Long time since I've been able to find the time to blog. Either way, already into week ONE of term TWO. And I haven't been really getting serious about work yet, sigh. But that's not the point.

I have certainly over-exhausted myself during term 1 with all those late nights, and the holidays spent in Penang with my relatives were certainly a good reprieve. I guess not seeing each other often, has made us treasure that one week per year we have together. And it just shows how much we've grown. Always staying at my aunt's house in Penang, I would play computer games all day long with my cousins [two of them, one 2yrs older, the other a yr younger, than me]. That was during the pri sch days. Then during sec sch, more MSN-ing already on our own computers (with my dad bringing his laptop). We still watch TV programmes together, such as HBO movies or Discovery documentaries or Starworld sitcoms. Next, upper sec. Less talk now, still watch TV programmes together. Oh, and football matches too of course. And now, the elder cousin has left for UNSW in Sydney to study medicine. Btw, some trivia, my family is really a medicine family, with so many doctors/ specialists. Though I don't think I have the interest to be one.

And oh well, played alot of mahjong, and now i know how to count money. haha. But yeah, I enjoyed myself, I enjoyed the suppers I had, and I enjoyed embracing my grandma, I enjoyed listening to the worship songs I haven't had time to listen to, I was able to spend more time with Him. I've got the rest I needed, and I'll be rearing to go this term. And I do hope to improve my faith, my self-control and TEMPER (with regards to football and this fresh spell of eczema), and my willingness to spend more time with friends. Oh, and my academics of course which I am struggling indeed...lol.

Monday, first day back to school was unusual indeed. L'odges used to be filled with RGS uniforms, and now its all RJ uniform and the campus looks so whitish all of a sudden. Oh well, we got our new timetable, and it's better and worse. The good: less breaks. The bad: two days where there are 5 periods in a row withOUT breaks. And it will be a case of tough starts and smoother endings, with mon and tues ending at 315, and then everyday after that is earlier than the previous one until friday which ends at 1130! wow. And now I'll have 8, yes EIGHT rooms in total to go to throughout the week. zzz. A55, B31, A68, C63, D3SR5, H1R6, A24, and B41. Rooms in so many different blocks. Man, it's so different from the B45/46 which were side by side during our first term. So much for the timetable man.

Tuesday, was the last CG for grads. And it was a good atmosphere, with almost everyone present, and it was especially nice to be able to make it, and of course nicer to have Jelvin and Syn Yeow coming. I really prayed hard for alot of things during worship, and I it was meaningful. Funnily/Fatefully enough, I had been listening to At The Cross on the way there, and also many times on my iPod. I've checked, and it is indeed the 3rd most listened to song on my iPod, with first being Coldplay's Fix You. And I realised, many times I'm reading verses out loud, when I'm singing songs out loud, I focus solely on the lyrics that I hardly grasp the meaning of the songs (for worhsip la), and this time there was that greater understanding of that song, and it was a good feeling to have. The teaching that Alvin gave was also very useful, and I will really miss the fun I've had during these caregroup meetings, as well as the times spent with James and Alvin. In all honesty, I don't think I've gotten as close to the others in the group as I would have liked, perhaps because I haven't had the time to go to many services and many of their planned outings, perhaps because I lag too much in replying messages which I have to blame my auto-signin MSN on dad's laptop for! But I'll take these learning points in my stride, and try to improve on that in my next group. =)
Speaking of which, have to thank Alvin and whoever else for helping me Syn Yeow and Evona organise a meeting with some central guys like Raphael who himself was also a fellow Rafflesian! aha.

Wed and Thur blitzed by (early days). And there's a new edition to 6N, a girl from 6M, who somehow managed to cook up reasons to switch within PCME. yeah man, now its 13-13 as far as the gender ratio is concerned.

Friday, found out how freaking unfit I was. Was able to cope with the 1:40/45 per round for about 5 rounds until I just suddenly felt so giddy and couldn't continue. Well I suppose it's been a long long time since I ran that long [soccer training?], and my body obviously isn't able to cope with such a sudden burst.

Managed to recover and went to watch BEAN with anna/ ying ling / joanna / izza / elita / xian jie/ jinkai/ jaya. Although I encountered a very annoying taxi driver which really threatened to make me lose my temper. After that sat ard. with the guys and chatted with them for awhile, they left to play bowling while I bumped into some long-lost friend, spent some time with that long-lost friend, then almost got into a sticky situation later on. Which was when Marcus entered. This was 162 that doesn't go close to NJC/ HCI. lol. Probably be able to guess how that sticky situation was brought about by my wording summore, lol, but yeah [again u can probably infer that] I'm slightly embarrassed about it to write it down explicitly. LOL.

And so this has been the week for me. Arsenal lost to a last minute sickener, and that all-too-familiar feeling sunk into me yet again, last Sunday night. Bang, there was something to be glad about though, that was getting 30pts for this IKnowTheScore game on the EPL's official website. Even better was that I also predicted Chel 3-0 Sheffield that weekend, and that in another game, Fantasy Prem. League, I scored big time with defenders frm Reading and Portsmouth in my team as both teams drew 0-0 thereby keeping a clean sheet. ok, digressing way too far.

Football. My temper. I realise tempers fray so easily. That was what got Rooney sent off during the World Cup. And that the passion runs so high that violence is not omnipresent in this Beautiful Game. Look at Italy. Many years ago, Inter Milan players went to Highbury (dear Arsenal's old home ground) and started a fight. Just a few months ago, a referee was killed during a derby match and only then did their security come under scrutiny. And even more recently, there was that bull-fight that took place in the Champions League when Inter faced Valencia, disgraceful scenes, the most ugly of which was David Navarro running from the bench and punching (and effectively breaking, really!) the nose of an Inter player. Inter was not innocent too, they started the fight. And now look, for that moment of outburst, he has been banned for 7 months, and may even be charged by local police. Disgraceful indeed. Football. Temper. Perhaps this has been a greater illustration of the potentially high level of frustration I'm capable of reaching when profligacy from their star players cost us big time in results?

I'm in Malaysia now, I guess it's a sign for be to rest, after a very tiring term. Tiring, mostly because I forced it upon myself, I suppose. But then again, if i didn't, I certainly would have spent the term slacking away online, playing FIFA...etc, which I so didn't want to. Have to admit though, sometimes I just feel so disappointed with my own indiscipline, for example saying I want to sleep early on a Saturday night, and then being dragged by chatting on phone/online, and then dragged even further by premier league late 0115 kick-offs.

This last week of the term seemed to last a long time indeed. Tuesday was posting, and yes, posting is truely as unpredictable as O results. But I guess such things are part and parcel of life, that we don't always get the rub of the green, that, we don't need to get so upset and worked up over it, that, we should thank our lucky stars if we've gotten to somewhere we're satisfied with (which I think most of us are). MOE apparently does not reveal their criteria for ranking people with equal points. For one, it is definitely not by alphabet. Many people speculate that it's ranked acc. to no. of A1s, while others [many!] think it is from english grade. If they were the case, surely there would have been enough people in the history to have come up with stats. to blast the MOE for being biased against one language in this multi-racial country of ours. And thus, my best bet is that it's plain and simply random. Don't blame me, blame this wonderful probability book I just borrowed which elaborated on the usefulness of randomness, ahaha.

So knowing that it's likely a random process, there's really no reason to be down. Cause you're that much more likely to have more luck in the future. But seriously, to those who feel down about their posting and the future, the important thing is not to fret about the past and look to the future which can only get better, after all God has a plan for all of us. We will eventually all reach that goal and succeed in life, so long as we persevere and keep the faith, yeah? I'm so happy for all those people who managed to appeal successfully, in particular the 6B pple and Philip and Joanna, yeah man. Now 6B has 8 pple, and anderson, wow...16 if im not wrong. Well O2 never lived up to the highs of L'a udeamus, but I guess it was commendable [finally i use this word not in a sarcastic manner], and BB11 ended up slacking photo scavenger hunt away, although I must say it is quite a creative idea.

Part of the 'tiredness' I mentioned at the start that I heaped upon myself this term has definitely due to the many cup competitions Arsenal have been involved in, as well as cup replays, which postpone prem. league matches to weekdays...etc. And well, I guess, there'll be significantly less of them to watch in term 2 after a horrible 2weeks which can be best described by this picture which I got so fed up with after seeing this stupid advertisement online that I've decided to edit:


Oh wells. We all have to face up to questions. And those players at Arsenal certainly have to find answers as to why they can't finish off games when they are dominating, and why they can't blend that mix of superb passing football with that winning feel which the record breaking 2003-2004 team managed to do. Of course, buying a renowned striker like Torres/ Eto/ Huntelaar would do wonders. But that's never the Arsenal way. I support it, although I really do hope the youngsters can live up to their expectations cause more and more frustration is building up in me. For now, I'm going to beg my parents to let me go on the RJ econs trip to London which includes touring my home of football, the Emirates Stadium.

Tiny rashes are starting to appear again, ah. and of course the ones that haven't gone away are starting to ooze again. [not being abstract here,] I'm so afraid eczema will strike me strongly again, ahhhhhhhhh. It's so difficult not to feel frustrated. The viral cough, and then this. Frighteningly similar to Henry's spate of injuries with his foot, nerve and all...and now he's out for the season. Sigh. There really isn't any stress in me yet, or is there?

Really, I can say all those things and yet my heart ain't on the same wavelength as my eyes. It's cruel but I'm sorry.

Postings are out on Tuesday, and I wish everyone the best, especially those who have partial points with regards to the expected cut-off of their desired JCs, and those who are trying to appeal to get into JCs. I'll pray hard for you all from now till Monday night. Just know that it's not the end of the world if you don't end up at where you want to be. It's God's plan for us, and furthermore it's never too late to try again. And to try harder next time round. Even so, just look at the many people who entered a JC they were reluctant to go to for PAE, and have liked it so much now that they have decided to stay.

I'm still down with cough. It's been a long time already. 3 weeks in fact. Found out that it was some kind of viral cough which is slightly more severe, so it would take much longer than usual to go away. Sigh, hope it won't compromise debates, and I really want to start going for trainings!

This week in school has been okay. Apart from screwed tests which I'm still getting used to, due to extreme carelessness on my part. Area of a circle = 4.pi.r.r [even a p6 student knows there's not supposed to be a 4], oh I got to be freaking kidding myself. aha. Really hope it won't be long before I start using the phrase 'no kick to describe tests again. [just joking of course, I know full well it won't be anymore].

On Friday, tutors were getting so tense, with A level results being released. Reason being that J1 tutors this year were J2 tutors last year. And to some teachers, they already know the results of their students, but are still anxious to see if they will be satisfied.....or.....[inevitably some will always be..] disappointed. Which reminds me, that was probably how our teachers felt for us on 9 Feb when we got back our results. They must have been feeling so worried for the few that might be disappointed. And so, I really thank them, again. I realise in Anderson Sec. students are very close with their teachers. And i think few other secondary schools can boast that.

Well, for the avid football fan that I am, this has been one hell of a depressing/frustrating week for me, due to Arsenal's lack of cutting edge. They've played brilliant football in two matches, and two times, they've lost. Last Sunday their manager fielded such a youthful team in the league cup final, with all the star players [henry, van persie, rosicky, gallas, lehmann...] except Fabregas, not even on the bench, against Chelsea, with all their riches, their expensively-assembled teams with big-money signings such as Drogba and Michael Ballack. To be honest, I expected Arsenal to get thrashed. But they weren't. They outplayed Chelsea, and played such fluent passing that I haven't seen for quite some time from the first team. And even though we lost, I was so proud of them, apart from the mass brawl at the end which was so unnecessary, and the match ended in such an unsavory manner.
Mourinho can say all he likes, but the fact is that he had a virtually unlimited supply of cash to spend, while Arsenal had saved so much money year after year in order to be able to build the magnificent Emirates Stadium, While Chelsea spent 30 million on Shevchenco, 24 on Drogba, 25 on Wright Phillips, and 24 on Essien, we've managed to get Henry for only 7, and Fabregas for less than 1. And apparently he says he ain't a sore loser, well, we'll see what he has to say come May when Manchester win the prem. league.

Okay, so much for the cup final on sunday. On wednesday night, we were out of the FA cup. A match that they dominated, missed some unbelievable sitters, and then lost 1-0 to a world-class goal 4 minutes from time. This was frustrating. This was disappointing. This was the first-team bar Henry that was playing. Boy was I upset. Who I was upset with, was referee Graham Poll. He is supposedly England's best referee. He was their representative in the 2006 World Cup, and he was the disgraced one who gave 3 yellows to the same player before sending him off. And he will be the one in charge of Liverpool v Manchester later today, arguably the biggest match due to the rich history both clubs have. Well, he waved away two blatantly obvious penalties, and how obvious were they? The commentator was continuously showing replays of it and kept repeating 'how on earth could he miss that..'. So obvious, that after that match questions are being raised yet again whether technology should be used in football. And if there was technology, Arsenal would not have lost.

Arsenal play the most fluent football in the world, and the only teams comparable to us are Barcelona, Brazil and Argentina. They make the least fouls of all teams in England, they are fouled the most in England, and yet, we have been on the receiving end of so many waved away penalties, and so many offside decisions. Sometimes it seems really hard to believe that players like Henry can sprint so far ahead of the last defender from an onside position, and hence the linesman waves the flag up right away. He lacks common sense. He lacks the knowledge that Henry is such a fast sprinter. He doesn't know how inch perfect the pass through the defence is. And that is why I am so disappointed in referees.