Friday, February 16, 2007

Now that JAE is over, I suppose my previous post is irrelevant, and thus it shan't be at the top anymore. Today, Friday the 16th, is the eve-of-the-eve-of CNY. And for RJ students that meant taking a break/ breaking a record/ i.e. TAKE 5 @ CCAB.

Thought having dad so send me there would be easier, and since his new office was at the bukit timah branch, might as well, but apparently not! The whole place was so congested, with either NUS students / lecturers on their way to work or other similar parents fetching their kids to CCAB / SCGS. I was like 20mins early, opp. side of the road, by the time i reached the right side of the road, I was just on time. Phew!

Okay, so RJC broke a record of most people eating oranges at the same place / time, whatever, typical southeast asian habit of breaking awkward records [that very likely hasn't really been set]. After the record-breaking event, Talentime was taking place, but our class decided to go and practise frisbee / soccer. It was my first time wearing the new pair of street soccer shoes, and I had to get used to it. Anyway, just for the record our class ain't very sporty at all, just like....4/7. haha. So we really signed up just to 'have fun', when boo hoo we realised other classes were dead serious about winning. So, first match, I played 3mins, then slacked off and got subbed, the other class had so many sporty people, and yet they couldn't score, so it was 0-0....and we had a penalty shootout! lol, after 4 penalties each it was 1-1, and then the other class missed one. So up stepped me with my first meaningful shot using the new shoes, and whoo, i smashed it into the top corner, and we won! lol we sort of exaggerated our celebrations, but hey, we knew we were so lucky. Of course, next rd., we got pumped 2-0 by a team which managed to beat J2 classes! but hey it was a fun experience. Oh, and the frisbee guys got thrashed too. So off we went to drown off our misery at the bouncy castle, which was so lame. We had a plan , but that plan blew up big time when we all collapsed on yong jin, and cos he wasn't standing in the middle, the whole castle collapsed, and sad to say there was a little girl down there that got crushed by us. Of course she didn't die. She didn't get hurt. Much at least, haha. yeah, but it was pretty scary.

So after that Leroy and I took 165 back to ANDss to cont. playing footy, but of course, not after the few of us ran to check out pool party. Which was $%$@. Pity, that other people ard. insisted on playing despite dressing so inappropriately. As a result, wasn't that much fun with so many bodies around. Oh and I had a bad slip and now there's a bad patch on my knee.

Rushed to NEXUS for service after that, and met Anna and Ying Ling after coming out at Somerset MRT. Such a coincidence. Felt a lil' sleepy during service, but managed to stay awake for the most part of it. Then, waited with ZiJie for awhile at the MRT, and boo hoo met Anna and Ying Ling again! This time they were going into Somerset MRT. Boy, so qiao la!

Took 162 home, and I was lucky in that the 162 was the NOKIA 5300-themed bus. It's white leather seats were so comfortable, to go with the great choice of music they choose to play. Oh, and I have to say this, I saw such a sweet couple there. They were talking about professional stuff, their likes / dislikes...and they were talking in such a mature manner, they were probably 20+ I suppose, but they seem to be very bright people. And when the woman left, the guy's eyes kept tailing her, smiling along, so sincerely. I always joke about my dream date being one watching football, but hey, that wasn't that bad too. haha. Then, there was also this CJ girl who lives in the same condo as me, another coincidence to be in the same bus! She was talking to a couple of guys la, but they alighted before my stop / her stop. It then started to rain. Really heavily. I don't know why, this kind side of me suddenly prompted me, and guess what, I lent her my umbrella, and walked in the rain for the 300m or so back into my condo. to shelter. Haha. I really don't know, I mean it wasn't like she was a good-looking girl, cause if she was then I much rather would have just let her get drenched and get to see her all WET [mind you she was in school uniform]. yeah, but I'm really thankful to James for talking to me a week ago about letting others know that I'm living a blessed life with my actions, being more helpful when I can, and showing more concern, support, and understanding to others.

It was a pity I couldn't go back to Pei Chun again. I'm really sorry Cheryl, Denise and Kennedy cause I sort of said I would go back.....and......in the end I didn't. But at least I've managed to add many contacts thanks to the mass convr, lol. And hopefully I'll have time to talk to each of them and get to know them better.

To end off, Arsenal finally ended their jinx against Bolton in a crazy match in which they spectacularly missed 2 penalties but yet keep knocking on the door and eventually got the decisive goals. As a result, they will finally get to play an early kick-off on Saturday! so i no longer have to stay up till 12 MN as has been the case recently for Home matches against united and only last week against wigan. ah, thank God that the week worked out despite me sleeping extremely late for so many days!

Monday, February 12, 2007

So we have all got our results, and for many, it is decision time. And yes, it ain't easy. The sacrifices one has to make when picking a choice, weighing up the pros and cons, opportunity cost as well. Distance, the friends that are going there, the friends that aren't whether you can fit it to their respective cultures. And more crucially whether you realistically have a chance of entering, and what you may incur by not putting something else as your first choice.

Some people like their current place so much, they can't bear to leave, even though they know that they can go to another place with a lower cut-off. Some people hate their current place so much, they want out no matter what. Really, the dilemma that many of us face is pivotal. It may only be 2 or 3 years, but it will most certainly be the most important 2 or 3 by far- we've grown so fast. And thus, I am so relieved that I am not facing such a tough decision, as I could imagine I would not be able to think level-head-dedly if I was in such a situation. I've spoken to many people unsure of where they should go, and I hope I have helped at least a couple in making their decisions, in weighing up their options, cause really it ain't easy. To all out there really, take time to think deep and hard about your future, and always keep faith in yourself, that God will guide you on your way. =)

On friday, before we got our results, word was it that we all did remarkably well, and I was still feeling normal. Time slowly passed as we caught up with old friends, chatting, swapping badges and.....taking pictures! (cam whores indeed, haha). I was quite calm until we walked up into the hall, and suddenly, I don't know why but I felt a lot more nervous. I thought back to 4years ago, when I was [very young and immature and dumb but still...] doing very well in my studies for exams and prelims, and I played computer games everyday, haha. The Red Alert days, they were. And, I still live to regret those days. Firstly, I messed up my PSLE, got a good score, but not good enough to get into RI, which was what my parents had expected of me. Secondly, my eyesight deteriorated at such a fast rate, and how I wish I had spent time more wisely then. And so, 4 years on, I was still watching football during the exams. I remember Arsenal suffering a bad loss on the night before HCL. That was against West Ham. I remember them beating Liverpool 3-0, that was before AM P1. Well, I guess this time round I was definitely more disciplined and mature, but sigh, my new-found love of football never fails to get the better of me, still. I prayed as we were sitting down and eagerly anticipating our results. And fortunately I didn't have too much time for my thoughts to drag me to further places. But well, just for the record, I got C5 for my HCL, after C6C5C6....so I guess it was pretty much expected. TBH, I thought the HCL exam was not that difficult, that HEY maybe I HAD a chance to get like.....A2! But I guess, this is really a reality check. My chinese has really sucked, I have put very little effort in improving it, and I'm just grateful to scrap a pass. And I'm sure many people have that similar feeling towards other subjects too. So really, I'm very mediocre too actually.

After we collected our results, many of us were delighted with our grades. Why, our cohort had so amazingly exceeded expectations and done even better than our ex-seniors! And, credit has to be given where credit is due. Many double science students have certainly worked very hard and put in their all for the O's. I remember making this comment to many people about how big the gulf has been last year, between trip. science and double science people. Yes, I know I've been very critical, and I will try to change that part of me. Back to the topic, the double science students have really bridged the [wide?] gap in the O's. And full credit to them. So many of them had less than 10pts, and now they can go to a 'top 5' JC. And I think they deserve much more praise than us trip. science students!

Many of our wonderful teachers were in attendance, and they deserve nothing but all the thanks we students have for them. In particular, I really want to thank Mrs Allison Lim for all her encouraging words in times when they were so needed, and of course it was a pity Mr Tan wasn't there so see JunJie and I......haha. I have been very offensive towards Ms Goh and Mdm Chan. And I must say, most of it was probably just to get that feel-good you get by bad-mouthing others behind their back. And that is so wrong me of me la. So I decided that I would at least have a proper conversation with Mdm Chan AND Ms Goh. And I did. And of course I'm not so courageous as to openly tell them all the bad things I've said of them and that I'm sorry, but I did wish them the best in teaching future batches, and, and, Ms Goh shook my hand sincerely to congratulate me! And I won't blow this by saying something bad about her now. HAHA. but seriously, I felt so much better.

Next, I'm trying my best not to boast here, but I am really flattered by all the thanks from people who I've helped in some way or another throughout the O levels period la. In particular Sherhan's message was really touching la, haha, thanks DEAR...and...it inspired me to create SMS-es for teachers and thanking them in a similar way...and Mrs Lim was so touched by it too. haha. A great way to spread the love and joy la. There are really a lot of people I want to thank, but I guess that'll make this post way too long. So I guess I'll stop here for the moment.

After missing so much football over the past couple of weeks I have finally managed to watch 2 wonderful games with come-from-behind scorelines. On Saturday, Newcastle beat Liverpool 2-1, and it was damn funny to see Liverpool's all-so-feared strikeforce miss absolutely ridiculous sitters. Well, there were more spectacular ones to come on Sunday. It was deja vu as I endured 80mins of pure frustration as Arsenal wasted a plethora of chances [yet again!] at the Emirates, Henry most guilty of them all. And to compound that frustration, after Wigan took a shock lead through a very good long-range shot, their 'keeper wasted SO MUCH TIME taking goal-kicks. This is all too similar to what Man Utd did a month ago, and boo hoo, they lost. So did Wigan, as justice prevailed with 2 late goals in the final 10mins, with Rosicky scoring a sweet winner 4mins from time. And what more sweeter was seeing our wonderful German keeper wasting time after that, giving them a very good taste of their own medicine, as Arsenal come back yet again and remain unbeaten at the Emirates. I love that word. Unbeaten. A delightful week indeed, now, I just hope.......

that this holy cough of mine would go away ASAP. =)

Monday, February 05, 2007

Silly football stuff.

"I am very tired. Yesterday, I was booed by Thai fans in Bangkok, but I still managed to hold my nerve to pull Singapore through to win the ASEAN football championship. Then, I had to run up and down the stage 3 times during the award ceremony, first to get the golden boot, then to get the player of the tournament award, and then to receive a medal with my mates. Their organisation com. so bad, make me run up 3 times. It's so obvious I was going to win the awards, can't they just give in all in one go? Then I had to fly to London to see Man U thrash Spurs 4-0, fortunately the stadium was so empty by then so I could get out easily. I had to fly back all the way to Singapore in time for flag raising. I already sang the National anthem yesterday before winning my awards, and now I have to sing it again. zzz. I am so tired, that's why I fell asleep. Sorry, sir. "

Shit excuse by someone for falling asleep in class today.lol.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

So, it's been one week on [from the last entry].
And it has been a rather busy one....haven't had much sleep. sigh.

Last Saturday had a very very tough soccer training session. The warm-up was 1km more than normal, which meant it was 6km / 15rds. Then the drills were okay, although my passing went awfully astray at times, damn it la. Passing was what I prided myself on.
Then had a 30min match, on an extremely muddy pitch thanks to heavy rain the night before. Many people had already established positions, so when it came to me the coach just went 'Put him up front'. I won't forget that, and I won't remember it as a compliment either. Haha. Was so shitted, having to keep dropping back to help the midfield, and then also having to stretch my lungs to sprint upfield whenever a break was on. All in that f-ing muddy pitch. Didn't do much but pass, pass and pass, blocked a cross [painful!], and managed to get pass 1 defender and set up a powerful shot which hit the bar. Off-day la. Whatever, I was indeed feeling shitted that day. Training ended at almost 12.....and had to wash everything up, it was 1230 by then. Couldn't get to service in time, and neither did i bother to go for class outing, just spent the rest of the afternoon nursing the aches and wounds. When i went to bathe my underwear was like fully drenched. And no, it wasn't a wet dream. It was pure sweat. lol. Man it was a tiring day.

Anyway I've decided I'm dropping soccer. Perhaps it's cause it's too tiring. Perhaps it's cause I ain't good enough to be in the first XI, but I just thought I had more priorities. This opens up tues, thurs and sats, so I'll hopefully be able to sign up for other interesting ccas, and also of course more enrichment programmes and research electives. On monday they announced during chem lecture that we could start signing up for the Materials Science course, and then by the time the few of us went to the noticeboard, it was fully booked, WTH?!. haha, very fortunately i stumbled by the enrichment board again on Wed, and spotted the photonics form there. Couldn't believe my luck n signed up for it right away. Also signed my classmate and leroy up for it. Man, only on thur did they announce it during phy lecture, and sadly it's too late for most of the people interested. aha.

BACK to the chem lecture on monday. It was a crazy one. The previous [also-crazy] lecturer took an eternity to finish relatively simply parts like mol. concept and standard acid-base titrations, and as a result the relatively more difficult part of the topic, on redox titrations and half equations and stuff was just rushed through in less than an hour. Almost every typical student there was like stunned after that. And this is in RJC mind you.

Anyway, do hope I can get into debates, the last 'trial' session was on wed and i had to speak a bit on prop side for whether voluntary euthanasia should be allowed. lol.

Throughout the week I had been in a sort of 'mugger' mode, cos of the SRP aptitude test that was to take place on saturday. Mugged at the library on tues till 6, then went to watch the football match with leroy, where Hashair scored an eye-opener! Rest of the days I mugged on the internet. lol.

Well anyway the aptitude test was f-ing tough la. There was prob alot that I could have read up on with regards to chem, but the qns there were like sick la. And although MCQ has seemed like the easiest form of test to many of us [apart from T/F DUH], it was just all the more difficult when
a) many topics weren't in our scope
b) the questions on those that were IN were tough as well
c) the answer options were intelligently set to maximise difficulty
d) you lose a mark if you answer a qn wrongly
e) there were 5 options and not the usual 4. lol.

Oh I'm just ranting. So of 75qns, [25 each from PCM], i answered about 10 frm phy and chem and 20 from math. Oh well, I think my math has improved a whole lot through this week at the least.

After that headed right back to school for this HWA sports day thing. Think almost everyone in my class signed up for it but on Alicia, Yiting and I were selected. By random most likely. lol. It was quite a fun few hours there la, the wheelchair-handicapped people were like damn pro at basketball, and mind you it isn't easy to move the wheelchair on it's own, much less shoot when you're moving. haha. It was the second Saturday in a row spent outside of home not at Nexus. But I suppose that's the end of this wave.

Btw, so much so for having that record of watching consecutive Arsenal matches, I've missed 3 in a row, the 2 league cup matches against spurs and the Fa cup one against bolton. Finally managed to catch the league match, and it was yet another wasteful performance. Just hope we can get that consistency back in time for next season. I'd be quite content with the cups this season. hehe.

Time really passes so quickly. It's always the case, be it during exams when you're staring at a question you know you should be able to do yet for some reason you can't at that point of time, or when you're enjoying yourself on the phone with someone whom you haven't spoke to for a long, long time. Either way, this month has passed us all by. As much as I've enjoyed myself [and I have to a large extent], I miss many people, be it seeing them or talking to them face to face. I think of many people when I listen to those songs that are so effective in charging up that part of me. Man, it's that weird but normal feeling that everyone has occasionally that they just can't describe. There just hasn't been enough time. This must be the xxxx th time I've said that, lol. Soon, we'll get back our O lvl results and know where we are bound. All the best to all, and to our friendships!