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?

Busy week ahead, so I'll keep it short.

Monday had guitar practice till 8, and stupid me cut my nails, so it was oh so painful and took a heck-of-a long time for me to get used to it. Also got back that crazy Machiaveli compre on politics which was a slight improvement over my previous one la, although I still need much work on time management. Of course, there are people who can just consistently get 40/50 and top the class when the next highest is just 32 or 33. That's what I call deviation and that is simply amazing. Which is why 6N is BIG. lol.

Tuesday had econs case study test, and like many others I couldn't finish on time. Sigh, what's the point. Standardized marking across the level has resulted in bad-8, average-13 and good-13, over 25 btw, according to ms wong. zzz.
And there was also physics SPA, which, i screwed up, aha. But hey, I've moved on from the guy who would dread over it for nights and nights, and thank God for that realisation that there's so much more to life. I'm thankful that the A level SPA is split up into so many separate practicals, so that our SPA mark would be a good reflection of our practical skills (and acting skills). I'm thankful that I've got chem B and C out of the way with an assured sub-full mark kind of performance, so hey, there are a lot of positives to point to. Somehow, I still get frustrated when Arsene Wenger (Arsenal manager) keeps talking about the positives when the young gunners lose a match or a cup tie. But anyway, that's not the point.

So to all who managed to mess up your SPA (which I doubt will be much), fret not. There's more than enough time to improve.

Wed, we had a dry run for the concert in the PAC. I was a little pissed and stressed when I was suddenly put in charge of the stage hands and had 2 (yes TWO) minutes to assign people for the tech plan. Obviously it was near-impossible, but what was worse was when we got 'scolded' as if we had a week to prepare this. Oh well, so the tech plan on wed was screwed but at least during the dry run there was a lot more time in between performances to assign people to bring/remove whatever. Ended at 8+. Anyway, it meant I couldn't go for match support at Police Academy for the rugby guys against SAJC, which RJ WON! by 24-15. Coupled with the 7-3 win against AC a couple of weeks ago at our home turf, we have got to be favorites. Yet, AC still seems to hog the sports pages in ST. Ah, media stereotypes (shan't elaborate).
Oh, and I finally had PE after 3weeks (my eczema has flared up badly within those weeks again, but I shan't elaborate on it anymore). Although it was basketball (which I.M.O is rubbish) it was good to play with our classmates and not those imba guys from the other class. And I could get a few high speed sprints to maintain my fitness with regards to running.

Thur, had to stay back to do abit of PW and then of course there was phy olym. Which reminds me, selection test is next thur, just a day after the big GP CT. Will I watch the champions league final on wed morning? Damn.

Friday then, had debaters AGM and guitar concert at night. At debaters AGM I tried to run for treasurer but like Yong Jin, didn't get it la. Either way, 6N is still really a big class la, with the AV vice chair, Council Treasurer and BB house captain in it. BIG! Now I won't be sour grapes and mention about stereotypes again. But guitar concert went relatively smooth, although it was so hot in the PAC, thanks to the highly-intense lights. Man, now I can understand why people express concerns for the night F1 race in Marina Centre.

So that's my week in short. "short". FA Cup Final tomorrow, and I'll just enjoy it from a neutral's point of view. EPL season is finally over. Arsenal's first at the Emirates Stadium was my worst yet, but hey, when it's that bad, the only way to go is ___. Can't wait for the holidays, need to catch up on sleep friends, and, spend more time thinking about my future, and what's right.


Lastly, my personal message as of now is that
"Some people just always look beautiful in my eyes."
And mind you, it's not football-related, and it means what it means.
Now, am I sounding unusual, untypical or am I being just a little more honest?

It's almost a month since I've last blogged. Sigh, it's not an easy habit to maintain....

I mentioned in my previous post I need more self-control. And if I have free afternoons, I will more often than not, spend them slacking away during class lunches [which is not entirely meaningless in all honesty], playing bridge at mini-canteen, or worst, at home, either sleeping since I watched prem. league midwk matches / champions league matches, or playing the computer [which means FIFA / middle-earth], Gosh, imagine if I had Tiberium Wars........then I would indeed be wasting all my afternoons. So, might as well load up the afternoons, cos I'm sticking to my policy of night-time studying; that's the only time I ever seem to be able to focus.

The other aspect of self-control was about eczema. And boy did it get worse very very quickly. By week 2/3, the rashes were as bad as last year. And i'm sure pple like Jun Jie and Cybil would know all about it, how it stained my uniform, affected my sleeping and more seriously my writing habits [can't pivot the elbow on the desk]. And guess what, deja vu. =(. I had to be so disciplined to continue to apply the cream on those disgusting areas, and to use cotton wool to dab potassium permanganate solution on it every morning, every night. [which means preparing the hot water, adding the crystals in minute amounts.....etc.] And yes, there were days and nights where I was totally down, not in a good mood at all. I'm sorry to those people who have had to endure my remarks, including my family, and really a big thanks to those who gave me a call or sms-es. Some days, when I wake up, i spend 5 minutes in bed, sulking and thinking when it will go away. Those sms-es really cheered me up, and of course, thank God that I kept the faith by continuously praying. Well, fortunately the stains on my uniform [pus and blood] could be washed off without any permanent scars, so, phew. And the anti-biotics has dried up most of them, although I'm still expecting a short second spell of rashes after which it would go into dormancy again. Oh well, really hope it can go away by the June hols when I'll be going overseas.

The other part i wrote about it my previous entry was about my temper. And I lost it at times due to the stress and immense itch from having eczema. And, to all those who keep telling me not to scratch, it's not that I don't appreciate it; I do. It's just, the scratching, it's not for want of it. If i could choose not to, I would. Unfortunately, the itch is really unbearable. Comparing anti-itch tablets to anesthesia for surgery would definitely be exaggerating, but not by a million miles. And believe me, imagine not being able to pivot your hand on the table [unless you want to stain it] and having to draw curves. It's that irritating. So I'm sorry, but once I hear the 'stop scratching' too many times within a short period of time, it is downright annoying. [Again, not that I don't appreciate it, I'm just being honest] Well, enough of the self-pity [that I fully deserve]. Specialists seem to have so much difficulty diagnosing the cause of the rashes, so why not, all you bright bio students out there, take that step and go research into areas like this. Instead of the standard stuff. I fully agree with Lee Wei Ling's comments. There are so many other different aspects of the human anatomy to do research on.


Okay. The other aspect of my temper to control on was football. And it has been difficult not to lose my temper as well. sigh. Arsenal have simply been in free-fall since February. All was looking so bright, challenging for the 3 cups, and then all of a sudden knocked out of all of them in a matter of 11 days. Worst was to come, from being comfortably in 3rd, they've lost 3 on the trot, first 1-0 away to Everton from a last minute sickener in a match they dominated possession. Then 4-1 to Liverpool, Arsenal's biggest loss in 6 years, thanks to defending that was nothing short of comical [unless you're an Arsenal fan]. That was humiliating indeed. Forums were filled with cocky Liverpool fans' boasting soon after. But what to do, ai. Thankfully, I wasn't able to watch that match due to debates camp. Okay, it climaxed when we lost to West Ham 0-1 at home. First home loss in the new stadium, gosh, and who would have ever expected it to come against a team like West Ham [who are rubbish]. Yet again, a match dominated, with amazing chances wasted, the woodwork hit twice, amazing goalkeeper, and some invisible force preventing the ball from getting across the line. Yes, I was chatting with Arsenal fans I got to know from some forum, and we were all worried that the unbeaten run at the Emirates stadium would be broken by Chelsea who are due to play Arsenal in the penultimate game of the season. Guess we all looked too far ahead. I was really shocked by the result, and I badly wanted to scream. Thank you for that sms just moments after the match had ended. I know you don't watch football but you somehow knew the result and you calmed me for slightly. Slightly, but enough.

Alas, that's the beauty of football, to see a team bottom of the league winning at the Emirates, where big teams like Man U and Liverpool have lost, and then also to see leaders Man U lose to Portsmouth. THat's precisely why football is so exciting.

Oh well, it's already week 5, and econs test sucked. lol. Now i know why Mr Vadi keeps talking about the adjusting process by drawing all those funny arrows, and so many of us just assume it and don't explain it. Oh wells. Better not go too in-depth on it anyway.

It's been busy weeks, since I'm now in like...guitar (just learning....), R-artistic, 4d cinema course and debaters....and hoping to get into phy olympiad also. As the saying goes, "Jack of all trades...master of none", that probably applies to me, just substitute the 'all' with 'almost all'...But i suppose, since there's only 2yrs of JC, we have really got to make the best use of our time, and that means cramming everything. sigh.

School's been okay la. Recently us "golf club members" have become very sick with our interpretation of golf terms.
"Ah, I missed a birdie"
"Screw the hole."
Okay, more to come next time when [hopefully] a full list of it will be compiled, lol.
Anyway, I've made my mind up and I've now got an N73 which has a damn good camera, and damn cool phone speakers too, heh. Who cares about Wifi man.

Just met with Leon [my new shep.] and Raphael at ps for dinner. Raphael had to go after awhile, so it was quite good getting to know Leon better, and talking about the different cultures in our schools, and I realized that there ARE indeed major differences. Oh well, I'm happy that I chose Raffles over Hwa Chong. And I will leave it at that. =)

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.