs to Bishan park and back, I've taken the 'courage' to go to the street soccer court (wearing the 'destroy-able' specs of course) and play it out with those older and bigger size people all wearing jerseys. While they are rough in playing football they are actually pretty friendly to talk to and of course, they let me play with them, so here's another prime example of why we should not judge a book by it's cover. I feared the worst when I accidentally stepped on someone's bare foot, but he just laughed it off. Heh.

Of course, the football on TV is certainly hotting up as well. Two weeks. Two matches in succession against two of the big four. Two points. And the players are disappointed. Well, the same can't be said for me. I think they played absolutely brilliantly, apart from the 1st half against Manchester, which I must admit was because Manchester stifled them. Against Liverpool, after conceding the goal we battered them and eventually...we did score the perfect goal. 2 players as decoy, and then Hleb played the perfect chip to Fabregas who toe-poked it past their keeper. We hit the post twice and really, with better finishing, we would have got a famous victory. Against Manchester, they were really clinical and took their chances...and that really looks like championship-winning form, so yeah Manchester are the favourites. I must say, their 2nd goal was brilliant, the reverse pass from Saha. But still, as always, the team fought back and FINALLY, a big ref. decision is right, and Gallas's whack was correctly ruled to have crossed the line (which is clearly did).

And football really is a matter of ifs. If we had not scored that late goal....
Ferguson would not be such a sour grape and complain about a foul that took place TWO MINUTES before that last-gasp goal went over the line. He would instead say

"We deserved the victory",

which will be of a similar nature to Mourinho's classic

"The better team lost"

when they were defeated by Barcelona and Liverpool. In both cases, they can simply be summarised as

"My team is better, your team is inferior", which can be further reduced back to...

"sour grapes"

It's a lovely phrase isn't it.
Well, my turn to be one.
IF van Persie was playing, surely there would not have been isolation in the first half against united, and surely he would have finished off the chances that were begging to be put away. Anyway, it's important we stayed top, and Manchester have been lucky. They played a Chelsea without Drogba or Lampard, us without van Persie, and very likely Liverpool without Torres. Let's see a Manchester without Rooney, Ronaldo or Tevez man. Too bad we didn't kick any of them bad enough towards the end. It would have been worth a red card. Or two. lol.

Four hours yesterday at NUS could really be described in a lot of ways. 'Fun' will probably be the most appropriate, simply laughing at my inadequacies all the way through. Oh well, I have been praying a lot and I'm glad I've been blessed with calmness through the weekend, on D-Day Monday and of course at NUS yesterday. I probably would have cooked up a whole lot of unnecessary stress, but I feel refreshed mentally right now, and for that I'm grateful.

Saturday night marked Arsenal's 11th victory in a row, which has now become 12 after the 7-0 midweek thrashing of Slaves from the Czech Republic. Two matches, which in spite of losing van Persie, the team have continued to play their passing game so so well, and it's simply beautiful, the goals they are scoring right now. It was frustrating on Saturday, but I didn't get frustrated and when the goals finally came, I was obviously over the moon. The next 2 weeks will really be the most important of the season so far. Liverpool away and Man United at home. It is scary to see United hit top form in attack suddenly, but at the same time they seem more lax in defence, so well, let's hope our passing game prevails. Two loses really isn't the end of the season, considering van Persie is injured, so I'll be satisfied with anything.

Monday was of course the return of promo results all in one shot. And of course, Sunday I was feeling kind of worried initially. I really should have focused on studying physics all the way - there was so much I could have covered. But the potential disasters just distracted me too much. In the end, I decided not to study anything electromagnetic for physics. Fortunately this didn't prove too costly, but it sure could have and I would only have had myself to blame. So the day was spent mostly relaxing and reflecting, which had quite the cleansing effect, although really I should have, should have, been studying as much as I could. Partly was because I (somehow) thought that the tuesday thing wasn't the real thing, but sigh it turned out to be.

Promo results were thankfully quite ok. GP improved quite a lot, and it's really still work in progress. Econs is still struggling very very badly though and a lot of effort will need to be put into it from now on.

Now, with promos and physics olympiad over, all that is left is PW. And once that is over, the holidays will begin for real, and apart from the football that there is to enjoy, there are really a lot of things I would finally be able to focus on. It would thus be good to have a list.

1. Work on my YDSP research project
2. Finish the book that Leon bought for me as well as 4 more spiritual books
3. Finish the books that my dad has recommended me to read. 2 of them.
4. Finish a couple of books from the RJ library I never had time to complete.
5. Study SAT vocab.
6. Practise more of the guitar!
7. Read Sloman
8. Write more essays
9. Meet up with friends (and there are many MANY many I long to see...)
10. Play soccer with friends / random people around the neighbourhood
11. Exercise!!
12. Do more research on football terms for my Fantasy Premier League game
13. Attend CG more regularly
14. Finish season 3 of desperate housewives. And perhaps abit of heroes.
15. Eat, and keep eating so I can put on more weight.
16. Watch movies at home with my family.
17. Get all the sleep I need.
18. Play CnC3, FIFA...and
19. Make sure I cheer on every Arsenal goal and every goal United or Liverpool concede.

Sounds like a lot of things to do, and of course there are a couple more things which I will really think hard about, but which I dare not write here due to reasons I can't say here either. It will really be a fulfilling holiday. And it starts with meeting friends on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. =)

Whoo, the promos are finally over, and the standard has certainly gotten a whole whole lot tougher than the CTs, especially Friday's chem which was just a mental blow.

Oh wells, I'm glad it's all over, and I'm glad that this time, I did not suffer from any insomnia or extreme stress which plagued me badly for CTs. That extreme stress was due to the fact that I just didn't study enough and couldn't get everything into the brain by the night before the exam, and that leads on to insomnia with one half of you knowing that doing well for any paper requires a focused and relaxed mind which has had enough sleep, and the other half knowing that there's no excuse for not being able to answer a question cause the notes weren't thoroughly read through. At least with the Sept. holidays and the 3-day study break getting the knowledge into the brain was fine, although as usual the greater difficulties were application and time management, which I still struggled with. So, yeah, while it's a sure bet that the promos will be a lot worse than the CTs, at least I think I have progressed in my mental state of health for exams, and really the next step is balancing speed and lack of carelessness. Oh, and I am starting to embrace and fear less of the challenge that is economics. Heh.

I guess the salvation I felt after promos ended wasn't as great as that after CTs, but it isn't in any way unexpected. After all, the great relieving feeling we have is the release of pressure, long built-up pressure, and really this time there wasn't as much pressure I suppose, for me at least. This is typical Mourinho, but seriously, pressure is what's happening in Myanmar right now.

I think the country is one that seldom comes to mind when dictatorship and Communism is mentioned, and the recent protests really just go to show how much we have overlooked it in place of North Korea and Cuba...etc. And while there was (still is?) the nuclear weapons factor in North Korea, there wasn't any for Myanmar and yet, there is no doubt of sympathy from people all around the world, including me. It's been mentioned in the papers, the role the media has played in (I won't say exaggerating but) increasing the awareness of the struggle that the Burmese have been facing. And really, at the end of all this the same feeling is in me, that of how fortunate I am to be in Singapore. We felt mere tremors when the 8.5 (or higher?) earthquake hit the region, we have police who we can rely on, a government as well, and the element of bribery, offering 'tips' when going to hospitals, schools, etc. to get (not better) but normal treatment. In no way is the last point criticising the American tradition of giving tips at restaurants and to taxi drivers, it is referring to the state of affairs in some countries around the region.

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The next few days will be great sleep and great enjoyment. It's a champions league week, although what would have been better if it's not Arsenal being marginalized yet again. Looking at the way united are playing now, there is no doubt that Arsenal are (and have been) playing the most visually attractive form of football for quite some time now. Yes, the team is finally putting a good run together and getting good wins at home instead of always having to wait for late goals. But, the results are one thing, and yes, ona penultimate weekend, of course it is the title race that has to be focused on. For now really, there is no reason why their matches should not be broadcasted. Arsenal may not be the first choice of the majority of Asians, but second choice? They have to be. And apparently, all the talk by pundits and commentators about how Arsenal is the team to watch can't have any influence on broadcasters. It's appalling really. The week before last, was a champions league week too. Arsenal played Sevilla, the same day that United went to Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona hosted Lyon. And sure enough, because ESPNSTAR can only broadcast 2 matches, Arsenal were left out, despite many pundits saying that it is the "match of the matchweek". Sure enough, Barcelona impressed against Lyon and yes, I do like the way Barca play with or without Henry there. But, Manchester's match in Lisbon was as boring as matches could get. Non-english stadium, poor atmosphere, and poor football. Yes, United fans must have been screaming in delight when Ronaldo got a miserable header goal to scrap a win, and they say it is 'the form of champions' to eke out victories, but surely it is Arsenal fans like me who are simply purring over the ease in which the team outplayed Sevilla. And unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy it LIVE.

Don't think this marginalization is only in Asia. In the UK too, apparently Man U and Liverpool have a bigger fan base, and so SKY SPORT's top commentary pairing are ALWAYS sent to their matches. Arsenal-Sevilla would have saved them a few air tickets as it is a home match in London where they operate, but no, they had to send Andy Gray and Martin Tyler to Lisbon to make sure the United fans don't get too bored with over-exaggerations of saves and shots. It's like so obvious-the last match they commentated on Arsenal in the champions league was during the 2006 run to the final in Paris. The year in which they were the only English club to get past the first knockout stage.

Certainly, this issue of fan base and democracy is intriguing. All I hope is that Arsenal's fan base will build up and up - which is has been. Arsenal's tickets are the highest of any Premier League club and yet they are still able to fill the Emirates for every single match. It's just laughable when you see Chelsea's stadium so empty for a champions league match against the lousiest team in the competition, a clear sign that their fans doubt the team's ability to run riot over them (which they won't be able to do now that The Special One is gone).

So yes I will continue to voice my frustrations over this but at the end of the day it's just a show of how democracy impedes the purity of the game. The Beautiful Game, as what these very people call it themselves.
Nevertheless, it's still enjoyable to be an Arsenal fan and while it lasts, the view from the top over Chelsea , whose 55M frontline of Drogba and Shevchenko (who can't score a goal against a rubbish Fulham team) can pay for all our transfer dealings since the start of the millennium, and of course Man United, the team who suddenly decided beautiful football is what they want. Speaking of which, Shevchenko is really looking like a real-life example of the liability that I faced over PW. Forced to play by the Boss, gives the ball away so easily, lags in reacting to corners, hated by his teammates, only compatible with one club, and is the most (and only?) unsuccessful of the 3 Ukrainian players in England. The only difference is, Shevchenko managed to make Mourinho leave Chelsea, I do not have that option.

The unfairness continues. Last week, it was late night after late night, while a certain someone could stay at home all day for a few days, and still apparently doing absolutely no good. Yes, it's not like my eyesight is anywhere average - it's awful -, and I'm sure it just got a hell lot worse.

Then over the last two days, what I thought would be progress made has turned out to be time wasted. I guess, it happens in life. It's hard to take. I do not blame all but one. Ok, another one. And another one. No more. It's just frustrating. And it's proving to be an acid test for my temper. Yes, I get frustrated often watching football, but the frustration ends right on the night itself. This is different, and is perhaps why I am borrowing more books on Murphy's Laws.

Yes, I know it is busy. It's easy to underestimate, especially when your mathematics ain't too good. Yes, I know, 2 wrongs don't make a right, and delaying everyone else would just result in more negative externalities. So, I understand. That's why I am not angry with them. But still, there is a need to correct the wrong, one way or another, other than saying sorry. Saying you are sorry and not doing anything else, is also similar to saying 'no offence' and then hurtling expletive after expletive.
And just to remind ourselves of a simple fact of human survival - we CAN survive without food for half a day. (Shocking isn't it). In fact, we can survive without food for a dozen half-days. Or maybe even more. Whatever.

Yes, the burden is getting increasingly heavy over time, but still, there is no need to spread the weight around. It deserves to be where all of it is. It is a tough, tough world.

I really should get a hold of myself. After all,
Ahab died trying to kill Moby Dick, didn't he?

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Ok, feeling much better now after spending some time on the phone. Thanks.=)
Btw, Arsenal won 1-0 against Man City and 3-0 against Sparta Prague. Still the most memorable event of the week was Sevilla defender Puerta's death after spending 3 days in hospital since his collapse during a football match. It is indeed saddening, and really, I have gotten extremely frustrated recently but such a story has really softened my heart. The lad is 22 years old, just won the UEFA Cup, is almost about to break into the spanish national team, and has a girlfriend who is pregnant for 7 months, and then..........the unfortunate happened. It is indeed a sad story and after reflecting through it, it truly makes me appreciate the things I have going for me. Yes, this is a far from perfect world, and this is a far from fair world with people having immense hatred towards people, with people around who don't lack morals, including me. But, to know that footballers all around have been paying tributes, dedicating goals to him, and even Real Betis (who are bitter rivals of Sevilla) fans paying their respects, is touching. It really shows how silly the footballing world sometimes is, what with Chelsea willing to pay 85 million for Ronaldinho who wouldn't even fit into their defensive strategy, Manchester allowing Heinze to join any club except Liverpool, with teams playing at the Emirates Stadium try to do nothing except kick Arsenal players and break their passing game, and worse of all, the spending sprees of the WAGs (wives and girlfriends). Football really encompasses. And it is these touching stories, another one being how Drogba (as much as I hate him for being such a darn good Chelsea player) managed to stop civil war in his country, the Ivory Coast, which truly inspire me most, even more than seeing Liverpool comeback against Milan in 2005. And then there is Iraq winning the Asia cup, which I am sure would go a long way into helping them improve their state of affairs.

Now I still don't know where I should go on what would be a busy tomorrow, which will probably end up in a similar way to Beckham's transatlantic travels from California to London and back in 4 days, except it isn't 4 days. Tomorrow is less than one....

Realised that I haven't blogged for *quite some time. This can be attributed to the increasing workload that I have, reading Harry Potter (I am lagging big time), and of course, soccer.

This week is pretty much one to forget; almost the entire of my nights was spent on PW, one way or another, after monday. Monday itself, was spent filling in the YDSP form, which meant it was already pretty late when I wanted to start on production and costs. Obviously, I was no longer in any mood to study anymore, so I just read a bit of the journal (non-academic so it doesn't make you want to sleep) and then went to bed. Indeed, the test wasn't too tough actually, but sigh, lack of study, and so I'll probably fail, which is not progress, which is not good. Still, it's about prioritising and although I know it's not good to say that the test doesn't "count", some things are just more important.

But anyway, practicals were a horror this week. CH was one of the craziest. The sampling and titration was horrible, in terms of time constraint and ultra-quick pipetting and titrating. And plotting a curve. And giving comments on anomaly. And doing the Skill D part. All in just an hour. Madness.
PH wasn't any better. Drawing the lines and performing calculations are extremely tiring on the eye. So I couldn't bother to pay attention to Relativity after that. Pity. The teacher was not bad. (Relative to...)

And Wed was the last guitar prac. before promos. Turned out to be more of a bonding/chatting session. Which was nice. Some suggestions regarding the design of a sweater were also simply amusing.

Thur, was the day of salvation indeed. I had expected to be home by 7 due to CIP and olympiad, but somewhat miraculously BOTH were canceled, and although I wouldn't mind doing CIP, it gave me the extra time needed to work on WR. I.e. to compensate (Don't ask for what)
So I done my part pretty quickly this time round, by like 7PM (compared to 2AM for draft 1). And, I didn't need to compile anything, thanks to Jin Kai, who assumed that role. Again, I wouldn't mind doing it, but yeah it was good to see willingness and initiative being taken. It really reduced the burden on me a whole lot. And yes, there was more editing to be done the next day, but at least we all did it together. Yes, my definition of 'all'.

I mentioned how eagerly I was anticipating the new season, and yes, it has been 3 weeks into the season, and there have been all sorts of surprises. The most surprising of which, have been the contrasting fortunes of the 2 clubs in Manchester.
United, champions and the bookmakers' favorites before the season started, only have 2pts from 3 games, which I must say, is relegation form. =p. What's even worse (or better for me) is that Rooney and Ronaldo are not going to be playing a few more matches. Ah, it's their turn to experience the horrible start Arsenal made last season. Still, if you know me, the team I hate the most is Chelsea, and sad to say, they have seriously ridden their luck through their matches. Where Liverpool should really have beaten them, Rob Styles gives them a penalty out of nothing and gives Essien two yellows without sending him off. Like, 1+1=2? How difficult is that. Yes, I feel for the Liverpool fans. Still, what's funnier is the reaction from the managers. Mourinho said he "couldn't get a good view of the incident". Well, contrast this to when Garcia scored that invisible goal years ago that knocked them out of the champions league, and you get a perfect example of "selective eyesight".

Still, Arsenal themselves have been playing so well, and if not for a certain Jens Lehmann, we would have had maximum points. No wonder I'm glad that he is apparently declared injured for 2 weeks. And so is Gallas, which would allow Gilberto to wear the captain's armband, which I feel he fully deserves.

Out of all this, it is Manchester CIty (i.e. Thaksin's club) who are topping the table. And this weekend is a face-off between North London and Manchester, with Arsenal v Man City and United v Spurs. Which makes things interesting. Would Man U fans prefer Arsenal to win or Man City to win, and vice versa. Whatever man, just as long as Arsenal win, which they should since Lehmann is not playing.

The break is going along just fine. Nat Day celebrations was pretty ok, with the video and laser show and all. Oh, and BB somehow managed to rack enough points on the day to finish level on points with BW and 'retain' the IHC. Haha, albeit sharing half of it la, but hey, in many sports the defending champions win outright in the event of a tie. Oh wells, so much for IHC la.

Got started on reading Harry Potter once I was back home, but realised I forgot too much, so I'm re-reading book 5. Book 6 is still relatively fresh, so just book 5. Haha. Yes, I am very lag. But then again, I read Lord of the rings years before it was well-known, like in primary two? Certainly hard to believe.

Anyway wed had dinner with 2/4 pple at Bugis. Supposed to eat hotpot but coudln't find the place, so we ended up at some random steamboat place, which totally ripped us off. And the food wasn't too good either. But heck, it's the people, and not the food, who matter. And with me being unable to attend previous few outings it was great to see everyone again, and have some laughter as well. 'Sole surviving' sec 2 class. Aha.
Other than that it's been reading, studying, watching TV, and most importantly, sleeping. Ordinary Differential Equations are really killing me, integrating factors.......zz.


So, just found out that Arsenal v Fulham is on Sunday, along with United and Chelsea's matches. Starhub better show it or I'd be fuming along with the rest of the Arsenal fans in Singapore. So that makes the much-anticipated Aug 11 being pretty boring, unless Tottenham or Liverpool slip up, which I'm pretty sure they won't.
More news on Arsenal.
Today's Sportscenter on ESPN featured them and about their predictions for the season.
-Arsenal would not win anything.
Reeves: Fact. Maesfield: Fact. =( Harsh but true.
-Fabregas would be player of the season
Reeves: Fact Maesfield: Fiction.
Such a stupid qn, van Persie would beat Fabregas to anything, really.

And lastly, just got news that Gallas has been made captain, and not Gilberto or Toure, which totally baffles me. Some scum from Chelsea joins for one year and keeps criticising the youngsters and gets to be captain? And not forgetting that he himself isn't a good defender at all. Ah, the questions start springing up already.

New skin on the way...will be using my sis's help, haha.
Had planned it in line for the start of the new season of the premier league, but I totally forgot about it, so I guess it'll be pretty much delayed. Oh wells.

The weeks are getting better. I am really, finding the subjects pretty ok now. Yes I mean I suck at them, but I do find what I'm studying useful and interesting, and I am hopeful that I will improve in time, t, haha. Most important though is that nothing I'm facing now is like art or chinese in secondary school. Haha, this week I found out that Yong Jin had similar problems with me in sec 1 and 2 regarding art. Something we were never ever meant to be good at. Ever.

So there isn't much happening during this week. Next week will be a short one and I will be working hard, very hard whenever I'm at home (and I guess I won't be for the most part of it). I am just hating my absentmindedness, I mean there was the pencil box, I totally forgot about making a new skin, and also I forgot to bring my PE shirt on Wednesday meaning I couldn't play tennis. Argh, it is frustrating, and if anything, it is a sign of further carelessness to come which will irritate me even more. Yeah, and I don't know how to fight it. It is like some invisible enemy that I'm facing, and I don't have it's number. Sigh.

Today was scholarship day at school. And yes, there were loads of freebies. Loads. Haha, I feel so stupid buying that mechanical pencil a few weeks ago. Even more so compounded by this chapter in the undercover economist, aha. Of course the talks were useful and stuff, and yes, I do worry about my future a lot. I'm sure my parents do too, only more. Come to think of it, I really would love the opportunity to go to a non-English speaking country like France or Germany, with the scholarships so generous now that you will get a year to study the language which counts to the bond period. I reiterate, UK is ideal of course, but in this world ideals are really things most of us can only approach. Sigh, I really am indecisive. Many people have their sights set on being an engineer of teacher, etc. I won't detest being either, but that's the crux of the problem. Well, there's still time. To think. Really hard.

Man, this entry sounds like an application of wave motion, if you can get what it means. So anyway, onto another crest. Earlier this evening got news that the debaters won the MIDCs against AC in the final. Haha, I'm sure all of them have made so many sacrifices to put in time to prep. hard and this is certainly their deserved reward. Well I suppose that's true to a certain extent. The results don't matter, it's the process, many say. But hey, you got to see it that way yourself to appreciate it, if not, you would find it as scant consolation. And if that is so, then that phrase is irrelevant, and there's nothing wrong with feeling that way. Absolutely nothing.

In a week's time, I would either be in huge agony now at a million and one missed contenders for miss of the season, or, I would be in ecstasy that Arsenal are still in title contention, the phrase I use to console myself nowadays. My hopes for the season : just don't, DON'T finish below our rotten rivals Tottenham. Or they would invent something like St. Arse day. (Just so you know, to avid fans like me, St. Totteringham's day is the day where Spurs will never be able to overtake Arsenal in the league table, =p) Now that would be so humiliating.

Back to the not-so-far-ahead future, and for tomorrow's community shield I really do hope to see Nani and Anderson (too bad no Tevez) play exceptionally well and score goals. Why? The curse of the community shield. For the last 3 years of the community shield, Reyes, Drogba, and Shevchenko respectively have scored fine goals. And yes, for each of those 3 coming seasons, they have been (as I love saying) rubbish.

Arsenal's pre-season has just been going smooth. 2 wins at the Emirates Cup, with a lovely goal from van Persie's left foot. And in Amsterdam we've already won 2-1 against Lazio, with new signing Eduardo da Silva scoring a fine debut goal for the club.

Anyway, I've always said that I wanted to be a football commentator, and my oh my, have I been given a great boost CHECK THIS OUT, it's absolutely comical.
Rosicky's corner and he delivers a lovely ball in, and Eduardo has perfect contact with it and heads in it brilliantly. Now for the funny part. The immediate image after the goal was scored was of Lazio defender Zauri, putting his hands on this head in disappointment (which believe me, all defenders do when their team leaks). This fooled the commentator into thinking he scored an own goal, and what he says is just plain funny. Towards the end, he was cut off, but what he said was 'He (da Silva) was almost sheepishly trying to claim it as his goal' (when it was clearly his own head that was the last to touch the ball before it went in). Worse, he reiterated his stand (that it was an own goal) even after replay after replay after replay was shown, as I recorded that match and watched it. Oh my, I could imagine him commentating in the 1986 World Cup Final when Maradona scored the 'Hand of God' goal and he would be saying 'lovely header' while the rest of England would be wanting to **** him. Miserable, but that's what Singapore viewers might be getting for the premier league with the likes of Dykes and Reeves no longer on our screens for pre-match shows.

yeah, tmr is a holiday.
Like.......finally!
During the collection of O lvl results period...some schools has like 3 days off, some had 5! And we only had ONE.
Also, after common tests other schools had things like sabbaticals or enrichment week, and for us it was just business as usual.
So, this is well and truly and well-deserved break for us la, and all thanks goes to all the sports players who earned us this break. =)
22 golds! Like...how good is that?
Oh, and next Wed too, will be a school holiday since 07 08 07 celebrations is at night.

So, guitar pracs are finally resuming and I am realising how weak I am, but yeah thankfully the people there are really nice and helpful, and I'll certainly have to spend time memorising that piece of paper which I have about the note arrangement on the guitar...so I'll be able to be more pro-active and be able to read guitar scores. It's like so embarrassing, knowing how to read music scores but not know their corresponding positions on the guitar.

And, the weeks seem increasingly stretched...with physics H3 and olympiad meaning it's now 5+2+2=9 hrs of physics per week. Aha. Boy am I going nuts about it. But yeah, I'm thankful I have my saturdays free, I know that if I compare, there are tons of people who are so much busier than me, from those pple like AG who had to spend the whole week helping out for Lit week and Othello, councillors....etc. I am always so amazed at how these people can manage their time so well, and I have a lot of respect for such people.

So really, I hate myself when I try to compare myself with people who are so free, have few commitments, and think that I should pity myself. Oh, that would be my downfall.
As busy as I am, I know it's really only from my point of view, and if all things are relative, (or as economists would say relative to the marginal 'product'), I really shoudn't be lamenting anymore.

Perhaps if future work requires me to, then I'd have no choice, but I won't let myself be deprived of football for the next year or so. I know, Arsenal are a shadow of the team they once were. The Untouchables - Henry, Pires, Vieira, are just a shadow of their former self. They are no longer the match winners they once were. Yes, and now Ljunberg is the next one to go. He was the one that helped us to win 13 in a row in 2001-02 to storm from 12 points behind at one stage to beat Man United to the beat, and believe me, the sweetness of that was more than winning 03-04 unbeaten. yes, I remembered young me, boasting all over football forums then, yes. Now, I think about it.
Chelsea. Match winners? Cech. Terry. Carvalho. Lampard. Drogba. Joe Cole.
Man United? Ronaldo. Rooney. Giggs.
Liverpool? Gerrard. Carragher. Maybe Torres.
And, for Arsenal? yes, the first name people will probably mention is Fabregas, but seriously, the only one Arsenal have is van Persie. So, yes, I'm resigned to the fact that we are way behind in terms of quality relative to the other of the top 4. But hey, ask the same question of any other team in the premier league. And they would probably have none. If Arsene could swap any players now with any other player from the other 16 clubs, the only one that would be of interest is Berbatov or Tevez. Forget Michael Owen.
The beauty of football is that the whole is not the sum of it's parts, but rather, how they interact with one another.

And yes, I am eagerly awaiting Aug. 11. As for now I'll be doing all I can to offset the reduction in focus on studying come that day.

Just came back from Class Adventure Camp.
As usual, we had lots of fun and laughter with the many jokes, funny remarks, and pervertic statements we cracked, but the planning of the entire camp really left much to be desired, in my opinion.

We were first spilt into feed me, protect me, and lead me groups, such lame names, but yeah it our class did it totally randomly and I was in feed me (cooking), which I totally suck at.
After arriving at Ubin, we had lunch and found out that the "non-drinking (but SUITABLE for washing hands etc.)" water had a tinge of brown on it. An understatement indeed. Managed to get a shot of Chen Xi staring at a 'STOP' sign for more than 3 minutes. Haha. Talk about spiritual link. zz.

Then we had our hiking activity which was pretty lame, just using a map and finding locations based on grid coordinates. Yes, it involved pacing and reading of bearings and checking of landmarks, and perhaps it's because I've been there twice for ATC (and OBS people would find it equally similar), it just felt a little boring. Got to 3 checkpoints until Yiting had an "eye ulcer" which was quite bad, so she unfortunately had to go home and we decided to abandon the hike thing and just stone around the basketball court.
Then, this facilitator made us solve this problem cum game which was about throwing stones. It was so diffucult and a high level of skill was required and so we couldn't do it, sigh, but what was worst was when we found out that the "solution" was really just that and involved so much skill and speed which made it as good as impossible. Or maybe TJ would have the solution to that if he was there, lol.

Well that burnt a lot of time and me ahlu and shiya went to buy dinner with whatever money we had 'earned', and how lucky that we could take the van all the way to the campsite, leaving the rest who had left quite awhile ago in their wake. I felt guilty though, lol. So we reached the campsite and to our relief there the water was at the least transparent. Man, the psychological effect of such differences cannot be underestimated.

So anyway we got about cooking dinner while the 'protect me' people were working hard setting up our 'tents'. Due to the restricted budgeting dinner was the usual noodles with canned food. Fortunately the pot did not collapse and thanks to great 'healthy food cookers' like Anna and Shiya dinner was pretty good, I.M.O again.

After that we had an oh-so-exciting nightwalk, where it was like a km or two of a straight trail which got darker and darker as you kept walking on. Of course I went solo for the kick of it, and yeah I just spent some time saying a prayer, and the rest of the walk reliving Federer's awesome win against Nadal, which I'll get to later.

So that was all for the main day of the hyped-up camp, and by 11 we were free to do whatever we wanted / sleep. So anyway fortunately due to my golf club membership, I got to sleep in the neatest tent along with 3/4 of the bridge club and xinyi and friends. lol. It was big but still tight for space. Anyway, we spent like an hour or so just plain joking about the day and about Giraffe, lol, which is what I call amusement. Oh, and AG's occasional random sick jokes. Ah, I really pitied the girls i.e. the bridge club people, esp. Giraffe for they just couldn't fall asleep for a long long time no matter how much they tried, esp. Alicia, haha. Not that we boys could do any better with the exception of Chris, lol, definitely not with non-stop comments about hurting internal organs and the tenderness of Giraffe neck meat, lol. zz.

So the average person had like 2-3 hrs of sleep. Which was OK for a camp la. Woke up at 7 and had a (as AG would agree) fun time cutting all the strings and destroying the tents, and hurling rocks down into the water and folding groundsheets and compressing them so much till they were able to fit into the bags which we were provided with. Breakfast was the bread with jam and lychee syrup. Big thanks to Giraffe for holding the bottle of jam and helping so many people spread jam on their bread. After that, Yong Jin and I played bridge with half of the bridge club i.e. Alicia and Joanna, where Yong Jin kept losing...aha.

At 9 we left the campsite anticipating something interesting like high elements or something of the sort but all we got to do was this sick task where we had to be blindfolded and walk together maintaining contact and eventually finding A tree quite SOME distance away and having everyone's hand touch the tree. I didn't really get the objective of such a task because it heavily relied on the skills of the front person, and whether she could walk straight and not get disorientated. Full marks to Elita for trying so hard and it must have been tough trying to do something virtually impossible and impractical. Hmmm, either that or maybe 'we chose one of a million possible strategies and it just happened to be one which wasn't suited for us'. Oh whatever la. I mean, fair enough, the facilitators (who according to Bong are primary 5 camp - rejectees) were doing their best to make the most out of the activities which had been planned for us, it was just that the activities were way too boring and un-interesting for us. Yes, my sympathy goes out to them if the events had been pre-planned by some other people but if otherwise then......

So that was it! And we were like off and heading back to Singapore i.e. civilisation and being within Singtel's network range, lol. Didn't really have much of a lunch, and just boarded the bus back to RJ the moment we got off the boat. Was left to do some cleaning stuff which was pretty...fun, splashing water to clean the groundsheets at the watermelon steps. And then, the best part of the 2 days....filling in the feedback forms! Boy were the few of us desperately waiting for it to really give the school our peace of mind so that future batches of j1s who go to Ubin as well enjoy themselves more. Speaking of that, it's just plain unfair that Jun Jie's class got to go to dairy farm and enjoy he high elements there. And still he thinks it's boring...haha. Well, thought about going to attend the first H3 phy lecture since it was only marginally after 1530 hrs...but then found out (rather obviously) that changing into uniform and staying awake would be too much for me to overcome, and so it was just home sweet home after that, heh.

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Got some much-needed sleep in the late afternoon, since I had slept at 2 on Sunday night watching the Wimbledon final, which I must say is the best tennis match I've ever watched live, and it was a pity Mom wasn't here to watch; Dad and her were in Prague for a week. Federer, winner of the Wimbledon in the last 4 years was outplayed for large parts of the match, to the surprise of the crowd, by Nadal's deep strokes which I must admit, are damn impressive. It was 15-40 twice in the final set and any of the 4 break points lost would be equivalent to Nadal winning the title, but he amazingly held on with great determination and then played a series of stunning winners to earn his 5th in consecutive years, in what was a hugely unlikely victory considering how the match panned out. Well, Federer sure inspired me on Sunday. How he managed to dig his way out of such a sticky situation only he knows, but for that he has achieved immortality status in the sport. And he......deserves it.

Back-to-school week. And the problem I had of insomnia has disappeared, so be replaced by the usual bout of tiredness again. It seems like something which is either at one end or at the other end, something which never equilibrates, a la diarrhoea and constipation.

Well no guitar this week, so it's a good way to return to school. Although there's the small issue of olympiads and H3s looming as large as the dark clouds were at SW19 in London this week.

New timetable is pretty similar to the old one except now there is a PHY-PHY to add to the 3 consecutive hours of chem we have on monday. More importantly, changes to our tutors. Our dear CT Ms. Wu is now replaced by Mr Wong but he is away for a month of so, so our current PHY teacher is a female j3 teacher who is *ahem* attracting a lot of attention. Haha. Not that there's anything wrong la, seriously.

And now our CT is this Mr Lim guy and I'll give him a few more weeks before I comment on him. So we've got back math, chemistry and GP thus far. Physics and econs - not anticipated- to come next week. Well I guess our math CT isn't as difficult as other school's, but yeah considering the fact that I had barely 3 hours of sleep the night before, and getting so angry over insomnia, I'm glad I managed to maintain my concentration for the test and did well, so I'm glad, although I know there are much sicker tests to come. Anyway 6N truly owns, with like the only 2 students who scored full marks for math coming from there! Chem was bad, and I'm relieved to have been able to scrap the grade I got. GP was truly disappointing, reminiscent of the english marks I got during sec 3 and 4. Yeah well I guess for CTs it all boils down to the word 'relative', yeah, I can compare with people such as the geniuses that are in my class, and I can also compare with a load of other people and suddenly feel fortunate to be able to do better. So, oh wells, I'm fairly content, especially considering the noise that came from above every day of the holidays. But, I suppose subjects like GP and econs for me, will be works in progress, just like Rafael Nadal, just like Arsenal. Some people just start of doing well at stuff, and I'm thankful I'm coping pretty ok with the sciences. From my point of view, GP and econs, as bad as they seem, is not chinese. So hey, it's just more time and effort needed to be put in and I'm sure it'll improve - same thing for anyone facing a problem with a subject not chinese. And yeah, there's still plenty of time to work on them. And if (BIG IF) the A ever arrives eventually, the feeling will be all the more sweeter, and if it never comes, they hey, be glad that you've given your best shot at it, and there's no need to be obsessed with wanting to do well at it and resorting to retaking or rechecking or what not. Hats off to you if you know what I'm hinting about. Sometimes, you just need to hold your hand up and admit you got outdone. The point is never to be too confident, and never to be too disappointed. (Another eg. of something which never equilibrates)

Anyway, after sounding pretty (by my low low standards) philosophical I'll shift my focus to the rest of the week's events. My parents were off to Prague on holiday for a week, so it's just me and sis and our maid at home, and no construction noise any more, thankfully. Thurs CG was just great. Attendance for it was good, and I especially liked the sermon discussion session we had after that. It was truly insightful to discuss issues from the previous sermon by Ben Lee, and just allowing each person to share his or her own free-flowing thoughts, with no 'proper notes' or 'answers' to the question we 'attempted' to figure out. It was really enriching for all of us who participated in it, and that's the way we really should act, persevering to gain knowledge of the truth.

Well, today is LIVE EARTH day, and while a large percentage of the population will be spending it romancing and getting married - nothing wrong at all, what a wonderful way to spend such a day if you could - I got to do some reflection of the state of the earth, of global warming, and the scary thoughts of the world that the generation or two ahead of us would have to endure. Then again, there is nothing much that can feasibly be done without upsetting anyone. So, sigh, to the people who insist on not helping developing countries. Week after week such insightful editorials appear within the Straits Times, and I'm sure even better ones appear in the newpapers in the US or UK, and I'm even more sure that top government officials are aware of them, and hence the conclusion that they can't do much about it, which is sad.

Not so sad, is the state of Arsenal. Yes, Man U has had big signings like Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves, and Liverpool has Torres, and Chelsea still has the only one that keeps them alive and doing so well - the special one. But there's that stubborn confidence within me of Arsenal for next term, that they are so going to cope well. At least better than Real Madrid, who are so stupidly creating speculation after speculation about all of Arsenal, players, manager. zzz. All they do is aim to get quick-fixes which would so obviously backfire. Now they will become a worse-than-arsenal team with Beckham gone. Wahaha, the ethics of journalism.

Well, 7 days ago, I would have turned 17 17 days from now, on the 17th. Do the math.

Salvation, was what happened to all humans when He died on the cross.
And such a comforting and blessed word it is to human beings, that it is commonplace in the English vocabulary now. It has no links to the word 'salvage', btw.
Salvation, is also a frequently word used in the world of football, often when a late winner is scored or a string of good saves are made, especially in leagues like Italy where they do indeed believe in the 'footballing gods'.
And alas, salvation is what we felt when the common tests finally ended. It's been tough days for me, plagued by insomnia. Somehow, the tiredness I usually feel during the eves of tests were absent, and I just couldn't fall asleep! Seems quite a few people had such problems too, and now I know how badly it feels. Sunday night could only sleep at 3, and monday could only sleep at 4. Thankfully the monday and tuesday tests were afternoon tests, and I was able to rid the problem on tuesday night, just in time for Wednesday's morning paper.

Well, econs was a real test of time, maths was a test of whether you have did your tutorials, chemistry was a test of our brain saturation level, and physics was a test of carefulness. That's my interpretation of the tests. Nothing more to say till the papers are back. =)

So anyway, fortunately enough I had no tests on Friday, so I could go about getting much-needed sleep and spending time on the phone with friends, which is so, so, good to relieve stress. Friday was Anderson's Speech Day too, which was great meeting up with all the ex-andersonians and enjoying ourselves and the momentary freedom that we have, as well as having short chats with the teachers that have brought us to where we are. The concert was interesting, except the storyline was pretty random.

With some time available, I'll start uploading pictures of my trip to Paris and London.

Day 1.


The pantheon









Church Notre Dam.




Very artistic stuff at Luxembourg Garden.

Day 2



This is the Invalides. A military monument housing many tombs including that of France's most famous hero, Napoleon Bonaparte.




Musee de Rodin. The sculpture there is 'The Thinking Man'.
That and the abit of the Eiffel Tower in the second picture.



Arc de Triomphe.



At the base of the Arc.



Making our way up the countless steps.



View from the top.



Champs Elysees. The popular road leading to the Arc which contains loads of food outlets and shops.





Pont (French for bridge) Alexandre. The bridge with the best sights in Paris.



Arc de Triomphe du Carousel, very much smaller than the real Arc and it's opposite Musee de Louvre.



Outside the Louvre. The controversial triangle was the idea of the famous IM Pei as all you da vinci code readers would know.



Overlooking the Louvre.

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Ok that's all for now then. Gee, football news hasn't been great. It seems Wenger is looking to Martins as the replacement for Henry, and believe you me, he is rubbish. And so is Henry's reason for leaving. Sigh, are you just not brave enough to admit that you think the future is bleak for the club? At least more comforting news is that Rosicky and Ljunberg are eager to stay on for the long haul. Oh well, that probably means that in a year or two they would leave for some European club with bigger tradition as "things are not just the same after that canteen waiter has left the club". Get the sarcasm?

It's getting ridiculously late into the night, and yet I still can't sleep. Hate it during these nights, and they seem to happen ever-increasingly. Sigh.

Anyway, I was feeling unwell on friday night, that weird and ominous feeling in the throat. I tried to sleep early, and then I suddenly woke up feeling very giddy. Went out for a drink but that only made it worse, until...at last - vomit, "salvation", albeit very temporary. I felt normal right after vomiting, though the giddiness started to course back through my veins (i mean brains), and it was morning spent in bed. I prayed that I could recover soon, I knew monday was not a problem for me, I was strong enough for that. But it was whether I could recover and study anything by monday, for the toughest of the lot. And thank God, I was able to recover by the evening, spending practically the entire day in bed and doing nothing but reading the newspapers and replying to sms-es until there was this one message that particularly jolted me. I'll move on to that later (it's very anti-climax la really.) So anyway as I laid in bed, I thought of yesterday, CG, and I remembered (bits of) the sentences that Leon ripped off a card from Hallmark, that God would not give us more burdens than we can handle. That, and the fact that the nature of our relationship is with trials and tribulations. A somewhat surge in confidence ran through me then, I finally felt I could get through the week ahead. God is on my side. He would pull me through, as long as I put in my 100%. It's funny, how I sounded so pessimistic before and during the holidays, and then it is during times of suffering (this is hardly suffering compared to others la but..) that one finds the motivation to get on with life. The moment of reflection and realisation. That is also why I love watching sports. To be inspired by how sportspeople react in times of adversity.

Anyway, that bout of sickness meant it was another one missed. Rather I'd like to think it as a lesson well-worth-it that I have learnt. I look through my MSN contact list and there are plenty of occurences of pessimism. People saying they aren't ready for midyears and such, and true, I am no more prepared than them in terms of what I've been able to get into my head. However, I am indeed mentally and spiritually prepared for the week ahead. And when you are, you've always got a chance. I forgot who said it, but to win a Grand Slam Final or a penalty shootout, the only difference is in the mind. Obviously, England players are always too fired up about how they failed to win a game in normal time or extra time, and so they always falter during shootouts. And, to continue on this sports analogy thingy, I have 4 papers in the coming week. And monday's economics will certainly be the equivalent of Federer's French Open. Just FYI, Federer has been the no.1 tennis player for 3 years already and he has won every grand slam except the French. Just weeks ago, he was beaten in Paris by his arch rival Nadal. It was a pity. But oh wells, back to the common tests, all results are relative. And indeed, any progress would be good. As I always say, time is the enemy. And it is such a tough thing to overcome. I could never finish a higher chinese paper with the feeling that 'I wouldn't have written anything more if I had 5 more minutes'. Same thing is happening to be with GP and econs. But that is the challenge of it all. =)

So, the one message that was unexpected was the one that mentioned that Henry, the star of Arsenal and the Premier League's best player since the turn of the millenium, is leaving, for Barcelona. Smirks. Fair enough, he has been transformed by the manager into the star that he is now, and he has given more than that in return to the club. He has been dazzling during 03-04 when we were unbeatable. And in the past 2 seasons, he has been in decline. The spectacular goals have been very low in supply, and, he has no longer been the inspiration he once was to the rest of the team. Oh yeah, and he cost us the Champions League in 2006 with miss after miss which any average striker would have tucked away easily, and I mean easily. Indeed, the role of Arsenal captain is not an easy one. He has not been able to lead the team well, and now, at least we'll have someone worthy of being captain. He is heading to Barcelona, and I feel for him. Barcelona are going to become what Real Madrid was many years ago, a team of 'galacticos' i.e. superstars. Yes, they have Ronaldinho, Eto, Messi, and now Henry. When you have an attack like that, you know your defence is going to be under huge pressure to allow them to function. And sadly, as Real Madrid found out, that doesn't win you titles. So, this is indeed the end of an era for Arsenal. All the players I've come to know and like when I first supported them - Bergkamp, Vieira, Ashley Cole, Pires, and now Henry - are gone. It's time a new batch of players rise that I come to assosiate with under "the time when I lived", haha. And the future is bright. Whoever replaces Henry, will come to be known as the legend of Arsenal for this era, it's time Henry stops overshadowing the other wonderful players that have developed in this wonderful club. Yeah, let's move on.

I'm finally back from my overseas trip with my family.
It's been 10 days of non-stop walking and walking, and taking the subway, having a quick meal and then, more walking, haha.
But of course, it's been so refreshing and enriching and inspiring to see all the wonderful things that Paris and London had to offer that one could never get in Singapore (apart from cheaper food), and I got to spend so much quality time with my parents. It is certainly worth screwing up a common test (which I will, rest assured) for this, and I'd do this trade again, for sure. (Okay maybe not)

Here's the rough outline of my trip.

I left Singapore on the night of the 7th (thursday). The 13-hour odd flight direct to Paris meant that I arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle at 7+ on the 8th. Time zone difference between Paris and Singapore is 6 hours. (We are ahead). So, taking the 8th as Day 1...

Day 1:
Took a bus and then Metro (their MRT) to the hotel, checked in.
Went to see the Pantheon (different from Athen's Parthenon) which was very nearby.
Walked to Notre Dame, checked it out.
Walked more to some shopping centre.
Looked around, then went to Luxembourg garden, and then back to the hotel.

Day 2:
Went to this museum-cum-garden of Rodin, which included the sculpture "the thinking man".
Then took the Metro to Champs Elysees, the widest and most crowded of the NINE roads leading to the Arc de Triomphe. Went up the Arc de Triomphe after that, took good pictures. Went back early to rest.
Came back out at night (which is like at 10, cos that's when the sun STARTS to set, it gets dark by 1045 approx.) to see the Eiffel Tower at night.

Day 3:
Went to see the Eiffel Tower during the day. Went up this time. Amazing views.
Then walked to the area around the tower, where there are quite a few wonderful-looking buildings. Walked all the way through some gardens to the entrance of the Louvre. Didn't go in, went back instead.

Day 4:
Went to see Musee de Louvre and Palais Royal, which occupied us till like four plus. Then went to Sacred Coeur which is just another of the many many many brilliant looking churches in Paris.

Day 5:
Took a train to the outskirts to this place called Versailles. O level History students would know this place. Spent the day exploring the palace and the huge garden. Went back to Paris in the afternoon to buy souvenirs. And that's my 5 days in Paris!

Day 6:
Took the morning flight from Paris to Dusseldorf, Germany, then from Germany to London Heathrow. (Btw, France is nearer to England than to Germany, and there's a funny reason for such a weird route which I can explain if you ask).
Reached our hotel which was right outside King's Cross Station.
Checked in. Then went to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge (different from London bridge). Then went to Westminster to see the London Eye and the Big Ben in daylight. Next was Piccadilly Circus where we did some shopping and had dinner.

Day 7:
Went to Madame Tussauds. The wax sculptures are amazingly real-like.
Next, took the train up north to Arsenal Station and saw the Emirates Stadium, whatever was left of Highbury, and went to the Armoury to buy some Arsenal souvenirs.
Went out at night to see the Tower Bridge, London Eye, and Big Ben.

Day 8:
Went to Victoria Station to see Buckingham Palace and the changing of guard ceremony (which is daily). Then spent the rest of the day at the natural history museum. Then walked abit to see Imperial College. Dad was not feeling well with persistent hiccups (really hope it's not serious) and so we went back early.


Day 9:
Sat on the London Eye. Apparently Singapore's will be bigger, cool eh?
Then went to Portobello Road, it was downpour at that time, so it was difficult to move about. Now I know why so many players can't stand the English weather. Had dinner with my cousin at Chinatown near Leicester Square. She studied actuarial science at London School of Economics and is now working (and earning a good income!). There were plenty of limousines probably containing celebs as they went to attend some movie premiere.

Day 10:

Late start to the day due to packing and checking out. Went to see the Millenium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral and Tate Modern Gallery in the afternoon, and then Marble Arch.
Went back to the hotel to get our luggages, took the Underground to Paddington Station after which we took the Heathrow Express to get the airport in a very quick 15 minutes. Taking the normal underground would take 45++.

Pictures to come and more detailed stuff when I have more time, hopefully. =)

I'll be leaving on the night on Thursday, the 7th, for Paris and then London and I'll only be back on the 18th. Which means........my CTs are pretty much screwed. But oh wells, I'm not rich enough to be able to cancel the trip and not feel guilty so I guess I'll just really enjoy myself there and relax myself.....away from notes and tutorials and cool (yes cool) textbooks. Yeah, I've decided I ain't going to bring any notes or textbooks or TYS or tutorials and what not. So I'll finally be able to spend time really the books which I really do enjoy reading (purely for the sake of it), i.e. football biographies (gonna read Jose's and Terry's), Philosophy books (those very simplified ones), and math storybooks on numbers, the one thing I find especially fascinating about math. It's going to be my first venture into Europe, and it's a long-awaited one. No disneyland and no theme parks, but I guess I've experienced enough of those, now it's time to appreciate the finer things in life that you can't experience in Singapore, such as the Louvre and Madame Tussauds'. Another thing that (if there is time and hopefully there will be) would be cool is to check out sporting arenas. This Sunday (will be in Paris by then) will be the final of Roland Garros (French Open - Tennis) and it will 99% be a Federer - Nadal final. Of course I won't be able to get a ticket, but I guess it would be cool to see the atmosphere around the stadium. Also during my time in London I'll be able to make a trip to my dear Arsenal's lovely new home - Emirates Stadium. (picture above, lol). Oh well, that's a lot of cool stuff I can't wait to see. Also, the usual overseas 'formalities'...kapoh-ing food from the airport lounge...vomiting on the plane (?), fitting into miserably small accommodation rooms, making the most out of 'free/provided' breakfasts...those are just typical stuff of my family. ANYWAY, back to CTs, and the reality is that I had planned to hardcore during the last week, but, owing to lack of urgency and in part my weakness, I just couldn't discipline myself to be in full-fledged studying mode. Sadly. So, I'm practically staring down the barrel of a bunch of disappointing results. But sigh, I only have myself to blame at the end of the day. If I was determined enough, probably rushing everything during the one week remaining after I return from the trip would be enough for me to scrap through with reasonable grades, but I know I won't. Yeah, maybe writing this will sort of like spur me on to make me eat my words, but (again) I know I won't. (I'm not even bothering to reduce it a "I doubt I will or something". Haha) But anyway, I'll enjoy myself in Europe, that I am sure. =)

Last Friday was Central Service! And I think it is indeed amazing for a district to reach Nexus already. It really is a breakthrough and looking through all the slides I really wished to be part of it, to have been part of the central family earlier...so I would really feel the taste of progress. But no la, Northeast is amazing too, and I'm sure they'll hold their own service in due course. yeah? Haha. Moving on, the speech Daniel made was very direct and true. The humour involved was minimal, but we were all fully focused on what he was saying, that Nexus is our 'set' target for now, for all groups be it JC, high school or NS. I really haven't been devoting much of my time to Him, but I'll really keep on trying. It is difficult asking people to come to church, sigh, but there's always that glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel to look out for.

Then that night, I just couldn't fall asleep. I was feeling so unwell. I was twisting and turning for the most part of the night, only being able to catch half-hours here and there. I finally vomited at 6 in the morning - all that i ate for dinner (which was at PS with the cg). After that, I felt ok. And then gradually, the giddiness came back again. And it lasted for the rest of the day. That sick feeling was just sucky. I had to stay in bed all day long, couldn't eat anything for breakfast or lunch (no appetite), and I was starting to feel all hot and sweaty. I feared dengue, but then my temperature did not go beyond 38.5, so I wasn't having a fever. So, I decided to persist and just fall asleep in bed instead of seeing a doctor. After all I think I would have felt much worse walking to the car, and would have been even more giddy in the car. So, it just didn't look like getting any better. I was praying, and then suddenly by 5pm I was able to start walking again, and by the night I was ok to watch TV and read books again. [My opportunity cost of studying]. Thank God for that. At the peak of my short spite of giddiness, I was even contemplating the fact that I would not be able to go on the trip. I guess that's just the typical pessimism I have.

Speaking of worries. I have been worrying a lot lately. I worry about my health. Whether, eating so much cereal and Weetbix will result in cancer. Whether, my retina might just drop off anyway. Whether, eczema is a prelude to something very serious. Whether, I will get cancer because my gums are not well (there WAS this Mind Your Body article this week about this..). I worry about my parents too, especially my dad. His myopia is quite bad, I worry everytime he has to drive back home from work and it's already past 7. I'm saying why not take the bus? Why not even take a taxi? And then I'll refute the second point cause I know it's too expensive and I'm a cheapskate. Recently my mom just told me of a scary threatening phone call to my cousins living in Penang. Sigh, why do such evil people exist in this world? And why is their law enforcement there so corrupted? Oh whatever. I'm just thankful that Singapore is such a safe place. And it would be a safe place even if there is strong opposition to the ruling party. It's the foundations which matter.

Anyway then on Monday there was PW. Only like 12 people turned up and we had to wait like half an hour in the stuffy area outside the comp. labs, and it was really frustrating and sweaty. lol. We really could (and should) have had a class breakfast. My group finally made great progress (at least I think)! But alas, there is still a long long way to go. After that met with Weelic and Cybil who were studying at the library, went to borrow some books about french and some math books. [Math books doesn't mean math textbooks here duh.], then went for lunch and back to school to see Jun Jie screw up at Chinese Chess...aha. So yesterday night and this morning, I have finally [or perhaps I'm just saying this to make myself feel good / show-off] shown some signs that I CAN study hard enough for CTs...did revision of Math and Chem and managed to do a few long-winded energetics questions. Now the thing is doing them fast enough, sigh. Speed is always my no.1 enemy for exams. Or should I say, time. So anyway, I was doing well for 1 night and 1 morning and I was going to continue it into the afternoon until bang-on-the-nail there had to a complete hacking down of the house above mine. The noise was like so loud, I couldn't talk on the phone, watch TV, study, read books, or do anything I thought was meaningful use of time. It was frustrating to let that momentum go. Cause it takes a lot to get me into that willing-and able-to-study mode. So I went down to the management office and asked why on earth the thing took place so abruptly without even any asking if any date was suitable. And thankfully he responded very nicely which made me decide to hold my frustration and just get on with life [nothing he could really do anyway]. So I just spent the afternoon running and then going to the gym downstairs and [the best part of it] bathing at the pool bathroom which means saving a few cents off my water bill. lol. And so that's how the pitiful day came to an end. At night I just wasted it chatting on the phone and reading some books and watching a bit of French Open, Federer's quarter final match. You see? Momentum lost. So much so for learning principle of conservation of momentum, I wonder where all that has gone to.

Ah. I've recently read some this interesting book about sleeping well and beds. (Cause there were some occasions where I've tried sleeping early and couldn't). And I decided I will try to change a few things. The book mentioned that the bed should only be used for sleeping and sex. So, fair enough. Only sleeping for me. I will do my reading of books/notes/work on some slightly-more-uncomfortable surface. I suppose the idea of it is all about relativity (not THAT relativity, but), making your bed feel relatively more comfortable. It also mentioned no afternoon naps. Sigh, I don't know how I am going to be able to avoid afternoon naps and watch champions league matches...but I guess I'll just have to reach a compromise eventually. Indeed, almost everything in life is relative. It has to be balanced with realism too. And then pessimism (so things don't become too realistic). Ah, I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Let's talk about soccer.

It's all pretty sad stuff in this entry today really. But I'll try to change it. The champions league was over long ago, but I must talk about it. England had 3 teams in the semi-finals. Chelsea. Liverpool. Manchester. No Arsenal in there, and everyone was saying how Arsenal have been 'left behind' and 'trailing'. What nonsense, since not one of those clubs managed to win it. Ahaha. I was really hoping for a Milan win and boy they did they do me proud. Yet again like last year, it was 2-1. Yet again, the team which dominated lost. This time the victims weren't Arsenal, they were Liverpool, the team with the supposed 'winning culture'. And even that couldn't lift them in the grandest stage of all club football at Athens. They lacked cutting edge and were simply outclassed by Milan. Ah, just as I declared when Italy beat Germany en route to winning the World Cup last year in Berlin, FORZA ITALIA.

Lastly, I recently got links from friends to some blogs by local students, with shocking content. I guess Singapore does indeed have some very extreme personalities who lead very extreme lives. Ah, while it's sad so know that such who commit such disgusting acts exist amongst us students in Singapore, I do admire the openness they have in describing explicitly the lives that they lead. After all, blogging is a freedom of speech. What wrong is there to offend yourself?