Game without an Aim...

Mangas to Read!

2010-11-20T00:59:00.003+08:00

I've grown addicted to the 'psychological' genre of manga recently after reading the manga 'The World God Only Knows'.

Here's a short summary of my new favourite manga, TWGOK:

The protoganist, Keima, is known as the 'capturing god', a hard core nerd/genius who never fails to capture the virtual girls in dating sims/rpg in video games. He is approached by Elsee, a devil from Hell who has heard (albeit mistakenly) of his legendary girl-capturing skills, to help her in catching runaway spirits that hide in girls. These spirits only hide in the crevices in women's hearts, and the only way to get them out is to make the host fall in love so that the gap in the heart will be filled. With Keima's experiences in video games and his insight in the game of dating, the reader will see him capture the heart of one girl after another..

This manga has romance, humour, beautifully drawn girls, good plot and a storyline that progresses really quickly (complete opposite from naruto, bleach, one piece) so what more can you ask for?

You'll also be surprised that the theories/strategies regarding courtship presented in the manga are actually pretty good! At least in my opinion, they're certainly not without basis and what's more, it actually fits reality too! Maybe I'll elaborate on some of these theories some other time..

And guess what, the manga was so irresistable that I completed all 122 chapters that's currently available all within yesterday! Time to find new stuff to read!

I'm looking at the psychological genre right now. I've read Death Note, Gantz, Liar Game, Future Diary and they all left a deep impression on me.

Death Note was just ingenius. Gantz was gory and sick (nothing I can't take though) and it aroused in me many emotions and feelings I've never felt before. Very thought provoking too. Liar Game was one that started out boring (I didn't even bother finishing the first chapter the first time I read it and I gave up) but gets better as the story progresses. The game plans are simply ingenious, though there were times in the story that the character does pretty impossible stuff. Future Diary started off great, had a few moments of mind teasing, but afterwards went on a totally crazy and sick direction. Expect gory and madness.

Ok, I've digressed too much. Anyway, here's a to-read list of mangas I'm considering:

-Akuma to Love Song
-Eden no Ori
-Gamble Fish
-Holyland
-Nononono
-Psyren
-Wolf Guy-Ookami no Monshou

All these are the 'hot' mangas that have appeared on manga fox. Haven't really read through their summaries yet to find out if they're really read-worthy.

Ah, gotta sleep already! I still have a chess competition tomorrow!

From my Past,
To my Future

TP Trilogy Part 1

2010-11-08T23:53:00.008+08:00

This is first installment of my TP trilogy.

TP 1
17/3/2010 (Wed)
Warm-up: 0815
Test: 0915

It has been two weeks since my last practice and I felt really off form. I was very nervous during the warm-up and I could totally tell this wasn't going to be smooth during the test.

Although I've always believed in success via my own strength, I still heeded my mum's words and went for a session of praying last weekend to 'borrow' the powers of gods to aid me. I got a charm for the TP- an orange I was supposed to eat after my warm up. And I did. I ate it but I still can't help feeling that this is totally not going to help me.

After that, I went up and waited in a small room on the third floor together with the rest of the candidates. I was called shortly after and after checking my particulars followed the examiner to the test car.

First up was the circuit. I was tense but I thought it doesn't matter as long as I was focused. Preoccupied with my excessive thoughts, I didn't notice the examiner checking the rear, which was a major hint that he's going to pull off an emergency stop. When he tapped, I braked instinctively but forgot to clutch in, thus causing the engine to die. I was stunned and forgot to start the engine immediately and move off. I had a tick against both delay in restarting stalled engine and moving off but wasn't penalised.

Next was the S course. I entered the S course fast and proceeded at that speed but had to stop halfway cuz the driver in front had stopped. The examiner and I sat in there for like 20 seconds or so, staring at the car in front since there's nothing to do. Then for some reason, he decided to look out of his side window and said, 'I think you strike kerb already.' I told him that I didn't feel anything just now and asked if he's sure. He simply took a glance outside and repeated,'Strike kerb already.'

Wow. I can't believe it. I striked the kerb for the first time in my 3 months of driving. And in a test too. I always thought it was impossible to strike the kerb since I've never experienced it before.

But I didn't give up hope. I calculated that at most I would have 14 points so far. I still have 4 points to buffer a failure to check blind spot. But I would have to perfect the rest of my circuit. And I did. (Or at least I thought so. When I checked afterwards, I saw that he penalised me for stationary steering during parking)

I was a bit shaky on the road at first, same as during my warm up. But I got a little better after a while. I thought I have probably few mistakes here and there unknowingly but I was still holding on to the possibility that maybe I haven't failed yet.

And then came the incident where my failure was ascertained.

It happened when I was on my way back to BBDC. I stopped at the T-junction between Bukit Batok Road and Bukit Batok West Ave 7 cuz of the red light. During the red light, a cyclist overtook me. When it was green, I signalled right, checked my rear view mirror, saw a car approaching from very far away. I decided it was safe and proceeded with the checking of my side mirror and blind spot before moving off. This took about 5 seconds. When I moved off, the car was much nearer already and I wasn't aware of that. When I was on the 2nd lane, I hadn't picked up the speed fast enough and the car behind had already signalled right to avoid my car.

The examiner said I caused the car behind to take evasive action because I had switched lanes dangerously. What's more, there's nobody behind me to rush me and I could even possibly stayed on the left most lane and tailed the bicycle without obstructing traffic.

Mistakes:
10 pt-Strike kerb (S-Course)
8 pt-Cause other vehicles to slow down or take evasive action
4 pt-Abrupt lane changing
2 pt-Fail to use appropriate gear
2 pt-Steering when vehicle is stationary

Total: 26 pt (Fail)

_________

To spur myself to achieve perfection, I had told everyone that I'm aiming for a perfect score. Needless to say, I felt more embarrassment than disappointment by the result.

My dad commented about how I talked of getting 0 demerit points and yet couldn't even pass. 'Not so easy right?'

But I didn't let failure get to me.

I'm pretty sure things could have turned out any other way. Striking the kerb? Deep down, I was unconvinced. And any other time, I probably wouldn't have a problem overtaking a cyclist safely (But this one's undeniably my fault la). Without either of these, I would have passed. Zzz..

Little did I know then that this was not going to be my only 'unfortunate' incident. I was to get used to failures in the TPs to come.

To be continued...

From my Past,
To my Future

ORD Lo!

2010-11-08T01:56:00.003+08:00

I got my pink IC on the 4th, my official ORD's on the 6th, and today's the 8th! So yea, this post is kinda outdated.

Anyway, I think the hype surrounding ORD is way too overrated. Sure, life's definitely better out of camp. There's no more mosquitoes, no more noise and air pollution from all the dust, no more bad food (I'm not being a spoilt brat but even the cookhouse aunties find the food only barely edible...).

But that's all. Nothing more to be excited about.

I desire little of those freedom that others wished for. I have no ambitions. I don't even have friends to spend my time with.

Or maybe I do, but that remains to be seen..

One thing about being discharged from the army is that it puts issues that I've been running from right in my face again. To name a few:

Unemployment
I've been studying classified ads and job ads online for weeks but haven't taken any action yet. I've considered various options to balance my work, pay and leisure time but haven't made any decision. It's about time I settled on something and get started.

Deciding on my Course
I held on to NUS Science for the last 2 years but I fear holding on might not be the wisest choice..

I've got a keen interest in physics and thought being a physicist would be a pretty interesting prospect. My plans were to either become a uni lecturer after getting my masters/Phd or work at DSO or ASTAR. I thought both were pretty high paying and stable jobs which would more than make up for the extra few years spent on education in the long run.

However, my plan is obviously not without loopholes. There's nothing to guarantee that I would be good enough to get my 1st class Honours or that I have what it takes to even go for a Masters or Phd. And even if I do get there, no guarantees that the organisations that I apply to needs physicists in my field. Worse come to worse, I would most likely end up a teacher. Might as well go NIE at the start right? Why waste my time in uni?

The many no-guarantees have prompted me to do a serious re-evaluation of courses.

Scholarship Application
2 years ago I didn't care. I dislike doing write-ups about myself because I don't like selling myself. I also dislike going for interviews and doing badly in them.

But reality sunk it. 30k worth of tuition fees are going to be paid. Sure, I told my parents that I would pay for my fees and I'm pretty sure I can. But ouch. 30k seriously burns a big hole in my bank book.

If a few hours (or even days) worth of preparation and research can lend me a scholarship or a grant, I say the effort is pretty damn worth it!

__________

That's all for my ORD post!

From my Past,
To my Future

House Rules

2010-05-28T23:02:00.002+08:00

It's been a really long time since my last post.

By the way, I've started a diary recently. The feeling of writing is great!

Anyway, tonight I suddenly got the inspiration to write something about my own set of house rules. This is all due to the state of mess my house is in right now.

Here goes...

1. General Timetable

0700 - Wake up, breakfast, brush teeth, newspapers
0730 - Area cleaning
0740 - 2km run + statics pt
0800 - Shower, change
0820 - Set off for work
1930 - Dinner with family
2000 - Brush teeth, Work/leisure
2130 - Stop work, plan for next day
2145 - Tidy work area
2200 - Lights out

2. Cleanliness and Hygiene

Brushing of teeth should be within 10 minutes after consumption of food

Area Cleaning
-Bedsheets to be pulled, blankets folded
-Bins emptied
-Tabletops wiped
-Wash previous day's clothes

Tidying of Work Area at Night
-Tabletop cleared
-Bag packed
-Unused appliances switched off at socket
-Bins emptied
-Plates cleared

General
-All outdated worksheets, etc to be checked and filed nightly
-All unused books to be placed back onto shelves
-Do NOT collect random pens from places (they look messy in the pen holders)
-The above rule applies to random junk as well
-Magazines more than 6 months old/useless mags to be stacked and sold
-Compile info from leaflets in a book and throw the leaflets
-Keep all half-done work in bag/on shelves and take note of where you left off

3. Manners

Morning/Night
-Young ones to greet elderly
-Young ones to report to parents if they have anything on for that day/the next day

At the Dining Table
-Young ones to invite the elderly to dinner
-All to stop work and gather for dinner at dining table. No exceptions.
-Young ones to share about their day at school/work
-Strictly no TV allowed
-Handphones switched off during dinner time.
-Tell everyone that you'll be taking your leave when you're leaving the table earlier

This looks like a potentially long entry. I think I'll leave it for now...

From my Past,
To my Future

Driving Diaries 3

2010-01-03T19:05:00.003+08:00

Lesson 6
2/1/2010 (Sat)
0800-0940

It’s been almost two weeks since I last touched the steering wheel. During my short break, I’ve been practicing the checking of side mirrors and blind spots when making a turn, my gear changing, etc.

During the last lesson, I was unable to clear two subjects in a go due to time constraints (and probably due to the instructor as well). This time, I really hope I’ll clear my 1.10 and 1.11 so I can proceed on to the next stage.

Anyway, this lesson’s about safety routine and reviewing all that I’m supposed to know for stage one. We went out straight away this time, no practice rounds in the circuit. I guess that’s partially because I was late for the lesson.

I put my skills immediately to test. And… I arrived at the conclusion that my form’s pretty bad today. My first problem was not changing to 1st gear when moving off. Not once or twice, but many, many times. >.<

Not only that, I did stupid things as well. I signalled right when the instructor told me to turn left. Twice. Don’t ask me why. And for those who don’t know, failure to obey instructions constitutes an immediate failure in a test.

I forgot to cancel signal quite a few times after I change lane. Then immediately after changing to the right lane, I was supposed to keep left again but I didn’t. Too many thoughts running through my mind already.

And there was once I had my eyes fixated on a taxi for some unknown reason and I followed the taxi’s left turn when I was supposed to go straight. That one quite jialat. >.<

When the lesson ended, the instructor simply told me I can go now. There and then, I thought I'd actually failed both subjects which I aimed to pass today. But luckily for me…

Subjects Completed: 1.10, 1.11

Stage One cleared! =)

Lesson 7
2/1/2010 (Sat)
1220-1400

After a near-fail experience, I've decided to be on my 100% alert mode this time. And guess what, I got the same instructor who taught me for my second lesson! Yep, the one who treated me rather coldly but became friendly in the end. I got her name this time. She's Angeline. She greeted me with a smile so I think she recognizes me ba. Haha.

So anyway, I was allowed to drive out of BBDC by myself for the first time. Shows that she has confidence in me! And if I can say so myself, I drove pretty well. I improved on my overtaking, safety routine and I made sure always to start on the first gear. The only comment was that my brake was still a bit harsh. There's still a jerk when the car brakes.

And everything went fine, with the exception of one incident. I almost turned into the wrong lane when I made a right turn. When I was moving out for the right turn, she made a comment about how I'll be making a wide turn if I don't steer more later. For some reason, my subconsciousness processed that comment and thought that I was supposed to make a sharp turn to the right so as to steer into the nearest lane as it was empty.

Luckily for both of us, Angeline noticed the abnormality just in time and steered me back on course. If I were to really complete my turn, I would be driving against the traffic. Which really means disaster.

Phew! Now that was close.

Lesson ended on a good note despite the near disaster experience for both of us..

Subjects Completed: 2.01, 2.02

That's it for this entry.

From my Past,
To my Future

Bike Maintenance

2010-01-01T15:31:00.002+08:00

Woohoo! My bike's functioning normally again!

Before, when I cycle I would hear the sound of the sand grinding against the gears or the chain. It goes 'Eeek eeek eeek eeek..' and it's really really irritating! Pains my heart when I think about how the sand is wearing my bike down whenever I take it out for a ride.

I thought it's time to do my bike some justice and so I did some bike maintenance today. And after an hour of cleaning, my bike's functioning as superbly as it did when I first bought it!

The gear and chain now moves perfectly silently! =D

I'm so so glad that my bike has been salvaged and I'm definitely going to maintain my bike more regularly from now on.

From my Past,
To my Future

Anyway, maintenance is very important! I think I'll put that as one of my resolutions!

New Year Resolutions 2010

2010-01-01T11:39:00.003+08:00

The arrival of a new year calls for new resolutions. Here goes...

1. Complete my driving practicals in 20 lessons!
2. Pass my driving test in 1 try! Hopefully with a perfect score too!
3. Break the battalion record of 8m 30sec for 2.4km and be excused from 6 months of regimental duties!~
4. Complete my first marathon within 4 hours!
5. Train a few top students! Haha!
6. Get marksman for my second year ATP! ( Yep, I already got it this year. With M16 too! =) )
7. IPPT Gold with perfect scores! (Got that this year too!)
8. Sign up for bike rally!
9. Maintain my bike every week!
10. Keep my table tidy!
11. Learn something new every month!

Ok, that's about it. Will add in more in the time to come..

From my Past,
To my Future

Sundown Registration

2009-12-31T20:28:00.002+08:00

It was a fine day today so Kendrick and I decided to go down to the Athlete's Circle early in the morning to register for the Adidas Sundown Marathon.

I travelled for an hour, waited 20 minutes for him, spent 10 minutes walking to the Athlete's Circle.

And... guess what?

We were greeted by what appears to be a closed shop. It didn't take us long to find this notice stuck to the glass door.

"...blah blah blah... will be closed from 31st Dec to 2nd Jan for some blah blah maintenance."

Ah. Damn it. And I had just checked their website yesterday to avoid any disappointment today. They mentioned nothing about the temporary closure.

We were both really sad. 3rd's a Sunday and they're closed on Sundays. The earliest it would open would be on the 4th. And I would be back in camp by then. So that means another week of waiting.=/ Not to mention we travelled all the way down here too.=/

But we hung around the entrance of the shop anyway. There were brochures so he took the chance to do some show and tell. He told me about the power gels, about the sundown marathon held this year and about urban marathon held by men's health. I also collected the brochures for furher reading as he talked.

And then there was this man who came to the shop too. I thought he would also be sian diao like us when he saw the notice. But then he simply went to a corner and talked to the wall. To our surprise, a reply came from the wall and a man walked out from within the shop to open the glass doors. The two of them went in to talk about something and the door closed slowly.

Half-stunned, Kendrick and I stared at each other, not knowing whether to follow in before the door closes completely. When the door opened again, I went ahead and asked if we could register for the marathon.

In the end, I spoke to the wall too. And we were asked to go to level 2 to register. There were two computer terminals and we created an account each before registering for the marathon. Kendrick was rather particular about the singlet sizing and took his time to decide whether M or S would suit him better. I went for M after some thoughts and registered.

When Kendrick finally made up his mind, he tried to register again but couldn't find the category for '42km Men's Open'. He refreshed and tried again for a few times but the category still couldn't be found. So we checked with the person in charge and... it turns out that all the slots for the marathon had been filled.

Wow.

It took me a few moments before I finally came to accept the fact. It was only a few minutes. Probably only 2 or 3 minutes. And this meant the difference between in and out.

Seize the day? A day's too long to hold on to. But the moment? I think that's just the right word. Opportunities come and go, only hanging there for a moment. I think this experience showed me the importance of seizing living moments.

Ah.

Anyway, back to the story. Kendrick was sad. So was I. Even though I got in. I thought we would have fun training for the marathon together. I visualised us running early in the morning during the weekends. A good change for my rotting and lazy self. But right now, he has no reason to train.

Sigh... And we were planning to have a lil run this afternoon. He was going to show me the new route that he had planned out too.

Still, Kendrick tried to be positive and said that he'll join standard chartered at the end of the year. And probably the 2011 ultramarathon. Or maybe the 2012 one. He gave me tips too, on how to train for my first marathon. Said that as long as I can prevent cramps, blisters and my energy from running out, I could most probably finish the marathon with a good timing.

__________________________________

Anyway, we did meet up later in the afternoon to explore the new route that he mentioned.

It starts a bit further down from the old BPGHS, at around Blk 484B. From there, it's straight down the Chua Chu Kang Park connector which is just beside Brickland Road. All the way to Bukit Gombak MRT station. After the station, turn left and follow the road to Xiao Guilin and all the way down. Turn left at the first T-junction and proceed straight down to the Hillview Park connector. From there on, simply continue to Bukit Batok Park and challenge the really really steep slope.

Here are some distances calculated for the route...

From Lot 1 to bus stop at Blk 484B 1.5km

From the bus stop at Blk 484B to
1. Bukit Batok Street 34 2.5km
2. Base of Slope 6.4km

Distance up the crazy slope 350m

I think I'll go for 20km trainings every week, starting from this week. Lot 1 to the slope, 8km, up and down the crazy slope for 5 times, 3.5km, back to Lot 1, 8km. Should be crazy enough a training.

Maybe next time you wouldn't see me riding a bike to camp. I'll get there by foot.

From my Past,
To my Future

Driving Diaries 2

2009-12-31T16:38:00.001+08:00

This is the second installment.

I did guard duty on 20th (Mon) and booked out on Tuesday for my off. On my way home I dropped by BBDC to top up my account and checked if there were any available slots this few days. To my surprise, there were three available slots today. I didn't want to miss out on such a good chance so I booked all three of them immediately.

My parents weren't as pleased as I was when I told them about it. In fact, they weren't very happy when I booked the two lessons on the same day just two days ago. Said that it was a waste of time and money as I wouldn't be able to absorb it all. Normal people take one lesson a week.

Well, I have my own reasons for doing so. I had to pass subject 2.11 first before I can apply for the practical test. So my strategy was basically to complete up to 2.11 asap so that I can book a test date. Besides, I need to get the feeling for driving early on before I lose it. Just like mastering a skill-when you have it imprinted in your body early, it's harder to lose the feel.

So anyway, here goes...

Lesson 3
21/12/2009 (Tues)
1220-1400

This lesson's about changing from gear 1-3. I wasn't confident of going out to the road today at first so we went for a few rounds int the circuit.

The traffic inside was slow moving, so I took the chance to up gear and down gear rapidly, practicing as much as I could. After all, I had only been doing shadow gear shifting practice the whole of yesterday night and I finally have a chance to put practice to test.

After the few rounds, the instructor thought I was pretty steady so he asked if I was ready to go out. I thought I was pretty good myself too, so I told him 'let's go.'

We took a simple route. Only left turns and straight roads. I asked him if I have to check blind spot and mirrors or not at the left turns. He said all I need to do is to stop and move off-he'll check for me. Haha. So nice right?

Turns out that driving on the road is quite ok. Perhaps even easier than inside a circuit since there're no slow moving cars and the road's wider. Went for a few rounds and everything went pretty smoothly. Towards the end, the instructor for the car I was following even praised me for being able to keep up with his student at just my 3rd lesson! =)

At the end of the session, I asked my instructor a few questions regarding the practicals.

Q: How many sessions does it take to complete the driving practicals.
A: On average, 25 sessions. Some people take more, some less.

Q: The least number of sessions?
A: I would say 20 sessions. That is for the 'zai' ones. If everything goes smoothly and you haven't failed any subjects. Normally people fail one or two and they have to keep repeating until they pass. Like the parking. The 'zai' ones, those with higher IQ, they just listen to the instructions and do it in one try. The weaker students can spend quite a few sessions on just a single subject alone.

Q: When should I up the gear?
A: As and when you can. It has become a habit for me already so you can see that I up my gear to 3rd gear or even 4th gear very naturally. Even in the circuit, I can up it to 3rd gear even though the traffic is quite slow moving. Eh, and you must enjoy playing with the gear ok? Like in Initial D like that! -shows fast gear changing- That's why you learn manual mah!

Haha. And more questions la... But I should stop here.

Subjects Completed: 1.05, 1.06

Lesson 4
21/12/2009 (Tues)
1815-1955

This lesson's about changing from 1st-4th gear. And about intermittent braking. When the instructor took me for a ride outside, he asked if I know what is engine brake.

"Hmm.. Engine brake ah. Braking action occurs when you slow down the wheels. The engine brake uses a slower moving engine to slow the wheels down. And to slow down the engine you down a gear."
"No lah..."
"..."
"Engine brake! Engine brake!"
"I think that was quite a complete explanation on the mechanics behind engine brake?"
"Engine brake means when you down gear to slow down the vehicle! You are supposed to learn that the last lessson!"
(Er, ok... Wasn't that what I just said?)

His bad impression of me due my lack of understanding of engine brake made me feel quite awkward right at the start of the lesson. As a result, I drove really cautiously and made sure that I don't commit any blunders.

Turns out that he was pretty pleased with me. He was confident enough to chat with me freely as I drove and we went quite far out. To Jurong. And he was planning to take me even further. Until I suddenly said that I needed to pee.>.<>.< Ah.

We tried to find a toilet for me for quite a while but there wasn't any convenient ones. So we took a turn back to the Bukit Batok area in the end. Stopped by the road while I went to the toilet in the coffee shop.

When I got back to the car, it was near the end of the lesson so he just drove us back to BBDC.

At the end of the lesson, he told me he would have brought me out to Clementi if not for that lil incident. And I would have to take note not to clutch in too early when I brake. Always brake and clutch in only at the last minute, just before the car stops.

Subjects Completed: 1.07, 1.08

Lesson 5
21/12/2009 (Tues)
2155-2305

This lesson's about low speed control and negotiating a sharp turn.

Unexpectedly, my morale suffered a big drop this time round. I didn't quite like the instructor. He wasn't cold like my 2nd instructor but he was wayy too talkative. And he speaks too fast. He sounds like Nick Chan, my NJ physics teacher. Haha. But not as encouraging as him.=/

Anyway, into lesson proper. Here's the secret to negotiating sharp bends. By sharp, I mean 90 degrees. No rounded thingy at the corner. Two criteria to fulfil. One, the curb should be a quarter of the windscreen from the left. Two, quickly steer completely to the left when the line of the curb is below the left side mirror.

To negotiate such a sharp bend would require you to move very slowly if you don't want to rush your steering.

Most of the time I was moving off without my feet on the accelerator. As a result, the car creeps really slowly but it sometimes it vibrates like crazy due to insufficient engine acceleration.

Btw, I learnt this technique in my second lesson. I don't know if the instructor realised what I was doing, but I don't think I was supposed to do that... You're supposed to make good use of the half-clutch technique so that you can move forward slowly while keeping the engine at a nice hum. Not vibrating like crazy.

The next subject's safety routine. I did a few practices on it but there wasn't enough time to access whether I deserve to pass this subject or not.

Oh well, it's a 70min session, so too bad for me.

Subjects Completed: 1.09

That's it for now!

From my Past,
To my Future

Driving Diaries 1

2009-12-27T21:59:00.011+08:00

Yo.

I just started learning driving recently and I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to leave some notes about my driving experience.

Getting the PDL
19/12/2009 (Sat)
~12pm

Applied for a Provisional Driving License today. I thought this would be a pretty good time to start on my my driving practicals since I've delayed them for quite some time already. I passed my FTT on 24/11 last year.

Booked the earliest 2 lessons, which happened to be tomorrow..

Lesson 1
20/12/2009 (Sun)
0800-0940

First lesson today's at 8am. Learned about the basics of the car. Got a hands-on experience too. The accelerator and brake pedal's really sensitive. And just like Bertrand told me, it was like 'Woah!' when you first get the car engine revving up and the car moving. Haha.

I got to drive the car forward and backward within a parking lot at first. After I'm confident, I got to drive a few rounds around the circuit. Changed to second gear once or twice.

Subjects Completed: 1.01, 1.02

Lesson 2
20/12/2009 (Sun)
1220-1400

The second lesson on the same day. I got a really cold and strict female instructor this time. Argh. And I thought she would go easy on me. This time, I drove a few rounds as warm up and got criticised quite a few times.

'How come you're still on gear 1?'
'Er, previously I only changed it when the instructor told me to.. So when am I supposed to change the gear?'
'What do you think?'

'How come you're still holding the clutch on half-clutch?'
'The previous instructor told me to do so when moving on gear 1, if not, the engine might stall..'
'And why is that so?'
'He said the weight of the car would stop the engine from moving.'
'...'
'...'
'Why don't you try releasing your leg from the clutch pedal and see if it still moves..'

Yea, and the car moved, obviously.

I was also taught how to get the car moving from a stop while it is on a slope. Basically, I was supposed to step on the accelerator slightly, till the engine's rotating at roughly 1.5k-2.0k rpm and hold it there. Thereafter, I'm supposed to release the clutch pedal slowly until the biting point and hold it there. The car will vibrate and that's the cue to release the handbrake.

Unfortunately for me, when the handbrake was released, the car gave a jerk and that made me lose control of the clutch pedal. I don't know why either, but my leg released the clutch too quickly and that caused the engine to stall. A few times.

Argh.

But at least I made it past the slope finally. And I got a lil lesson on low speed control. She made me take my feet off the accelerator. Asked me to release the clutch pedal to half-clutch and then gradually release fully. To my surprise, the car moved. Without any teaching, I learnt a few things from this exercise. One, the car can move without any use of the accelerator. Two, how to control the car at low speeds, especially during the turns. You have to steer the car much, much slower at low speeds.

Oh, and before that she also scolded me for not changing down my gear from gear 3 to 2 and not slowing down enough before turning. Said that I was driving rather dangerously. Haha. I guess I was too used to seeing dad navigate bends at higher speeds, so I simply did it at the same kind of speed.

And even after I managed to correct most of my mistakes, I still find it quite difficult to check the mirrors every 5-10 seconds. As a beginner driver, it can be taxing to be multi-tasking stuff which I'm not used to. I had to ensure I'm at the centre of the lane, that I up the gear when the engine revs too loudly, that I down gear before the curve, that I turn the steering wheel just nice at the curve, that I stop nicely behind the car in front. So many things. And on top of that, I have to take my eyes off the front?!? That's just impossible to me at this stage.

At the end of the lesson we chatted a bit and she was nicer then. She said that I'm doing well so far and she would have brought me outside to drive today if not for the time. She even asked when my next lesson is and said that she would like to teach me again. Unfortunately, I haven't booked it yet so I wasn't able to tell her..

Subjects Completed: 1.03, 1.04

Ok, that's it for this entry.=)

From my Past,
To my Future

Christmas

2009-12-25T08:38:00.008+08:00

I can't believe I forgot!

Merry Christmas!!!

is what I was going to say but come to think about it, I'm not even a Christian, why should I be wishing Merry Christmas?

And for that matter, why should any non-Christians?

Haha.

But still, for the fun of it,

Merry Christmas!!!

Let's all be jolly and merry in this season of giving!=)

From my Past,
To my Future

The Aftermath

2009-12-25T07:57:00.002+08:00

Hmm. I was told that I'm supposed to get a hangover after taking too much alcohol. I typed 'hangover' in dictionary.com and here was what I get.

hang⋅o⋅ver
–noun
the disagreeable physical aftereffects of drunkenness, such as a headache or stomach disorder, usually felt several hours after cessation of drinking.

Ok...

So I'm feeling a lil bit of dizziness. But it's a really really slight bit. Is that supposed to be the hangover? Haha. The light-headed feeling is still there though. My stomach... feels kinda empty. Probably cuz I vomitted out my dinner yesterday. Haha.

I guess that's all for my hangover.

Other effects wise, my typing speed now seems really really slow as compared to yesterday. I think I took like only 25 minutes for my post yesterday. That's considerably fast for me. I think my thoughts processing speed has also dropped. Thoughts flowed really easily when I was typing yesterday. Right now I have to think a bit before I can put my thoughts into words.

I'm more or less back to my normal, retarded self yea.

Oh, and hello Ben Hong! Wasn't expecting anyone to visit my dead blog but looks like there's still a visitor. Haha.

From my Past,
To my Future

D5unk

2009-12-25T00:06:00.005+08:00

Oh my god. I'm drunk.

Seriously drunk. And I just got hhome on my bike. haha. And I just realised that i'm damn bloody pro on my bike. when i'm on my bike i'm like a god-totally alert dodging obstacles by centimetres instinctively. I think that's because i've rode my bike more than a thousand times already. Yea. So the muscle memory's fucking imprinted into me. Haha.

So, I went to Chevron's for a Christmas celebration tonight. I promised myself that I'll get myself drunk tonight. And I told many of my friends too. Haha. I think i'm crazy. And They ask my how i'm going to get home. I said by bike. And they ask how many times have I drank. i replied that this was my second time. Haha. I'm crazyh

So I asked them how much do I need to drink before i'll get drunk . I've already drank a bottle of erdinger? Yaea. Something like that. Zhuang Wei said 4 more glass of tiger beer and I'm somewhere there already. so i said i'll drink that muich. but if i don't get drunk, i'll keeep on drink ing till i've capped at 2 bottles of beer (i've only got 2 coupons) and 10-cups fo tiger beer. haha.

And guess what. I think i was already drunk at my first bottles of erdinger. but they insisted that i'm not drunk uet. what i'm experienceing was merely the effects of alcohol. Feeling light-headed wasn't considered drunk. Moreover, i was still able to stand and talk. Sadi mervyn. Ying Bo said that when I get drunk it would be my friends telling me and not me telling my friends that i'm drunk. haah. so i took their workds.

about 2 bottles and 8 glasses later, i think my friends confirmed that i was drunk. i think even one of the waitress who served me beer told me that i'm drunk and i should stop. earlier on she heard me telling my friend this was my second time drinking beer. the first time was during the specs mess initiation in 30 SCE. so i've never been drunk before. hehe. yea. she asked me if i was ok a few times before too. wa, to care for me even though we're strangers. haha. i'm touched lei.

but then again. i could still walk. though the images are confusing me, i can still avoid obstacles perfectly. without hesitation too. i think i hesitate too much when i'm conscious. i think too much. fuck it. haha. i've gone tipsy. i think i've lost it already. but i still look ok. i'm just too good an actor, maybe. or maybe it's my willpowver. the will to stay and look focused and alert when inside i'm already cui. haha.

so anyway. everyone told me not to ride my bike home. but i told them i will. they said i'm crazy. that's only something one who is drunk will say. i said i'm probably drunk but i'll still ride my bike home. zhuang wei wanted me to hand my phone over so that he can call my parents. so i showed him my mom's handphone no. but then i took the phone from him at the very last minute and told him there was no need to. haha. he told me i'm seriously drunk and i'm out of my mind.

sometime down the road, i vomitted. it was so natural. like i knew it was coming. and i told people i was going to the toilet to vomit. and vomit i did. bleagh. out it came. until i was done. i was so natural i couldn't actually believe it. when i had stomach flu, i simply resisted the vomitting and took the anti-vomitting pill and endured it all. but this time i vomitted without the slightest hesitation. i guess when you're drunk everything seems so easy-decisions are made on the spot. haha.

right. so in the end, i took my leave without anyone noticing. or you can call it sneaking out. haha. I made my way to my bike at the lamppost at the back of the parking lot without the slightest stagger even when the whole world is spinning. though i was a bit drunk, i was steady. I was expecting the drunkenness and i guess that gave me some mental preparations. haha.

And I made a choice that most when conscious wouldn't make-to ride my bike home. relax. It's not a motorbike, just a bicycle. but still, drink riding's probably dangerous too. i'm aware of that, but to gain an experience, there're some things i have to try out.

Turns out that i was simply godlike when i'm on my bike. Haha. I was totally awake. But whenever I stopped the bike at traffic junctions, the dizziness kicks in again. And I sway here and there when i'm dizzzy. haha.

Anyway, I think few believed that I'm drunk. I told sis that i'm drunk when i got home. she didn't think that I'm drunk. I told my parents that I got myself drunk and still rode my bike home. The very fact that I did that prove that I'm drunk. I would never tell my parents that if I'm in the right mind. But still, they didn't think I was drunk. My psychomotor skills were still perfect. Until I told them I drank 2 bottles plus 10 glasses of beer to convince them that I must be drunk. hehe.

Maybe my willpower pulled me through it all. But still, this will be the last time I get myself drunk crazy. One time of me losing control over myself will be all. Yea. Luckily I wasn't raped or molested or something. haha. If not I would totally be dazed and unable to react. haha. not like i'll actually react fast enough even if i'm not drunk though. got molested by some gay dude once and i was simply too stunned to retaliate..

Well, anyway, it's past 12 already.

Happy 19th Birthday Gina! haha. Gina's birthday's on the 24th! This came a bit late on my post but here it is anyway. She's the best friend i'll ever get. Nice, caring, chatty and sensitive. She would make a really good sister or mother. Haha. I'm really random. And well, times are going to be hard and we're probably going to be really busy. But still, I really wish that Gina and I will stay close and keep in contact. =) Yep.

So anyway, getting drunk isn't good. I think i'm still drunk right now but I still need to go take a shower before I go sleep. Ah. Fuck. My head's dizzy at the thought of showering. But i'll do it anyway.

Goodnight.

Argh.

From my Past,
To my Future

Family Day Talk

2009-12-12T01:28:00.002+08:00

This is the sequel to the Family Day Outing.

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

Just when I thought I would have some personal space when I got home, mom came to talk to me.

She asked me lots of questions. Asked me about my relationship with Gina. About whether we were still as close. About relationships and what not. It actually sounded pretty awkward. Luckily I was playing chess with the computer. At least there's something to divert my attention when giving her replies.

And well, her general advice was that I shouldn't commit too much to a girl. Girls can be really fickle when it comes to relationships. And she quoted an example of my cousin. She had a boyfriend for quite a few years and everyone thought they would surely be married in the future. But after just one unfortunate incident between them, my cousin broke up with him and had a new boyfriend. The ex is now left heart-broken and although he tried to keep in contact with my cousin, she cut off all means of communication with him. There's currently news that she's going to marry her new bf soon.

Sad isn't it? And to think I never knew of such stuff.

I can't help but to agree with mom on this matter. But then again, I can't say the same for Gina. Because when it's Gina, things are always different. She's gained my trust, so there shouldn't be anything to stop me from committing, well, if there was anything for me to commit to in the first place. Haha.

As we went on and on, dad and sis chipped into the convo as well. And let's just go to the 'dad' part of the convo.

So dad thinks I shouldn't be wasting my time on the computer anymore. I should do something useful. Like try out lots of part time jobs. NS is the best time to try out new things and get more experience. I rebutted that it's almost impossible to find part time jobs that will allow you to work only on the weekends. And it's very common to have a duty on a weekend too, making it hard to sustain a part time job.

Honestly, I think I'm really just lazy. All I was trying to do was to worm myself out of the situation and just get on with my boring life.

And all of a sudden, I psycho-ed myself to be inspired!

Trying out all sorts of crazy things before entering uni will be fun! Let's do it! Like now! Or since I can't do that now, I can set myself a target of earning $30000 before I ord so I can cover my uni fees and expenses! Hmm... But isn't that a bit far-fetched? Maybe I can take on multiple tuition assignments! That would be quite a reasonable move to make for now.=)

Ok, so that was the temporary 'high' I got back then. I had that sudden urge to elaborate my plans on my blog, and I did started an entry. But 2 hours have passed since and I think I'm not so 'high' anymore. Screw my ambitions. I think I'm tired.

And when you're tired, sleep's the most important. Later.

From my Past,
To my Future

Family Day Outing

2009-12-12T00:38:00.003+08:00

It's another post!

Today's Family Day. Yep. Because I decided to name it so.

...

Ok, so my original entry was supposed to be about my outing with my family today. So I guess I'll talk about it first.

The outing was quite an impromptu thing-it was only this morning that mom decided she was free and wanted the family to go out for lunch. And we did. We went to Thai Village Restaurant? for some shark's fin lunch. We went there mainly because mom loves the shark's fin meal she once had there and also because she got two $50 discount coupons from the newspaper.

But really, down inside I was opposing to such extravagant spending - especially on a shark's fin soup that costs like $50. I even tried to dissuade mom subtly by pointing out that the contents of shark's fin is not much different from that of our fingernails. And I could go on and on of course, but I didn't. It was a rare outing, so I simply let them spend money pampering themselves the way they want.

Turns out the meal wasn't really that amazing. The omelette chicken chop meal I had yesterday wasn't too far off from the shark's fin soup+fried prawn with mayo+rice. Our lunch today totalled $300 for 5 adults and a child. An average of $50. Ouch. And I thought the pizza at NYDC during my class outing last week was expensive ($17.50 for a 7 inch).

Ok, that was probably ex anyway.

But today's meal totally broke my heart. They could have bought a psp with that $300. Or maybe a 2nd hand mountain bike. I've always wanted one of those. Or a pair of roller blades. Or an i-touch. Or an mp3 for me (I don't even have one). Or maybe a better camera-less handphone.

Gosh. I think I must have been a really frugal housewife in my previous life. Or maybe a beggar. Haha.

After lunch, sis, bro and I went to the science centre. I really didn't want to go, but my father insisted that I spend some time with my siblings. And I kindly obliged, of course. The science centre changed quite a bit. Some of the old exhibits were repositioned and there were some new exhibits as well. My 'lil bro even brought me to see a tree house! Haha. Ok, random.

Surprisingly, we managed to cover the entire ground by 6, just when science centre's about to close. Had Macs for dinner with the rest of my family before going to the omni theatre at 7. It was sis and bro with me again. Haha.

Watched two documentaries. One was about bears and the other's about marine life and how rising temperatures are endangering many species that live in the sea. When all's done and over, it was already 9.

I guess I'll cover what happened next in my next post. Haha.

From my Past,
To my Future

200 Pounds Beauty

2009-12-11T11:07:00.002+08:00

Just watched 200 pounds beauty a few days ago. Jeremy said it's a really touching movie and brought the dvd to camp so we could watch it during our free time. And we did.

It was touching alright. Yep. Even though Gina already spoiled the plot of the movie for me a long long time ago.

What I think made the movie such a success was not just the plot. It was the music. The songs sang by the lead actress really touched me. Especially that song above. Go ahead, click on that play button if you haven't already.

It's really really good right? Gave me goosebumps when I first heard the song in the movie. I was like 'wow, is that the actress's singing or did she just lip-sync such an amazing song so perfectly?'.

Haha. Anyways, go watch the movie if you haven't. It's never too late to enjoy a good movie!

From my Past,
To my Future

Meeting Again

2009-12-10T20:52:00.004+08:00

Dead blog revived.

Yoz. Been a really long while since I've updated. Well, it can't be helped, my life's pretty boring and mundane so there's nothing to blog about. Ok, maybe not. That was just an excuse for my laziness. Haha.

Anyway, I had a meeting with good 'ol Gina today! And that made me really really happy!=) So happy that I'm willing to write something on my 5 months dead blog!

Ah! For those of you who don't know Gina, she's a close friend of mine. Actually, she might just be my only close friend. We used to spend quite some time together in j2 and I think we appeared rather scandalous. Haha. But that's beside the point.

The point is I really liked her back then. I felt comfortable and natural in her presence too, which is a something really rare. And we could talk. To have me talking was another rare occurrence. Unless I'm high. Maybe I'm on constant high around her. Just maybe.

But sadly, we didn't get to talk much after jc. It was a really sad period in my life. She went to work during the holidays and for all the jobs available, she actually got a job at the revenue house. Her job deals with confidential stuff and there was nothing about her job that she can tell me about. What's more, the job kept her really really busy and there was no free time for her at all.

There's a saying that good things come in pairs. And well, bad things come in pairs too. Adding on to her work was her involvement in NDP. And yet again, she deals with confidential stuff. NDP was crazy too. Lots of deadlines to meet one after the other. I felt really sad for her but there was nothing I could do-except to give her time for her work.

Weeks and months came and passed. After what seems like eternity, NDP's over. Surely there must be an end to bad things? Guess not. For the next month or so, there was the post-NDP stuff to attend to.

In the midst of that, uni begins. Contrary to common beliefs, uni life was much more hectic than jc life. It was described to be 'an entire jc's syllabus stuffed within 13 weeks'. Needless to say, that left little room to breathe for the poor girl, much less to have any social life. It was chionging all the way from the start till the end of the exams.

Ah, what a long story! But what's longer was my wait ya know. How long have I waited just to spend a good few hours with my beloved Gina?

You know, before meeting her today I had my fears. After all it has been so long. It brings tears to my heart whenever I try to think about her and all I could remember was that she was someone dear to me. And yet I couldn't remember how she sounds like, how she looks like or even how she became so dear to me in the first place. It was scary, as though I've had an amnesia, yet sad, as though I had lost a loved one.

Luckily for me, it turned out to be a really pleasant meeting despite all the worries! When she first called out my name all feelings of familiarity returned.=) And her smile made me feel so comfy and happy instantly.=) Ah! Anyways, we went for lunch and talked over our meal. We got along well, I guess. She probably never knew, but that was probably my best meal of the year. It was also the first outing where I didn't feel awkward and out of place.

As with every other gathering, there's a time for separation. Even though I would prefer it to be a happy one, I couldn't help feeling sad.

I think I just made myself feel really really sad again. I just stared at the screen for 10 minutes.

Argh. I can't get the sadness out of my mind. This is giving me a mental block. I can't remember what I wanted to write.

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

Maybe, just maybe, deep down inside I just want to forget all about her again for now so I wouldn't feel so sad anymore.

From my Past,
To my Future

Zombie

2009-07-05T19:46:00.004+08:00

Bleagh. Life is losing meaning for me.

I don't have something to be really passionate about! I need something which I can think about everyday - something I can look forward to!

If not, I'll be turning into a complete zombie soon. I'm already partially a zombie. Listless, tired, spiritless, emotionless and expressionless half the time.

I don't know what I can do about this. Maybe I'll finally give in and become a christian. That way I can think about God day and night and I can look for His companionship as and when I wish to.

But really, I'm not convinced. Which is really the reason why I still haven't become a christian even after trying to look at things from a christian perspective.

Right now, all I'm doing is appreciating life and enjoying all the simple pleasures of life.

I appreciate my every meal and am aware that lives had been taken to satisfy my hunger and need for protein. I will remember that the one who had to go through the pain and torture were the chicken and fish and not me and I'm grateful for my situation. I also appreciate that I am enjoying a proper meal 3 times a day when there could be people scouring the town for scraps to eat. Or even having to eat grass mixed with sawdust just to satisfy their hunger.

I appreciate my clothes and the fact that I have a shelter over my head. I could've been out in the open naked and drenched, infected and with plenty of scratches and cuts all over my body. But I'm not. And I appreciate that too.

I appreciate all the small little things that come my way. But still, that doesn't bring life to me. I'm still pretty much emotionless. Perhaps my over-appreciation of my situation is precisely why I'm not so affected by emotions. Anger and whining is needless when I'm perfectly taken care of. Being happy is something I can no longer grasp as I feel that I'm constantly happy since I'm so well taken care of. I can no longer even smile naturally when I respond to happy things.

And that's how I've become the zombie that I am. Expressionless and seemingly emotionless.

Hmmm... Does anything I typed above make any sense? I dunno. Maybe not. Haha. Nvm.

From my Past,
To my Future

Flu

2009-06-14T17:26:00.002+08:00

Ah. I'm feeling unwell.

I've been down with flu since Friday night. And my condition's getting worse day after day. Here's what happened over the weekend.

Friday
Start of flu. Took flu medicine but slept really late. Like 12+... Dunno why I so stupid also.

Saturday
When I woke up I was already down with a really bad sore throat. Guess the flu medicine didn't work. My voice totally changed and my throat got lots of mucus. Despite all these, I went for a morning run with Kendrick. I think we might have easily covered 8km or so but it was generally quite relaxing.

During the run we passed by the teck whye campus where bpghs was during the PRIME. And we were feeling adventurous that day so we decided to enter the school compound to check it out. We climbed over the fence and loitered around the empty campus. We even attempted to try something rather dangerous. Haha. But we didn't in the end. Who knows, we could have ended up in the hospital if we tried it. I shall not elaborate too much.

Played a bit of bball after the run. Then I went home cuz I wasn't feeling too well. When I got home I realised that I was actually totally exhausted. So I told Charmaine that I might not be going for the rock climbing session later. And well, I ended up not going cuz I slept through the afternoon. I slept for so long that I missed lunch too.

Had dinner and used the com for a while. But I got sick of the com after a while. Did I mention that I get sick of the computer very easily nowadays? Anyways, that's the situation. So with that, I took my flu pill and went to sleep again.

Sunday
Woke up at 5 plus cuz I couldn't sleep anymore. I've been blowing my nose so much so that I used up one box of tissues that night. The rest of my family woke up at around 6 and made their final preparation for their trip to Genting. They left at aroundn 6.30 or so and left me all alone...

I whiled my time by singing songs till it was time to go meet my p5 girl. Her name's Sofina, btw. The 30min cycle to her place was really tough cuz I had to stop and blow my nose every few minutes and then find a bin to throw my tissue paper. But nonetheless, I don't mind the hassle. Sofina has become my source of motivation and devotion - I simply cannot miss any of my lessons with her. It's really like playing any RPG, you train your character until it's imba=ly strong. I think that's a bit like what I'm doing now, except that there's no restrictions to what I can do. I can make her skip levels, learn new skills in my own way and see her rapid improvement from week to week. Furthermore, I want to prove that there's really no limit to how much a child can learn as long as you believe in him/her. With all my aspirations on her, she's bound to be really imba in the future! Muahahaha!

Ok, I think I got a bit carried away. So anyway, I went to tutor her for 2 hours today and throughout the 2 hours I was blowing my nose as I was teaching her stuff. A bit embarrassing, I guess, but I'm glad Sofina's mother made me feel at ease. Today's lesson went as per planned and I'm looking forward to the next lesson! I think we're allowed to book out early on Wednesday. I'm thinking of conducting a lesson on Wednesday night after I've confirmed the book out time.

After the lesson, I came back and slept through the day. I woke up at 5 or so. My sore throat has recovered but for some reason, I'm feeling feverish. My eyes are tearing already. I wanted to go to the polyclinic to consult a doctor since it's free for NSFs but realised that polyclinics are closed on Sundays. Zzz...

I guess I'll go back to camp and see the MO tomorrow. Hope My situation doesn't get aggravated. Got to go now, time for dinner.

From my Past,
To my Future

Weekend in a Nutshell

2009-06-07T19:06:00.002+08:00

Here's my weekend in a nutshell before I go back to camp.

Actually nothing much happened.

I was supposed to meet up with this girl yesterday. At around 6.30pm. I've been thinking of her for the whole of last week too you know. I thought of her at night to a point of not being able to sleep so much so that I only had 4.5 hours of sleep instead of my usual 7.

Sadly, we couldn't meet. =(

So I had to spend the whole of yesterday reading manga and doing stupid stuff. Read Elfen Lied for the whole day and completed the series. And I thought about her at night too. So much that I couldn't sleep again.

But we got to meet up today! =)

Oh well, I'll tell more next week. Gotta go to camp le. If not will be late.

From my Past,
To my Future

Happy Birthday!

2009-06-07T18:40:00.002+08:00

Happy Birthday SIS!!!

Haha. Today's my sis' 16th bday. Bought a cake for her with her at BPP. Chose a Bengawan Solo Chocolate Cake (sry, forgot the name already). It costs $28.80 and looks like the most value for money cake.

It was a bit late when we got home so we decided to just eat the cake asap before I go back to camp. So I went and got dressed for the photoshoot with the bday girl.

And something happened.

I don't know what exactly happened, maybe she got annoyed at dad. Or maybe it's mum. Maybe it's some misunderstanding between them. Maybe she thought no maggi mee. I don't know.

Sis became a bit moody and irritated in the few moments I went to change. Ok, maybe not a bit.

Mum asked me if I know why she's so unhappy. Then of course I stun and say I dunno la. Tried to know what happened but mum say she dunno also. Haiz. I also dunno how to handle upset girls. Especially an unhappy birthday girl on her bday. =/

So I also v sad lor. Cuz she was still quite happy when I was buying the cake with her. Then suddenly like that I also dunno how to make her happy.

Just hope that she can cheer up soon?

From my Past,
To my Future

Back to Nee Soon Camp

2009-05-31T20:52:00.003+08:00

I'll be on my way back to Nee Soon camp in a few minutes time. Let me just take this few minutes to update on what has happened for the past week.

Basically, the week has been mainly lectures and practicals for us. We learn about the various explosives and demolition stuff and then set them up in our practicals. Friday's our test. I think I did ok for it.

There's also the TSR test. It's basically about the safety regulations and all. Lots of the questions are about safety distances from the explosives. To pass you would need 90%. I got 90% on my first try, and most of the rest of my course mates failed even after a few tries. I guess I was lucky? Haha.

Oh, I took up a tuition assignment for a P5 girl this week too. It's for math. I'll keep the rate a secret. I'm taking her for 1.5 hours per week for now. I hope to push it to 2 hours cuz it'll be more worth it since travelling down is taking me almost 1.5 hours by itself. But that can wait till when I've proven myself. Lessons will start next week. Haha. This will be exciting. :)

Rode my bike to collect my JC notes from Kendrick today. Planning to revise my JC stuff in case I forget. I fell from my bike on the way back. More like flew rather than fell though. Cuz there was this family in front blocking the entire pavement. I kept ringing the bell and I thought they heard me when the boy at the back moved a little to the side. But unexpectedly the father in front didn't move away and I had to jam my brakes to avoid crashing into him. So I just flew la. Luckily I only had very minor scratches.

So there, I'm off to camp now.

From my Past,
To my Future

Laziness

2009-05-18T23:14:00.014+08:00

Haha. Have been really lazy the last few days - lazing around starting from the time I booked out on Friday afternoon till now. Which is why I haven't been updating though there're 'happening' things.

Thursday-Friday
Ever had a time when you don't know if you're really living in reality or just having a very bad nightmare? Tonight was one such experience for me.

Starting from Kranji War Memorial, we marched all the way to Pasir Laba camp through the night and morning. Our march was a whooping 28 30km. And because our navigator got us lost twice, our 30km marched turned 30+km..

I don't think you really know how crazy the march is...

Seriously.

I know thirty might look like 30 to you but to me and the others who've been through the march it was more of
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111,
222222222222222222222222222222222,
333333333333333333333333333333333,
........................
333333333333330000000000000000000.

Something like that. Except that we count those torturous 30km using our feet and through the duration of 8 hours.

And we marched all night like we've never marched before.

By the second checkpoint, I was rather demoralised already. Honestly. I might look like it was no kick and I can tell you that I'm feeling ok so far (relative to a lot of other ppl) but inside my mind I was thinking 'Oh gosh. This is not even half the march and I can start to feel the weight of the field pack already.' And that was bad news to me.

So I started sleep marching from that point onwards. Basically, sleep marching involves closing your eyes while marching (duh) and opening one or both of your eyes every 10 seconds or so to check on progress. Yep. But the thing about sleep marching is that though I close my eyes and am in a semi hibernation state, I don't actually sleep. I am still aware of every step I take, my weight distribution on my feet, the noises and voices around me as well as the direction which I'm moving.

Sleep marching's great. It makes the whole experience seem really dreamy. And I simply love this feeling even though it feels more like a nightmare in action. Another plus would be it greatly saves your energy.

But sleep marching has it's unexpected consequences too.

It was somewhere around 24km when Eugene, one of my bunk mate, called for me. I responded and walked over to join him but little did I expect to be given a tight smack on my arm as I started marching next to him. I was immediately jolted out of my semi-conscious state and confusion and a burst of sudden anger took over. Before I could find an explanation for what happened, my blood was already pumped with adrenaline and I had already given him a tight smack back on his arm and shouted angrily 'Why the fuck did you smack me for?'

Wrong decision.

The crowd around us all turned and looked at what was happening. Haha. I immediately realised what I had done and tried to dismiss the attention that was on us. And I learnt from Eugene that he was trying to wake me up cuz he saw me sleeping. I was still a bit angry and replied that I was enjoying myself sleep marching until his smack woke me up and disrupted my whole pace.

And I couldn't really sleep march again after the adrenaline rush. But with my mind clearer, I realised that actually sleep marching isn't the norm. >.< It was actually pretty dangerous for someone to fall asleep while marching and I did look like I fell asleep. I should be thanking Eugene instead of blaming him. Ah. The sudden realisation made me feel v malu. So I apologised. He accepted it with grace and told me that actually he fell asleep some time ago and almost tripped and fell. As a result, he had been going around waking people up to prevent the same thing from happening to them.

It was pretty much uneventful after that and we marched the remaining 6km for what seemed like eternity...

Friday
Right after the march was our POP (passing out parade) and after that, it was back to our company line.

Got my posting for my unit. I'm going to Nee Soon camp on 25th of May as a field engineer specialist cadet. And yep, block leave's from today all the way till 24th May! Woohoo!

Settled the usual admin stuff and booked out.

Dad sent me home and it was home sweet home again! =)

The rest are the usual stuff (cold shower,washing of clothes,sleeping!,eating,slacking).

Saturday
Lazing around, reading manga, playing games.

Sunday
Borrowed psp from choon yik to play. Turns out there're only 2 games and both are faulty.

Cycled to Jurong West Sports Hall for badminton outing! Woohoo! Those who came- Jiahao, jidan, son, huiqi, serene, huiping. Playing badminton with them was rather different from playing with my secondary school classmates. But I guess it was expected. Haha. As usual, jiahao never fails to amuse us with his silly stunts. And the girls were also zi-highing sometimes I think? Or maybe it's just cuz Serene's in a good mood. Haha.

Went for dinner at Jurong Point afterwards. Talked about who went which uni courses. And the highlight of the convo was really about fooling around with Son. Haha.

Monday
Slack. Help out with house work. Check mail.

Had a good talk with mom and dad though. It has been a long time since I've done that.

And that's about it.

From my Past,
To my Future

Setting Off...

2009-05-14T17:30:00.003+08:00

Yo. Just taking 5 minutes off to update what's happened these few days.

Argh. Dunno how to organise my thoughts. So here goes spam.

-This week's a slack week.
-Started wearing ear plugs on Monday cuz loud and high pitched noises annoy me.
-Went to the MO (Medical Officer) on Tuesday.
-MO said that my ear drum's still there, so there's nothing to worry about.
-Got excused from noisy environment for one week.
-I continued wearing my ear plugs and attracted lots of attention. >.<

And now I'm about to set off for my 28km graduation march. Tomorrow will be the passing out parade. A bit sad though, cuz there's nobody to watch the parade except for us.

Have to go now. Tata.

From my Past,
To my Future

Half Deaf

2009-05-10T20:46:00.002+08:00

Argh.

My right ear has been half deaf ever since the section live firing on Friday. I keep hearing a soft 'Eeeee...' sound since then and the sounds that I pick up are significantly softer on my right ear.

Feels kinda imbalanced.

What's worse is that whenever someone shouts or when there's a loud noise, the 'Eee...' sound turns into a loud and high pitch 'Eee...' sound.

And it hurts my ear. Ouch.

I just hope this isn't going to be permanent.=/

From my Past,
To my Future

Guilt

2009-05-10T02:09:00.003+08:00

It's 2 in the morning right now and I'm feeling really really miserable. =/

I'm momentarily at a loss of words to describe what just happened.

________

Ah.

It's 2.25 now.

I can still feel the aching in my heart.

The feeling of utmost guilt still feels almost as fresh as when I woke up one and a half hours ago on my bed in Kilo Company and discovered that it was 12:55am.

I was 55 minutes late, with 6 missed calls and 3 smses from my dad. There and then I thought I was living in my worst nightmare and these were all unreal...

My SOL ends at 2359 on 090509 and I was allowed to book out on that night if I had somebody sending me home. If not, I'll have to book out today (Sunday) after breakfast. And dad told me that he'll come and bring me home after knowing about this. I was touched, for he could have waited for me to go back home on my own tomorrow morning and it would save him his sleep and his effort but he went out of his way to come pick me up so I could get home asap.

And I actually told him that I'll be released at exactly 12 midnight, hinting that there won't be any delay and I won't be late.

That was at around 2250.

Little did I know that moments later I would fall fast asleep on my bed after I was done with the packing of my book out bag...

Thoughts and emotions flooded me right after I realised what had happened. I was angry at myself for being too careless; I felt hurt and rather angry that the other SOL people didn't wake me up when it was time to go and that they probably only cared about their own booking out. But I know that it never pays to depend on people so I'm back to being angry at myself again.

And then it was guilt.

The guilt that cannot be suppressed. Because the more you understand how much the other party had sacrificed, the greater the the self remorse when you realise you've let him down.

Ah.

I called, I changed, and ran all the way to the PLC gates, out of the gate and to dad's car.

He was there waiting, angry and furious. And rightfully so. I made him wait for more than an hour for nothing.

I swear if there was anything I could do to undo all of these I would have done it. My apologies meant little - how can a word of sorry resolve the time he had taken to wait?

Mum was in the car too, sleeping. So was lil bro. More guilt.

Dad gave me a good scolding in car. About being late. About my misfire. About not having the heart to make sure that things go right.

At some points I really wanted to cry if I could.

Ah.

But I guess it was too late to cry over spilt milk.

From my Past,
To my Future

Suspension of Leave

2009-05-06T18:49:00.002+08:00

Yo yo yo! I'm back!

...

Haha.

Alright, alright. So I'm not.

I'm typing from the company Annex room right now, munching down a tuna sandwich which would be our night snack for the day and chilling out on a couch. And what's the best thing on top of all these? I'm in an AIR-CONDITIONED room! And to think I only knew about this paradise just minutes ago when I've been in this camp for almost 7 weeks!

Haha.

Actually, I'm doing all these while the rest of the company's marching out in their civilian attire for their nights out. Nights out = Out of camp! = Leave. And I'm suspended from taking any leaves for 5 days. Which is ~~entirely~~ partly the reason why I'm still in camp typing this entry.

Obviously, I didn't get this SOL for 5 days for no reason.

I was charged along with a few others by my OC yesterday for misfiring during the Grand Slam. We were punished and all were given the lightest punishment of 5 days SOL starting from yesterday. So that means we can't book out with the rest of the company on Friday and we can only book out on Saturday 2359.

I'm feeling rather fortunate to be given a lenient punishment. However, even though I don't mind booking out on Sunday morning, there's still a lil problem on hand. I was supposed to attend a talk NTU Material Engineering talk this Saturday... So I guess either our OC excuse me for the talk or I'll just miss the talk completely.

Oops! I just remembered something!

Actually I wanted to put up the details of my misfiring. But that would be leaking confidential stuff.

So...

Till next time!

From my Past,
To my Future

Short Term Plan

2009-05-03T20:34:00.004+08:00

It has been a long and refreshing weekend and it's time for me to book in again...

Friday
-Attended half of the s20 + CO outing.
-Dad sent me to ECP together with the rest of the family.
-Went for the gathering while lil bro and dad flew their new kite.
-Rode a double cycle bike with Clayton and played 2 games of Initial D. Got owned as usual. Haha.
-Had dinner at Bedok after that and went home with my family.

Saturday
-Started reading Initial D manga. It was great! Now I'm hooked to it.

Sunday
-Continued reading Initial D manga.
-I'm now at chapter 190 already.
-Wish I could read slower... Don't wanna catch up to the current chapter that soon.
-Went to the library for 3 hours.
-Looked around really long for physics books to borrow but realised I can't borrow with 11B nor ez-link -.-

That's my weekend for ya.

And I realise I've been spending too much time slacking around and doing 'useless' stuff. Time to set some goals for myself and do something productive. Actually, that's the reason why I went to the library today-to find some good read that I can immerse my mind into and sort of prepare me for my uni course which I'll be taking in 2 years time.

Oh, and by the way, I got accepted into NTU Material Engineering and NUS Science.

I'm thinking of going for NUS Physics (part of the Science faculty which I got accepted into) and then going for a double degree that covers both Physics as well as Material Science and Engineering.

And you simply have to be amongst the elite to take a double degree. Which is why I have to plan ahead right now.

So there.

Here's a rough plan of what I'm planning to do in the next few weeks (on top of reading Initial D):

1. Start reading the papers! (30mins limit for each day)
2. Read up on Astrophysics. (week 1-5 )
3. Read up on Nanotechnology. (week 6-9)
4. Find stuff on Biophysics (week 1-5) and read them up (not anytime soon...)

Yep, that's about enough to keep me busy for the next few weeks. Gotta go now.

From my Past,
To my Future

Grand Slam!

2009-04-30T23:53:00.005+08:00

Woohoo!

I'm back from field camp Grand Slam!

I'm feeling really really happy
and glad
and thankful
and fortunate
that this field camp is finally over!

That means no more...

Navigating and getting ourselves lost in the ~~forested area~~(oops!) garden in MacRitchie Reservoir-

Sleeping out in the garden in Mike being bitten by ants
and centipedes
and spiders-

Running up and down the gentle slopes during missions carrying our Lima Bravo Victor
and bicycle helmets
and water guns
and water hose
and water bomb launcher
and the mega~~-heavy~~-light, one time use hydro cannon-

Slogging around in wet uniforms
and wet underwear
and boots
and socks.

And much more of course.

But that'll be for me to know and for you to find out (when you serve NS).

Actually, field camps make me a happy man.

...

Not that I'm actually feeling blissful during the camp.-.- But the heavenly feeling when you actually see civilisation and realise that field camp was all a bad dream.=D

A very bad dream. That somehow makes you shudder a bit whenever you accidentally recall it.

....

Haha. All right, so it wasn't that bad, except for those heat rashes and wet uniforms, Grand Slam was tolerable.

And the bed looks extremely enticing tonight. Time to go to my baby. =)

From my Past,
To my Future

Updates!

2009-04-26T19:30:00.005+08:00

Yo! After more than 1 year of MIA, I'm back!

Man, this one year had been quite an eventful one. In chronological order...

-1 star Kayaking!
-Trainings for X-Physique
-X-Physique

-Crazy H3 last minute mugging
-H3 exams

-OAC interviews
-OAC elections
-OAC investiture
-OAC Exco's discussion

-Prelims
-Flunked Prelims

-Fruitless GP consultations
-Extremely crazy last minute A Levels mugging (craziest thing I've done. really.)
-A Levels

-Crazy period
-Trip to Hong Kong with family
-Strategic Games Society Outing
-Wasting of my life at home
-Prom
-Christmas outings and celebrations!
-New Year celebrations with s20~

-NS life
-CNY celebrations
-Emo period
-Field Camp
-Happy period
-IPPT, SOC
-Slack...
-POP!

-s20 outing

-Posted to SISPEC
-First week of crazy mugging and tests and IPPT!
-Slack
-Field Camp
-Tests and more tests
-Happy + Slack Period
-OAC outing!

The PRESENT!

And through it all, I've met great people and had great friends. Haha.

There's Gina, who's been a great study companion and a really close friend (and maybe something more?) to me in my j2 days. Haha. Those who know me from NJ will probably know what I mean so I need not say too much...

There's Jin Xian, Ben Hong and Zhi Han. Sporty and always trying to be funny. Haha.

Dexter, whom I've met in BMT. Great buddy. We did almost everything together in BMT... Miss him now that we're separated. lol.

Actually there's many many more la. But the list is too long for me to type out liao so I just type out the first 3 who came to my mind first.

Anyway, I have to go back to camp liao. So byebye.

The Night is Still Young

2008-04-08T23:29:00.007+08:00

Haha I think my blog is going to become more like a homework blog in the future.

Multiple items are up tonight...

-Physics SPA pt 11
-Read up Econs Chapter 9
-Econs MCQ and Structured Essay Qns
-Essay outline for question 8b
-Revision for upcoming H3 test.
-H3 Tutorial 1 and 2
-Carboxylic Acid and Derivatives

Argh. I need to complete all of these by tonight but I seriously doubt I can even complete half.

From my Past,
To my Future

Reflections

2008-04-08T22:43:00.006+08:00

I feel depressed and helpless. The lack of sleep is putting my mood at a constant low.

Sometimes I wonder why I am in such a mess.

I think I am pretty intelligent.
I have all the study techniques I could probably need.
I can study without anyone teaching me.
I have the will power and determination to persevere.

But the reality is that I'm crumbling already. I don't know how long my will power can hold my crumbling physical self and my mental self.

All those tests coming one after another. CCAs. CIP. H3. I have no time for everything. I can only handle things one at a time.

Perhaps I should take a break from school and from lessons since I don't think I even need them if I'm not keeping up with the system. But I suppose I can't really do that...

All that I can do now is to convince myself that the fatigue is temporary and to set my priorities...

As of this moment, my priorities are:

1. To ace the H3 test this coming Saturday.
2. Catch up with Econs.
3. Do well for upcoming Electrochem test.
4. Sleep well.
5. Get 30 points for NAPFA.
5. Econs project.
6. OAC commitments.
7. CIP commitments.

Everything will work out fine like it always does. Endure.

From my Past
To my Future

Late Night

2008-04-04T02:06:00.005+08:00

Its's 2am now. First late night I had in 5 days. Argh...

No, its not another H3 practical report. I wasn't even chionging essays or compos or mugging.

Well, I was doing the clues for the Intra Club Adventure Challenge (ICAC) before this. I thought it would only take me two and a half hour at most. The work started out at 8.45pm. The clues and write up was completed at 1.55am. I overshot my maximum estimated time by 2 hours. Hmm, not a small margin...

I guess the root of these late nights all boils down to my desire for perfection. Yes, I'm a hard core perfectionist. I can stay up all night just to make sure that the graphs in my report are aesthetically pleasing. And when the fonts aren't to my pleasure, I will gladly spend my time searching for that perfect font to suit my paragraphing.

Yea, I know it better that anyone else that this is really such a waste of time, going into those nitty gritty details just to make it look better. Come on, people won't even notice it. (Or wait, actually they sometimes do.) But then again, there is always this itch, this feeling of annoyance when my work's not perfect and I really can't stand it.

But on the other hand, my tolerance level for other people's work is way way higher than that for mine. You can produce work which isn't neat in any sense and I still won't feel any urge to ask for an improvement in presentation. Yep, I've got double standards.

Well, I've come to the conclusion that if the need for perfection is going to be my killer, I shall do exactly the opposite to survive. I'm going to hand in slip-shot work. I'm also going to change my handwriting style, from a slow but neat to a fast-and-furious, need-for-speed kind of style.

I hope that means early nights for me...

From my Past,
To my Future.

Beating the Reaper

2008-03-30T02:59:00.002+08:00

It's 3am now. After reading Gina's June 2007 posts, I'm feeling the fear of death all over again.

It wasn't the first time I felt this fear and it probably won't be the last either.

The first time I felt death in such close proximity was during the few days right before my Grandma's demise and during my Grandma's funeral itself. That was sometime during my sec 2 End-of-Year holidays.

Lots of thoughts went through my mind at that point of time. After my days of sorrow, I vowed to treasure every second of my life and make good use of it. I was also obsessed with bringing pride to my Grandma, whether or not she is actually physically present to share my achievements. My emotions were strong and there was a unwavering determination to excel in everything that I do. Ever since then, I pushed myself to the limits, even when my physical body cannot take it anymore. Late nights, 2.4km runs, nothing can stop me for doing my best.

The second time was somewhere last year, when it was reported on the papers that a student actually died when his heart stopped beating after he completed his marathon. On top of that, he was a great runner, someone who would have no problem completing the run any other day.

That was a big shock to me. It suddenly occurred to me that for every 2.4km run that I overexerted myself (which was practically every run), I could have died. The feeling of death pervaded my body and left me numb. From then, I've learned that maybe there is more to life than pushing myself. A part of life is about taking things at a comfortable pace and maybe giving oneself some slack.

Next was when I heard about Peng Yi's condition sometime last year. Though I'm not exactly sure of the details, the rough picture was that he had something like a tumor or something and there was the possibility of him having a cancer. His nick indicated that things weren't going too well and he is going through a lot of suffering. His life is currently being threatened.

I felt the feeling of total loss and sadness after I heard about the news. But there's no way in which I can help him. Death is also something that I have to face sooner or later too, together with the pain and suffering.

Then came a personal experience. This happened not too long ago, sometime in February. I was stretching my back and tilting my head backwards one night when all of a sudden, there was this really sharp pain at the foot of the back of my neck somewhere along the spinal cord. A millisecond later, something like an electrical current shot to my brain and I felt the back of my left brain heating up. It was a really strange, painful and confusing moment. The pain and heat that I experienced was nothing like that of a headache, nor the rise in body temperature during a fever- it was the toasting of the brain. Everything felt numb, my vision was blurred and I thought I was going to die.

It didn't really felt like it was going to be for long. I thought perhaps my brain would overheat itself and I would die in a few more seconds. There wasn't anything I could do either. Random thoughts popped into my head. The first thought was the realisation that death can be so swift, it doesn't matter if it hurts or not, you will be gone before you can even get out of the confusion that you are in. The next thing that was randomly generated was that homework didn't matter anymore. Nor do anything else in this world. Cuz everything is disappearing. And this is not a dream, this is reality. And I want to die sleeping and enjoy my last moments on a bed. So half confused, I crawled to my bed and threw myself on it and stayed lying there hugging my pink pillow.

And well, obviously I didn't die, as you can see. The heat in my brain died down a while after I tried relaxing myself on the bed and prepared myself for death. I never knew why exactly those things happened that night, but the experience left me truly dumbfounded. I tried convincing myself then that nothing else other than pure enjoyment of life matters from that day on. But 30 minutes later after the experience, the feeling of reality kicks in and I realise that I'm still in the real world and things still has to be done.

Argh, ok, I think I digressed a lot. Now I'm totally off my original track. And now I'm tired. Will get back to topic in the next post...

From my Past,
To my Future

Blogskin changed!

2008-03-14T13:02:00.004+08:00

Just as I've promised, I've taken down the PINK blogskin. And after a gruelling 8 hours of work, I present to you my new blogskin!

For those who frequent Dong Wei's (aka Inertia) blog, the first thing you'll notice is probably ~~that I've ripped off his blogskin~~ the uncanny resemblance between my blog and Dong Wei's blog.

Well, its true that I ~~ripped him off without asking for his permission~~ took close reference from his blog and modeled my blogskin in his image. But well, at least I had the decency to change all the graphics; from the banner to the sidebars, even down to the bullets the hovering bullets and the horizontal rule.

Besides, I even gave him the credits at the side for allowing me to use his blog template ~~unknowingly~~.

Ok, the main point here is that the blog's PINK no more and the new skin looks MUCH better than the previous one.

And we're all happy.=)

Back to Blogging

2008-03-11T05:23:00.003+08:00

Yea, I've decided to go back to blogging!

And the first thing on the list is... to change that terrible blogskin of mine!

Yea, I've been thinking of doing so for quite some time already, but I couldn't find any blogskins to my liking on the net...

It'll take some time, but I guess I'll be creating my own blogskin.

Owned!

2008-03-10T09:35:00.006+08:00

Wow, I got owned. Totally owned. Haha.

Its been two months since I've updated. Within this period of time, I've managed to screw myself up in more ways than I can ever imagine. Here are the reasons why I'm screwed:

1. I flunked my first h3 test. 3 questions, 100 marks. I don't think I can even get 30 marks. This test is one of the 3 tests I will ever get to sit for....

2. I flunked my SPA. I didn't get to finish Chem SPA nor Physics SPA. I must have been really slow, cuz most people manage to finish in time without much problem. There goes 2.5 percent of my Chemistry and 5 percent of my Physics...

3. I am waaayyyy behind in tutorials. For physics, I haven't even finished the EM tutorial. For Chemistry, I'm still stuck at halogenoalkanes. Yea, I know some of you have only finished one set of tutorial from last year till now. Fine, you win.

4. I was super late for school twice. Yea, I was chionging my h3 practical the night before and in the morning. But as usual, I guess I'm too slow. But I must adhere to the deadline for the practical, so I stayed at home and did the practical until around 9am+ and then went to school. Yea, so I was super late.

5. I flunked all of my tests.

Argh, I don't feel like typing anymore.

From my past,
To my future.

Double Double Toil and Trouble

2008-01-21T19:53:00.000+08:00

Teachers:Double double, Toil and Trouble.
Homework burns, The gods are Muggers.

Today was not a very nice day. For a record, I've decided that this is one of my most terrible days in school. Let's see what went on in school today...

Today I....

-Didn't study for my Chem test and screwed it up
-Didn't bring my physics lecture notes cuz I forgot to put it back after studying last night
-Didn't do anything for my Maths tutorial
-Didn't hand in my econs essay question 5 which was due last Friday
-Didn't do my Physics tutorial and had to depend on the excuse that I was busy
-Forgot to hand in my AQs which I painstakingly did
-Didn't understand a single thing the lecturer said during h3 lecture
-Realise that I left my PE attire in school only after I had reached home

What a day.

But that's over. There's nothing I can do about it. Now let me tell you what I'm going to achieve tonight.

Tonight I...

-Will finish my econs essay question 5 and hand it in tmr morning.
-Will finish my Maths tutorial no matter what.
-Will finish my Physics tutorial no matter what.
-Will read up on my econs lecture notes.

What a night.

But it'll most likely be sometime in the morning when I finally finish all those. Sigh. Time to get back to work again.

From my past,
To my future.

First Post of the Year!

2008-01-20T23:25:00.001+08:00

Woohoo! This is the FIRST BLOG ENTRY OF THE YEAR!!!

Man, what a long break I've taken. Some asked if I've changed my blog address, some asked when will I be blogging, some have been nagging me to post.

Well, the thing is, I've made a promise to myself. That I won't blog until I've completed my holiday homework. And I was supposed to have finished my homework sometime in early December.

Ahh well, this post speaks a lot about my homework efficiency. haha.

Actually, I officially finished them all on Friday morning, at around 5.30 am. But due to my fatigue, I took a nap instead. Friday and Saturday was OAC orientation camp. And when I came back on Saturday, I just took a shower and went to bed.

I slept for 18 hours!

It was the greatest experience I had this year. I don't know if that's good or bad... Anyways, i felt I had to do some homework so this post was postponed to until I've finished my homework. It soon became apparent that I'm not going to finish my homework anytime soon again, so I decided this post should not wait, and presto, here it is!

Great, after typing out the above, I realise that there's something seriously wrong about my management of homework. Why can't I ever finish this incessant flow of homework? Things weren't this way in the past! There were even times when I was one tutorial ahead of the lecture in the past.

Ok, I think I'd better stop here now. I should probably start doing my homework now instead. haha. This is going to be a long night ahead. Again.

Tell ya more about my EOY holidays and Orientation Camp next time...

From my past,
To my future.

Pwnmos results are out!!!

2007-10-22T20:53:00.000+08:00

Woohoo!!! Promos results are finally out! I'm sure you would all wanna know how I fared so let's get straight to the point.

Promos Results

GP: 49/100
Econs: 55.2/100
Maths: 91/100
Chem: 61/100
Physics: 93/120

Not too bad right? Except for GP, which was a total screw up, I think the others were pretty well done. Especially econs, fro which I had gotten only a U during CT. But despite having done my best, I was still owned by Ivan, the 'shen' of our small BP circle. Not very sure of all the details, but he got a B for econs, which totally owned me. And he still say its not very good... And for Maths, my best subject, he actually got a 92, 1 mark higher than me. I guess the 'shen' will always be the 'shen' for me. Sigh...

But putting that aside, I am very contented with my results! Here is my overall results.

Overall Results

GP: ard 50, i think.
Econs: 54!!!
Maths: 86
Chem: 61?? not v. sure
Physics: 75.4

So in all, I've gotten ABEDA, which isn't too bad! Yea!

Project Work

2007-10-10T21:01:00.001+08:00

As promised, here we have, a ranting page. Don't say I didn't warn you, but the sentences below have no flow, no link, just purely random thoughts.

PW sucks. It's a ****** ** subject that ruined my post exams mood. And my mood for starting on piano. And mugging. Worse of all, it gives ******* screwed up tasks to students.

My group is doing on groundbreaker. Here's what is so screwed up about the question. Here we are focusing on ONE SINGLE GROUNDBREAKER whose efforts are supposedly that great that we need to hold an entire event showcasing his life and work.

And to hold an event, we would obviously need sponsors. So you ask yourself before contacting the sponsors. Ok, so what's so great about this person? Why should they sponsor me? What can they gain from the sponsor? If they gain nothing, wouldn't it be stupid to even ask in the first place?

And after the thinking process, you concluded that sponsors probably have no incentives to work with you. And there we are back to square one. PW sucks. This project isn't feasible as it doesn't allow depth and thinking in the project. Doing on one person is simply too childish and it doesn't provide any reason for sponsors to see your point.

that's not all.
but i guess i don't want to depress my self further.

im sick.
sick of spending my nights over such a stupid project.
giving years off my life at such a young age.
i can feel the high blood pressure every morning when i wake up.
my heart goes THUMP THUMP.
its not a joke.
not sleeping for many days can really kill you.

I suddenly have no mood to type anymore. lol Nevermind, shall continue ranting when i have the mood again. (:

Promos is OVER!!!

2007-10-01T21:30:00.000+08:00

Yea baby, promos is over!!! Finally! Haven't been blogging much since the start of the promos cuz I don't have the mood to blog (sigh). But now that my mood is back, let me update on how I felt I did for my promos! Woohoo!

General Paper

First up, GP. GP essay was....screwed up. I read some articles on censorship when I was on the bus to school and I felt the godliness of the GP File 3. For the first time since the start of my history of writing essays, I am actually reading up on content. Heavily. Guess what I did when I saw the question on censorship. Come on, make a guess!

.......... ok, its kinda obvious. With my newfound content knowledge, I went on and spammed content and examples without answering the question. I was enjoying the spamming all the way till the end of the essay until I realised that wasn't what I was suppposed to do. Oh my. This is seriously bad. All my previous essays were based on reasoning and common sense alone and no content. And this time round, minimal reasoning but heavy content. Nevermind.

Then came the GP Paper 2. Well, I was very nervous before the start. I knew it was a matter of whether I am able to finish or not and not whether I can score or not. Yes, it was that bad. So when the invigilator said begin, I simply did my fastest ever speed reading and finished the passages in 2 minutes flat. I was surprised at my speed cuz the person next to me was only at the second page when I've finished both passages. Next was chionging and chionging. In the end, I managed to finish the paper. Yea!

Huang Zhi actually thought I wouldn't be able to finish. Well, I'm sorry I disappointed him this time round(: .... Overall I felt that I will fail paper 1 but paper 2 might pull up my overall grade to a pass, possibly an E or a D.

Economics

Econs the nightmare. Yea, its over and I don't want to recall those horrible memories. Just know I'm contented that I managed to finish the Case Study and I almost managed to finish the second paper. This was a very great improvement from common test, where I didn't manage to finish both the Case Study and Essay. Wrote 5 pages for case study and 8 pages for essays.

I think I might really be able to pass econs this time. Yea, as compared to aiming for a high fail during common test, this really is a great improvement for me.(:

Mathematics

Not that I'm really good in Mahts or anything, but when I finished, I simply felt it was a free frag (frag means kill in gaming terms). For such a person like me with such slow handwriting speed, I am glad to say that after my first round I still have around 40 minutes left. After finishing the questions that I had left unattempted, I still had like 25-30 minutes. This is truly a first in my history of slow handwriting. (Compare this with leaving roughly 15 marks worth of questions unattempted during the common test)

I think an A is highly possible. If I'm lucky, I might even get an A* this time. Either way, I have high hopes for Maths. I hope I aren't overestimating myself.

Chemistry

Again, I shall comment on my speed. Although I didn't finish my Chem paper, I think I am very satisfied with my progress. I had only left the last part-question blank due to my lack of time. Again, comparing that with common test, where I have 4 entire pages of clean paper. You get what I mean.

MCQ was a disaster. I couldn't focus and think and on top of that I wasted some time going to the toilet. For the full and lengthy story, read on:

It started somewhere near the end of the main paper, where I had this sudden urge to go to the toilet. I thought I only need to endure until the short interval so I persevered. However, after submitting the paper, I learnt that we are not allowed to go to the toilet during the short interval. Wth. So I had to tahan until the MCQ ends. And we all know that isn't quite possible when you are already so nervous doing the paper. Nevertheless, I managed to suppress my need to answer nature's call all the way until question 8, the question on the oxidation of Mn2+. I was seriously stuck on that question. So I asked for permission before I sprinted all the way to the canteen boys' toilet. Wow, the relieve... lol. Ok, nvm, so I sprinted all the way back to the hall again. Pant pant.

Then I looked at question 8 again. I was stunned for 30 seconds. Then it took me another 10 seconds to recover. Still can't do. Skip. What happened to the rest of the questions that follow was something like this: look, answer, move. Can't do , make a guess, move on. No time to double check for accuracy or to read the question carefully. But I still managed to finish and go back to question 8.

I think the Chem MCQ was really a killer. After the MCQ, I heard some dude say that he only had 5 minutes left after getting stuck at question 8. Most are unable to finish. On the overall, I think getting a C is highly possible.

Physics

Physics was a spamming paper. During the checking of the paper, I saw like what, 6 definitions in Paper 3 alone. lol. The general atmosphere wasn't tense at all and I felt that the questions were rather easy. I was actually feeling quite nervous before I saw the start of the paper because Zeyi and Ivan both said the 2003 Promos was quite challenging. Which really means that it is very challenging. And I haven't tried the paper. But after seeing the 2007 physics paper, I was like smiling all the way.

I guess I was too complacent and I didn't do the paper fast enough. I had planned my time and I should have finished with 5 minutes left. However, there was a major screw-up at the later part of paper 2 and i wasted 10 minutes of time. Which means I am behind schedule by 5 minutes. As a result, I had 4 marks worth of questions undone cuz no time. Another 2 marks gone cuz I really didn't know how to do (the question on proving total PE =0.5kx^2). Then afterwards, after checking with my friends, another 2 marks gone. So around 8 marks confirm gone already.

MCQ was ok. I hope I didn't screw up. If all goes well, I might actually make it for an A grade.

On the whole, I think I might actually be able to improve and keep my subject combination. I HOPE.

Sigh, although promos is over, work is far from done. Nevermind, let me devote an entire entry to ranting on my next entry. That's all for now!(:

Secret

2007-09-22T22:56:00.000+08:00

Ok, I'm a bit slow, but I finally watched secret. It all started when I saw the 斗琴 video clip on youtube. That, plus I've been listening to songs from 不能说的秘密 too much recently.

The movie was totally magical. The first part of the movie was a bit funny and light hearted and I also found out which music pieces fit in where. The effect before and during the watching of the movie was totally different. I must say the music and movie really complement one another. Then there was a turning point, where it was revealed to Jay that no one else other than him at the dance party. Then he realised that only he can see 小雨. I was shocked at first cuz I thought 小雨 was a ghost and there was this very eerie feeling suddenly. The effect was even better than watching horror movies cuz I was totally unprepared. Guess how shocked and petrified I was when I saw the words appearing on the desk. I never thought this would become a horror movie for me. Then afterwards everything was simply magical. The revelation of the secret.

BUT.

The ending sucked. Like the last 3 minutes or something. It was such an abrupt ending. Here are the things that are left unexplained:

Ok, so Jay teleported back in time just before he died. And then he saw 小雨. But wait, didn't she die on the night of the grad night? Then how come she's doing her homework the very next morning? And even if she haven't died, how come Jay Chou is in the class photo? He can't possibly join in so suddenly, can he? And besides, didn't 小雨 class take a photo on grad day? How come they are taking it again? And what changed the attitude of the classmates who despise 小雨? Where did Jay Chou live afterwards? What happened to his father? What will happen if they tried playing the piano and travel forward into time? Will they die because the piano no longer exist? Whatever will happen when the second Jay is born?

I am left with so much unexplained parts of the story that I simply felt unsatisfied. But putting that aside, Secret was really magical. And Jay Chou is supposed to be a singer, to think that he came up with the story and directed the movie himself, I am truly amazed. Just don't mistake me for "another Jay Chou fanboy".

After listening to Chopin, VGP, Yiruma and now Secret, I think I want to learn piano now more than ever.

The Levels of Academic Abilities

2007-09-08T21:53:00.000+08:00

I must’ve been bored or something, but I’ve created a level system specially for the upcoming promos to see which level I have reached in my promos preparation.

Chemistry/Physics

Level 1- You’re a Noob. You haven’t read your notes even once yet and can’t say for sure if you can even get a D. Needless to say, you haven’t had much practice in your work.

Level 2- You just started on your quest as a chemist/physicist. You have finished your notes once and have looked through all the definitions once. You have a fair chance of getting a C or a D

Level 3- You have progressed much. You have had much practice and had constantly referred to your notes when you have encountered difficulties in doing questions. You can do most of the questions that are posted to you now. In the worse case scenarios, you’ll get a C or a B. A high B to an A range is expected if there are no screw-ups.

Level 4- You are an experienced chemist/physicist. You have so much practice that most if not all MCQs can be done within a minute each without any problems at all. You have such thorough understanding of the subject that you do not need to even refer to your notes at all. Marks can range from 80-90 (for people who finish the paper). You are certainly qualified to be a teacher or a tutor.

Level 5- Godlike. You can flip through the TYS as though you are looking through primary school papers. Any attempt at any promo paper would yield no less than a 90%. The 10% that you didn’t get is probably a result of your speed or errors in the answer scheme. At this level, you would probably own the top in level of any school of your choice. Your knowledge of A level physics is on par with the HOD.

Mathematics

Level 1- You’re a Noob. You have totally no clue as to how to start most of the maths question and can only hope to console yourself when others fail worse than you.

Level 2- You have started on your exploration of the wonders of Maths. You have an impression of what formulas you need to know and how to apply them. You also know the approaches to solving basic questions. You have a fair chance of getting a D or probably a C.

Level 3- You have progressed much. You know your formulas by heart and have more exposure to problems. You can confidently do all your tutorial questions and get them right. You have a good chance of getting an A and even during screw-ups, you can still secure a B.

Level 4- You have thorough understanding and enough exposure to do challenging questions, even under exam conditions. Speed is certainly not a problem to you as the answers to most questions simply appear so blatantly you don’t even need to hesitate before penning the answer down. Under exams condition, your mark range should be from 80-90 plus, depending on the individual and the questions set.

Level 5- Godlike. Any paper would yield no less than 90. The possibility of a full mark is always existent and that is your goal for every paper.

Economics

Level 0- You are a total noob, not even comparable to level 1. You have totally no clue as to how to even start an essay or even do data response and case study questions. Even luck can’t bring you out of the U grade.

Level 1- You have some knowledge of economics principles. You have a rough understanding of how to plan your essay. You can also answer some data response and case study questions. Luck might pull U to an S or even an E grade.

Level 2- You have started on becoming an economist. You have finished your economics notes at least once and have looked through the definitions at least once too. However, your understanding of essay writing skills is still not perfect and you might also have an incomplete grasp of the content knowledge. You fumble between S, E and D. If you are unfortunate, you simply get pulled down to a U.

Level 3- You have reached safe grounds. Your content knowledge is solid. You know the techniques of how to answer data response and case study questions. However, despite knowing, you might still not answer appropriately at times. You have good practice of essays and have also exposure to guide books and so have some idea of how to write an essay during exams. However, you are still unable to escape from the claws of time-constrain. C and D is your base-line. You are capable of getting a B depending on how the situation goes.

Level 3.5- You are in between levels 3 and 4. Your content knowledge is pretty good and you can score well in data response and case studies. Your writing speed is moderately fast but are still unable to finish 4 essays in the given time and are trapped at level 3.5. Your essays lack the analysis and evaluation that you have either no time to write or have no ability to write. You fluctuate between a high B and a borderline A

Level 4- You have supreme writing speed and good knowledge of content. You can write out essays confidently and immediately at the sight of the questions. You have enough time to do some analysis and evaluation. An A student without a doubt.

Level 5- You are the god of economics. You have great foresight and can write essays as though you are just penning common sense on paper. You are confident of what you are writing and are possibly prepared to debate it out with your econs teacher to get every single mark possible from your essay until he awards you the full marks that you feel you deserve. Truly a god.

--------

Haha, the thought of the god-like level 5 is really makes me laugh. Should there be anyone that good, even the teachers would be afraid of him cuz it'll be like having someone as good as the HOD watch them teach.

But then again, those are just dreams that can possibly never be accomplished by me. I should see where I stand now and think of how to advance to the next level. Here is a comparison of my stats at CT and now and my target for promos:

Chem: CT-Level 1 Now-Level 2 Promos-Level 3
Physics: CT-Level 3 Now-Level 2-3 Promos-Level 3
Mathematics: CT-Level 3 Now-Level 2-3 Promos-Level 3-4
Economics: CT-Level 0 Now-Level 2 Promos-Level 3

Yep! And with targets come plans of course. Oh my, this is going to be a v long post, I realized. But here's my current plan anyway(Its rather detailed).

Today
-General revision for Chem (1/2 completed)

Tomorrow
-Completion of GR for Chem (5 hrs)
-Start and completion of GR for Physics (8 hrs)
-Finish compilation of all the definitions for all three subjects (1.5 hrs)
-14 hrs of work in total

Monday
-Rev of definitions for chem and physics (1 hr to be done on bus)
-Start of GR for Econs (3 hrs)
-Look through Econs Chapter 2 Part 1 essays ( 1hr during Break and Lunch Time)
-Maths Rev Pkg (2 hrs)

Tuesday
-Rev of definitions for chem, physics and econs (1 hr)
-GR for Econs (3hr)
-Attempt Econs Chapter 2 Part 2 essays (1 hr)
-Possible consultation with Mr Tiew (1.5 hr cap)
-0.5 hrs of extra time for other hmwk

Wednesday
-Rev of definitions for chem, physics and econs (1 hr)
-GR for Econs (3 hrs)
-Attempt Econs Chapter 3 Part 1 essays (1.5 hrs)
-Maths Rev Pkg (1.5 hrs)

Thursday
-Rev of maths notes (1 hr)
-Completion of GR for Econs (2 hrs)
-Attempt Econs Chapter 3 Part 2 and Chapter 4 essays (1 hr)
-GP research (3hrs)

Friday
-Possible Consultation with Mr Tiew (2 hrs cap)
-Attempt of Chem Promo Paper 2006 (3 hrs)
-Corrections of Chem CT Paper 2007 (1 hr)
-Chill out (1 hr)

That's my plan for the whole of next week. It looks really packed to me and even if I carried my plan out exactly, I don't think I am ready for my Promos yet. I still need another round of revision for econs and more research and practice for GP. Also, I have this collection of past year Promo and Common Test papers which I haven't even started reading!

Omg, I think I am freaking out... Good gracious me, to think I actually have the time to get addicted to manga in this short short week that I'm supposed to be spending for my revision!

Argh, its 11 now. I'm going to spend some quality time with my bed now. I'll update my progress next Friday. I love my bed (:

Breaking the Habit (Addiction)!

2007-09-06T16:17:00.001+08:00

This is crap. Total crap. What have I been doing over the past week? I was too complacent and I started reading a new manga series, called Tenjo Tenge, of which I got seriously addicted to.

I had a taste of addiction and what it can do to your life once again. Addiction

-destroys your will to work;
-blinds your eyes of the goal you are working towards;
-prevents you from sleeping (you won't want to sleep when you're addicted)
-makes you unable to sleep even when you want to
-gets you high blood pressure as a result of lack of sleep

I also experienced for myself what prolonged exposure to a computer screen can do to you.

-Your eyes start watering
-Your eyes hurts
-When you start sleeping, you sleep excessively to recover your eyes
- You skin condition becomes horrible due to over-exposure to radiation

So to anyone who reads this, DO NOT attempt to start any activity which you might potentially get addicted to, except mugging, of course. Addictive activities that I've decided to ban myself from until the promo ends include:

-playing games
-chatting excessively on msn messenger
-reading manga
-slacking and excessive sleeping
-watching drama serials
-reading story books

After days of reading the manga, I have finally reached the newest chapter. Which means that I cannot be addicted to the manga anymore! YES!

Which means that I'm BACK to mugging! WOOTS!(:

Woohoo!

2007-08-30T17:43:00.001+08:00

Woohoo! I'm back! Again, there was too much stuff going on these days and I had simply no time to update. Here's just a short recap on what had happened.

I had:

-played AYE captain (ball) last week with my superb teammates Nicholas, Siva, Jin Xian, Huiqi, Serene and Zhi Han (who sub-ed Nick for the last match). We got fourth and won a $20 voucher!

-Open day last Wednesday! But it was a rainy day and it wasn't exactly a good time to promote OUTDOORS activity club. Anyway, much of the visitors were attracted by the performances at the linkway and we didn't have much people coming to see our structure. Haha, but at least we took a photo with our structure (a bridge) and all the effort was not wasted!

-finished quite a lot of homework last weekend. Finished Superposition, Chem Equilibrium, Permutation and Combination and Differential Equations. I felt it was quite amazing, considering I had an OAC meeting and a visit to my grandma's house on Saturday, which took up some time.

-chem spa on Monday. I was too slow and screwed up the entire SPA. Huang Zhi told me he knew it and had seen that coming long ago. What can I say? I tried my best and I guess there really IS a limit to my speed. Guess how sad and depressed I am now, realising time after time that I can finish on time? Sob Sob ):

-started a new speed writing programme on Tuesday. I tried to write out 3 pages of Econs notes in 45 minutes during math lecture. Failed terribly. Only got to 2.5 pages. But that was because Clayton distracted me for god knows how long. I was planning to do this every day starting today but abandoned the project in the end. (lack of time to practise)

-slept at 5am on Wednesday. I edited the WR from Tuesday night until 5 am on Wednesday morning. Then slept for 1.5hrs and went to school on my own. Didn't ask my father to send me cuz I'm a bit paiseh already. Cuz I have had a lot of late nights recently and he sent me to school quite regularly, sacrificing his sleep in the morning.

-kite making and flying and steamboat after school on Wednesday. Kite making was a very new experience for me and i think my group was quite blur throughout the kite making thing. But we made a nice small kite in the end (to my surprise). Other groups on the other hand seemed quite confident and they made really big and nice kites. A kite was also made for Mr Lum and it said Happy Teachers Day! It was a really nice and big kite.

But to my surprise, when we attempted to fly the kites we've made, it turned out that only our small lil' kite was flyable! Mr Lum exchanged his kite with me and told me his kite wouldn't fly
. After trying it out, I realised that there was a problem with the construction and explained the physics behind why it wouldn't fly. Then somehow after that I became known as the kite doctor and other groups asking me for prescriptions on why their kite wouldn't fly. lol. And Grace kept telling Jessie and the girls how I suited her 'story of Kah Ho'. lol. It was a really interesting story and I think it goes something like this:

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Kah Ho. He came from a poor family and had to sell buns to support his family (this was because every time Claire saw me, I was always holding a bun in my hand). As a result, he never liked the wasting of food (lol, this was because i told people not to waste food during invest) and was also a thrifty person who does not spend excessively. He rides a bicycle everywhere (she read my post about me cycling home in the rain and getting a fever after that) and often had to endure cycling in the rain. As he was very poor, his could only afford to fly kite as his pastime and eventually became very good at it. His childhood ambition was to become a kite doctor who could treat kites and help them fly high into the sky. But despite his sad childhood, he worked hard (somehow ppl always thought that I was very hardworking) for his future and eventually found success.

I was speechless after I heard the story. Claire said it was a very sad story. I think that it was such a nice and touching story(: Anyways, after the kite flying, we had debrief. Jin Xian and Ben Hong tried to be lame and was rather successful in doing so. They were interesting, but the part that was even more interesting was Jessie's expression- She looked like she was very pissed off but at the same time quite helpless at their lameness. lol.

More of JX and BH lameness at the steam boat. This time their target was Terence. Poor Terence, he had to endure what seemed like an endless stream of jokes targeted at him. Some of the jokes were quite interesting and they gave me new insights into joke telling (but i probably won't get to say them cuz I dun wanna hurt ppl's feelings). Terence was rather surprised at first when JX and BH said those mean jokes and after a while, he started wondering 'What on Earth did I (he) do to them?'. Haha. Well, all I can say is that Terence didn't do anything to them to deserve this. Rather, it was all jokes for joking sake, no harsh feelings. I guess we'll just have to play along and simply shrug it off with a laugh at times like this. haha.

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

And well, that will be our last OAC activity until promos and pw ends. And it looks like the holidays is coming! Time to draft out a plan (intensive mugging camp plan) for my precious holiday!

A Crazy Week

2007-08-18T21:17:00.000+08:00

Sigh, things have gotten really crazy these days and I find my life more and more screwed.

Firstly, I've been sick too many a time this week. First stomachache together with flu and sore throat on Monday. After the stomachache came the fever. Then the flu persisted. And when I finally recovered from the sickness, I became sick of the WR and the late nights.

Secondly, as a sick patient, I should be getting the rest that I need, but the reality is that I've been staying up very late each and every of these days, all because of my EoM and WR. I'm sure everyone else has been staying up just as late as well.

And lastly, my CCA activities these days end late and start early. Especially on Wednesday.

Wednesday

Wednesday, the activity packed day. I woke up in the morning and found that my fever had receded. No excuse to pon school. Or wait, I have an MC, so I can pon if I want. But then again, Nora, Dawn, Suyi and Shelvi are waiting in school for me early in the morning to paint our seniors' pebbles and they are all depending on me for the fabric paint. And I bought it yesterday, might as well put it to use. Sigh...

So I went to school. I placed the materials (for investiture) that I brought in the OAC stall early in the morning (I planned to go home and rest after the 2nd lesson) and went to paint the pebbles. The painting was quite fun and I might have forgotten about the flag-raising if not for Rachel...

Lessons were as normal. I had originally planned to pon school after the second lesson. Then I realised- there was a mock Physics SPA today. Shucks. I've missed the chem mock SPA, I can't afford another make-up if I ponned. So I sat through the whole physics SPA. I actually thought that I had the perfect results after the whole thing. And then my friend told me something. And I was like stun tio. Haha, sry I can't disclose what went wrong, cuz its a national exam and all...

After the SPA, Mrs Teai reminded us about the Current of Electricity tutorial, which is due today. Sianz. I haven't done it. And I was telling Suyi this morning about how I'm going to copy from someone. She replied that I probably won't do it cuz I don't look like the sort of person who will copy. How innocent. Looks CAN be deceiving. But then again, I really don't feel like copying. I would rather not hand in than copy. So sad to say, Suyi was right, I can't copy, its just not my style.

And next was econs lecture. Can't pon again, cuz econs is very important. Surprisingly I held on throughout the whole of the lecture without sleeping.

Then it was time to face the verdict. PW. Sadly, I had to be the one to tell Mr Lee that we couldn't hand in. And I had to stress that it was mostly done, what is left was my part, the intro, and the conclusion, which needs group effort. He gave me an extension until tomorrow. I tried to bargain for time and asked for Friday, cuz I have an investiture later today. He said no and he didn't want to listen to my explanation. Oh well.

After school was invest. Oh well, I did what I did, did my best to stay cheerful too. The whole thing went pretty smoothly EXCEPT for the activities part. The music player was missing during the Parcel Game! Then they impromptu-ed and used a handphone instead. The effect was terrible. Oh well... And the there was also the part on the Awards. I felt that there should be more to the Awards than just announcing the awards and then announcing the name after like, less than 1 minute. We had a photo taking session after the planned activities and the seniors gathered around me and took a picture with me, the new quartermaster. Guess what, after the photo, they simply grabbed my legs and went to pole me. lol. But I put up a very strong resistance (held on to a pole with all my power) and for quite a while they can't pull me away from the pole. They simply got reinforcements and some tickled me while others tried prying my fingers away. When they finally brought me towards the pole, I was so reluctant that I used my leg to stop the pole. But resistance was futile and yea, I got poled.

Everything ended at 9 plus and I asked my parents to fetch me. Happened that they are on the way and the timing was nice. Got home at around 10 (they had to buy my breakfast and send my grandma home). I was damn tired and tried doing my written report. But my tiredness got the better of me and I didn't get to do what I had set out to achieve. Slept at 12.30.

Thursday

I had to go to school early in the morning for an EXCO meeting. I got up late and got there ten minutes late at 7.25am. Discussed OAC stuff and took some pics afterwards. Before going for morning assembly.

GP was normal as usual and it rained heavily during PE so we were dismissed. I took the chance and did my WR in the OAC stall, where no one can disturb me (yes, I can't work under noises and disturbance). Finished my intro and went on the edit some of the grammar and content page.

Slept through the Physics and Chem Lectures without the slightest hesitation. Didn't even care if my friends viewed me differently (I wasn't supposed to be the type to sleep in lectures). Haha. But after 1 hour and 30 mins of sleep, I suddenly felt that I had a new lease of life. YEA! Sleep is best when you need it most. After my sleeping session, I went to Bytz and got Clayton to join me. The reason being I can't read his file cuz its in docx extension. So I got him to type out whatever he had written on the spot. And wow, I realised that he has god-like typing speed. And on top of that, fast thinking speed to match the typing speed as well. Or perhaps it was just me who was slow all the while. He completed his part, but we ate into econs tutorial as well. We walked into class late and Mr Tiew didn't seem to mind either.

After school I got together the group members and told them we need to write a conclusion for our WR. And the thing is I don't exactly know how. I suggested that we could summarise the feasibilities of our showcase ideas and discuss on the implications and future possibilities of our project. Then I can't really remember what happen. All I know is that there are lots of uncertainty and confusion and everything was sort of blurry.

Then the next thing I remember is that I was at the canteen. I don't really remember how and for what reason though. I think Clayton pulled me there or something cuz he told me that we shouldn't always be doing things for the group and they need to do the conclusion at least. Then after staying at the canteen at dunno how long, Shaun came down and showed me the conclusion that he had typed. I felt that it was a poor conclusion but didn't know how to put it across to him. Sigh. But I tried to explain that the tone and content was rather inappropriate and tried to show him what I meant by typing another conclusion.

Went home afterwards and started the editing of the WR. There was much to do, and in the end, I got the god-like Clayton to help me out. I edited an entire part of the WR and asked him to change TWO entire parts of the WR according to my format. While he was doing that, I got my Econs VA group members and discussed about the econs VA. At about 10.30 (or was that 11.30?) Clayton sent me what he edited. WOW! I was surprised. Yep, that was certainly work of quality that I had wanted and NEEDED. I knew he could do it, but certainly not THAT fast. He really is the super tanker. One who can tank entire proposals on his own. I still remembered how he did the entire Econs VA for his group. I admit that was crazy, having done the entire Econs VA for my own group myself too. But at the end of the day, I finally realised, we were on completely different level- I only had my will and my determination for perfection, but he had the speed and the abilities to go with his speed. Our quality are probably the same, mine perhaps slightly better because of my meticulous checking of the link and quality of every sentence. His speed was the clear advantage he had over me. After that, I continued my editing into the morning.

Towards the very end, I looked through my resources again to find inspiration for the conclusion. WOW! I found something and quickly wrote the conclusion. It was a new conclusion, both in content and in style. After a final read through, it was 4.45am. I went to sleep.

Friday

Woke up at 6.40am. My father drove me to school today. Submitted the WR and finally manage to continue from where I left off in Current of Electricity. I am already two days late and I'd better finish it today. I sat with Eugenia, Clement, Melissa and Shu Jun at the round tables. I couldn't quite concentrate with them around cuz I kinda get distracted when there are people chatting.

And a blah blah blah and school is over. Everything wasn't quite in focus throughout the day, people commented that I look soulless, some asked if I were ok (which I bluntly replied, no, I wasn't), others were surprised that I slept through the entire Econs lecture, break time and lunch (basically whenever I could). Other things include being questioned (scolded?) by Mrs Teai by not handing in COE.

And that's not all, there was Physics make-up class after school. I paid attention during the make-up (due to the sleep I got during lectures, break, lunch, etc) and learnt a lot. Afterwards, we got back our test results for the previous Physics test. I got 20/30. I felt it was pretty ok since I thought I screwed the paper. My target would be something like 23 or something... It turned out that I scored higher than a lot of other people and, well, I had to say I was surprised that I beat Clayton and Shaun too. After that, we had our Oscillation and Waves class test. I was very nervous since I didn't even study for it, but when the test started, everything went ok. I also got to apply what I had just learnt in the lecture and I was glad that I had paid attention. When we peer marked, I discovered I got 11/11 for my test! That's for the peer marking part, but I don't know if I can still keep the full marks once the teacher marked the definitions (i crapped out the definitions). lol. The paper which I marked sadly got 1/11. The only mark that I had awarded him was for drawing a 4mm arrow.

After I got home, I simply ate dinner and slept at 8.45pm. Woke up today at 10am. Wow! The feeling when I woke up was- heavenly! I felt like a dead brought back to the living world.

And hence, I have made up my mind, that I shall be reborn to this world as the super mugger. I'll clear up the mess that this crazy week has brought upon me this weekend.

Watch out for the Super Mugger.

Down with Fever

2007-08-14T17:34:00.000+08:00

Sniff sniff. My flu wouldn't stop. Now I've got a really bad sore throat and a fever. Here's how I got my fever:

It started raining when I was on the bus on my way home. When I got out of the bus, it was still pouring heavily. It doesn't look as if it'll stop anytime soon, so i just cycled in the rain to BP Plaza to buy some fabric paint. The paint was for painting the pebbles tmr, which was to be the gift to our Pesek seniors. Yep, so i had no choice but to get the paint. After freezing for some time in Popular, I went to NTUC to get some gummy worms for tmr's investiture activities. Yep, guess what, I froze for even longer in there cuz i couldn't quite find the worms. After the purchasing of the items, I cycled home in the rain again.

Hence the fever.

Sniff.

And the flu still won't stop, despite the flu pills. Just took another flu pill and I'm starting to feel drowsy now. What about the written report?

Ah, can't take it anymore, I HAVE to sleep.

My 'Bestest' Birthday...

2007-08-13T17:55:00.000+08:00

Today is my birthday! Ah well, this has got to be my 'bestest' birthday ever! Look at what I've gotten for my presents:

1. A stomachache!
2. Runny nose!
3. Sore throat!
4. An EoM to do!
5. A website to build!
6. A Written Report to submit!!!

Wow, that's wonderful, isn't it? And what's more, I can't even eat my cake cuz people with stomachaches cannot take cream. Haha.

Oh well, at least I'm glad that the stomachache has receded as of now. And I'm glad that there are friends who know that its my birthday today! (Mostly through seeing my msn nick but nevertheless...)

Nothing much to type, cuz a bit drowsy now.

Study Study and More Studying!!!

2007-08-09T11:21:00.000+08:00

Wow, 4 days of studying time for me is what I am desperately in need of! I've been so busy and tired the past 3 days that I havent had any time for homework. Well, actually I can burn the midnight oil if I wanted, but it would be really bad for my health. And yes, I'm not a hard core mugger like Clayton, so you really can't compare me with him-our goals are different in the first place.

Well, let's see what happened the past 3 days...

Firstly, there's the flag-raising rehearsal on Monday and Tuesday. Yep, I'm supposed to be the flag-raiser for the NDC! What honor eh? But then again, my timing wasn't very good and it would be such an embarrassment if I had screwed up on the actual day. Throughout the rehearsals I wasn't confident of my timings and even during the last rehearsal, I was still very nervous. Out of desperation, I suddenly had a foolproof plan! At around 30 mins before the start of the parade, I pasted pieces of masking tape on the string to mark out different parts of the songs and paced myself using these markings. After a few last minute rehearsals, I felt that my plan was simply flawless. During the actual flagraising, I simply raised the flag with perfect timing! Wow, that was easy, wasn't it?

Secondly, we (OAC) had to build this structure for the NDC. We had a trial run last Monday and we only got to the first of the two levels that we were planning to build. Well, this time we had two days to build the structure. On Monday, there was labour shortage and two of our scouts couldn't make it. So I finally got the chance to climb on the structure and help out! Yay! It turned out that tying the lashes were much more fun than doing the step-base... And mind you, just because this is my first time doesn't mean I do slip-shot lashings. With every round I make I put in all my strength and energy in tightening the ropes. I also check to make sure that the ropes are tied neatly with no overlapping. Haha, actually it wasn't really hard and there was really nothing to be proud about once you are used to pioneering. But anyway, we worked until around 9pm and by then we had only completed level 1. So we decided that we have to drop the building of the second level and just make do with a one level structure.

On Tuesday, we completed the rest of the structure with two horizontals, two diagonals, the platform and the ladder. It was relatively easy work for most of us (excluding Kevin and Claire who were tying the whole platform) and we went home at around 8pm, earlier than yesterday. On the actual day itself, Trent, the VP of Council, climbed the ladder and stuck the flag in one of the poles successfully. Then Mr Loh pulled a string and declared the start of the NDC. Well, that's all there is to it. The use of our two days worth of effort-described in two sentences! lol! Ok, so our structure has only one minute of fame, but at the end of the NDC, we took pictures with our dear structure with us standing on top! Yea!

After the tearing down of the structure, I heard something from someone about what someone had said. It was sad to learn that some unfeeling dude actually commented that our structure wasn't impressive at all and that it was very messy. Well, we all know that its a fact and that's the truth. So why bother to make such comments? Nobody asked for comments anyway... But one thing is for sure, we are all going to get better in the time to come.

Yeah, that's the major happenings in these few days. My father gave me a haircut too, but there wasn't much to say about it. It didn't come out as I want it to be... And well, my father said he found the haircut ok-short and neat, just like a good schoolboy. Yea, this haircut was probably popular around 30 years ago... But nevertheless, nobody cares about boys' hair (unless they're spiked) so it doesn't really matter.

Today will be the start of my homework spree. So the conclusion is that THERE WILL BE NO SLACKING during this holiday. Just like my usual practice, a list of homework... (be surprised by how much I haven't done)

-Waves (yes, I haven't even started doing)
-Superposition

-Nomenclature (yes, I haven't even started doing)
-Aliphatic Hydrocarbons (same as the above)
-Chemical Equilibrium

-Integration Tutorial 2 (yes, I have been on it for 2 weeks already!!!)
-Integration Tutorial 3
-Differential Equations

-Econs Essay Presentation
-Econs VA Presentation

-Written Report 1st draft
-EoM second draft (Actually it's a redo since I screwed up the first one)
-And a lot of other crap that we have to do for PW....

Although most people would have finished most of the above, I'm still surprised to know that there are actually people going out to have fun during this 4 days of 'holiday'. We only have less than 6 weeks to study for promos and this is probably our best chance to revise.

Oh well, I guess there exist people other than Ivan who has a solid 'plan' to revise just 1 week before the exam and still do amazingly well. Either that or they just love their J1 life so much.

Freedom

2007-08-05T11:55:00.000+08:00

Freedom! At last!

Wow, this has been a very busy week, not just for me, but for many of us (assuming that you pia everything last minute), that's why I haven't been updating. Let's see what happened this past week.

Monday

Maths today was a wow. It seems like I was the only one who finished Integration 1... I'm surprised that even Clayton the super mugger, Hao Bo the mugger in training and Shaun the Maths genius haven't already completed it yet. Anyway, as a follow-up, I didn't really finish my Integration 2 on Sunday, but nevermind that, I'm quite contented with Integration 1 already! Yea!

During econs, we were told to prepare for our econs va (varied assessment) presentation. I choose the time slot on week 7, about 2 weeks from now. Sigh, I think the presentation's gonna be a screw up. There was insufficient research done and after reading John Sloman (the author of an economics textbook, but we call the book John Sloman for short), I suddenly had a hundred and one ideas of how to improve on my VA. How should I present my old project when even I find that its not solid? And even worse, how should I start briefing my group about what to present when I was the one doing almost the whole proposal? Sianz...

Attended the talk by HOD of Maths today cuz I didn't meet my subject combination requirements. Well, I find his speaking style quite interesting and amusing, just like Mrs Teai, but one of my friends said that he was sarcastic. I didn't care, I still find it very amusing. lol. He also told us that we have 8 weeks left, so its about 2 weeks for each subject. Haha. If I had 2 weeks for each subject, I would be god-like. The fact is, we don't have that much time. My estimate is that we have only around 3 day's worth of time for each subject. If we go home at 5pm and sleep at 10pm, we would have 5 hours to study every day. And by allocating all the homework to the weekends, it would be something like 5X14= 70 hours, about 3 days every week. When I told my friends about my rough estimate, they were shocked. But I didn't bother explaining too much and just told them glhf (good luck have fun) if they are still planning to slack.

After school I had a talk with Mr Tiew about my econs grade and how to take the shortest route to getting my A. (Yes, I always want shortcuts). We discussed for quite some time and here is what I felt was the main points of the discussion:

1. Read the chapters in John Sloman that he has identified for me. I can start with the current chapters first and go back later when I have more time.
2. John Sloman provides good evaluation and analysis of economic theories (I find this very true after reading through)
3. If I want an A, John Sloman is a necessity, but not a guarantee.
4. Read up about recent happenings and apply my economics knowledge to explain the happenings. After all, questions are usually set from recent events.
5. Practice, practice and more practice. After every practice, make appointments with him and he will go through my essays with me personally.

After the discussion, I felt empowered and confident. Yes, I can do it! I'm going to make John Sloman my Bible starting from today and faithfully read it every night (when I have the time)!

After that, I went for the NDC structure building rehearsal. I was somewhat late, but I still managed to find the others at the spar shed and helped them transport the spars to NJC heights. Afterwards, we were briefed and we got to work. Benedict taught me the diagonal lashing and the timber hitch. He also told me that frapping is the most important and the hardest to carry out in diagonal lashing. And a lot of other things happened, but all I can say is that we got to the first level of the structure (it has two levels) when it rained and we had to untie the knots and lashings immediately. I was wearing my school uniform so you can imagine how jia lat it was...We didn't untie the whole structure in the rain of course, we undid some lashings and brought the structure to the linkway. After undoing the whole structure, it stopped raining and we were all like sian diao. But we kept the spars and the ropes anyway and called it a day...

I went home feeling so fatigue and tired that I didn't have the mood to do my EoM that was due tomorrow. But I read through the article any ways and did some annotations. Then my eyes gave way and I fell asleep.

Tuesday

I woke up at 5am beside the com. Blurrishly, I remembered what happened and in a panic, I started doing my EoM. I chiong until 6am and gave up. I only had 300+ words and those words don't make sense to me at all. Then i did something really stupid. I clicked the cross on the top right hand corner and selected 'no'. Then I remembered staring at the com for a few minutes, after which I began desperately searching for my document. Which obviously I couldn't find.

Went to school today telling all my friends about this incident. None of them believed me. I didn't believe myself either.

Project Work (PW) period. Got scolded in front of the class. Mr Lee mentioned that he won't take any reasons like I'm busy (Not targeting only me but to all those out there) or whatsoever. And he said that group leaders should be leading their groups and he doesn't know what 'some' of us are doing. Sigh, what an embarrassment. Some of my peers took me as role models and yet here I am, shamed in front of the class. Anyway, he gave all those who didnt do one final chance- tmr morning before 7.40. I thanked him for his leniency.

After school, OAC EXCO meeting. Discussed a lot of stuff. I didn't quite contribute much and I was quite guilty being so quiet. But really, if I have nothing to say, then the only thing I could do was to remain quiet. The meeting was rather efficient and all the others were really very good in contributing ideas and there wasn't much that I could oppose to or question. Anyway, we played 'oh-ya-bei-ya-som' and i was the odd one out, so I had the honour of writing out the proposal for the programmes part.

Got back home and pia-ed my EoM. Spent all my time at the com and time passes really fast. Finished at 1am. I read and re-read the EoM and was glad that it made sense. All the grammar was correct and there were no spelling mistakes and there was link too. Satisfied, I printed it out and kept in my bag just in case and went to sleep.

Wednesday

Handed in EoM way before 7.30am.

Had Physics SPA skill B today. Didnt even revise. I thought it couldnt be too bad. Turned out that I screwed up my table and redrew my table. In the end, I started the 'real' experiment 15 minutes after the practical started. In this 15 minutes, the two examiners were walking around and I think they looked at my set up for quite some time and was wondering why I havent started yet. Sianz... In the end, I just went on with the experiment. Seeing that there wasn't much time left, I cheated one reading and went ahead with the calculation and the graph. In the end, the reading which I cheated was anomalous. Imagine my horror...Then I sian diao and just wrote my comments on the experiment. Didn't even redo the anomalous point nor even cheat the point. I explained that since we were only given one wire, I cannot redo the point. What crap was that? Anyway no time also, so what can i do?

OAC after school. A storyline of Voldemort disrupting the lives of fairytale characters was introduced for OACians to learn about knots and lashings in a new and interesting way. Initially, I thought that Charmaine and Kai Ting were supposed to be the station masters at all of the stations since they didn't involve the EXCO. But in the end, they unexpectedly got four OACians (Mervyn, Benedict, Shu Ning and Claire) just before the activity and briefed them on what to do as station masters. But nevertheless, the whole thing went quite ok in my opinion. Then we had road run after the activity. All in all, the activities were well received by the OACians in general. After that, in the EXCO debrief, Jessie mentioned that its better for the EXCO to be station masters of future activities. The reasons were:

1. Members came down to enjoy the activities. If we get them to be station masters, we are actually being unfair to them (They are doing what we should be doing).
2. Inpromptu station masters might not do exactly what we had planned out initially and it would have wasted our efforts.

Hmm, her comments were certainly insightful and yep, I think its something we should all keep in mind in future activities. Again, the speaker was right and I didn't have anything to say. So as usual, I was quiet. And that's very bad, cuz I ought to speak out more.

When I got home, I was very tired as usual (Not really the usual, but just for this week.) Made a list of homework to do:

1. GP VA (Due on Fri)
2. Investiture Proposal (Due soon, probably tmr)
3. PW (analysis of surveys and construction of timeline)
4.Waves Tutorial (Going through tmr and I havent even read my notes)
5. Work Energy Power, Forces and Dynamics MCQ Worksheets

Being overloaded with things to do, i just heck care 3, 4 and 5. But even so, to prioritize between 1 and 2 is difficult. I sms-ed Jessie earlier on in the day about the deadline of the invest proposal. She said to do it asap. I guess she's just trying to make things less difficult for me so she didn't give me a deadline. In the end, I did some research for GP VA first and did a part of Invest proposal and nothing was completed. Kept on reading my articles until I couldn't take it and went to sleep.

Thursday

Woke up at 6am as usual. Then I realised that its a Thursday. Switched on the com and did some research until 7. 40. Got to the bus stop at 7.50. I thought I was going to make it on time cuz e bus usually takes 20-30 mins to reach school. Then it turned out that the first bus that came was super full and the driver didn't even bother stopping. So I boarded the second bus at 7.55. Still early, I thought, so I brought out my John Sloman and started reading. When I reached school, I saw Mr Tong and two rows of students. My watch read 8.32. I'm late. Sianz...

Physics and Chem lect was after PE. Late nights + early mornings + PE + LT5 + hypnotic voices =? Need I tell say more? Yes, I slept. Its the second time that I've slept so soundly through two lectures (first time being the day after the fateful night where I pia-ed the entire gpp for my group). When I woke up after one and a half hours (around 10 mins left before Chem lec ends), I realised that the lecturer had already finished the entire lecture notes! 20+ pages in ONE lecture?!? That was unheard of! I was amazed and a bit disappointed that I had missed out such a turning point in nj's lecture efficiency (from as fast as 3-7 pages a lecture to 20!). I guess that spells lots of hard work this weekend...

Had a Chem lecture test after school today. Although I didn't really study, I was able to crap something out for most of the questions. MCQ was zzz. Made the same mistakes as common test. After I have fixed my Econs, I'm seriously going to start doing my chem TYS and make sure I don't make stupid mistakes again.

Got home at around 5+ today and pia-ed my gp va. At around 11pm, Jessie called me asked me how was the proposal going. Well, I told her the truth- it was half complete and I was rushing through my gp va. She said she's planning to submit the proposal tonight and ask me to send her what I've done already. So I did. Imagine the relieve. Its like you suddenly had a 1000 ton burden lifted off your shoulders. I am immensely grateful but at the same time, guilty of letting her do my portion of work. Sigh... But I didn't have much time to think about guilt, I just tried to focus on my gp va.

Friday

Finished gp va at 4am in the morning! Hooray! Why did it take so long? For one, I had lots of trial and errors and after halfway, I decided that doing on the computer was impossible and did it on paper. Then I redid the mindmap on paper and I was very scared that I would write something wrong and I would have to liquid paper the errors. It was a really scary process. But as the mindmap develops, things started to get easier. In the end, I only used the liquid paper once for a very minor error. I was very satisfied with the final product and felt that as someone who didn't have any artistic talent, I did ok. Here is my final mind map:

Then I went to sleep and woke up at 6.40am. I thought I was going to be late just like yesterday but when I reached school, it was only 7.23am! Whew, what a relieve!

First period, econs! Free period. What a pity, I was chionging to school and because John Sloman was a big and heavy book, I didn't bring it to school. Second period. Mrs Teai didn't come cuz she had to accompany her harmonic band to dunno where. A relieve teacher took us instead. Maths lecture was easy to understand. Econs lecture was easy too, cuz I had been reading my bible and everything was just like a revision to me. Chem tutorial and maths tutorial was smooth flowing as well!

Wow! My day was so smooth that I was surprised! Got home early (ponned chess training), got complacent and started reading a new manga series by CLAMP called X/1999. Got addicted to it pretty soon but I forced myself to stop and go to sleep.

Woke up at 9pm. Ate my dinner and read X/1999 at the same time. I forced myself to stopped again at 11.30 and went to sleep.

Saturday

Life had turned into heaven and not hell. I was reading manga and playing games the whole afternoon and was lazing around, eating snacks and wow, it was hard to imagine how a slacker like me had actually endured such a terrible week! I was so lazy that I wasn't willing to even update my blog.

But then I remembered self-discipline suddenly and took out my bible and started reading. I read and I was enlightened by the teachings of various economists. Before long, I was so engrossed in reading the bible that I forgot all about the manga and the game. I read on and on until dinner.

After dinner, I had a talk with my parents about how they can help me in economics and I also told them interesting stories about my form teacher, Meena Kaur. After that was a night of great sleep.

Sunday

Ok, I haven't been doing much homework and I will finish most of them by today (hopefully)

Here's yet another homework list:

1. Econs Essay
2. WEP, Dynamics and Forces MCQ worksheet
3. Waves Tutorial
4. Nomenclature Tutorial
5. Aliphatic Hydrocarbons Tutorial
6. Read up on Superposition
7. Read up on Chemical Equilibrium
8. Finish Integration Tutorial 2
9. Finish Integration Tutorial 3

Wow, that was really quite a lot wasn't it? And to think I have spent half my day reflecting on the past week... It's 3.30 now. If I chiong now I think I could finish up to 5. That would be 5/9, a pass already...

Yep, so that's it for now. Gotta do my homework already, if not I'll fail all my subjects... And wow, if anyone actually managed to read up till here, that's really impressive!

Sunday 29 July

2007-07-29T10:03:00.000+08:00

Friday and Saturday, two very busy days. So much things had happened and I dont have the time to write it out. Here is a back track of what happened:

Friday.

Clayton asked me to be free on the 26th of August to run some 10km marathon with him. I wasnt too sure about that (its been at least 3 months ever since i did any real running?) but i told him ok anyway.

The OAC helpers were dismissed at 10.50 today to help out the CO. We are really the odd job people- we help carry the instruments for the CO people, we help them do the backstage and we are supposed to transform into ushers if VCH doesn't allow the moving of the chairs. And the bad thing, according to Jess is that we cant reject their request even if doing backstage has no link to OAC. Well, personally I dont mind helping out, and I find that it's a great experience anyway, since I've never done any backstage before. But the thing is, CO's stage managers are rather last minute and in the 3 rehearsals that we had before the actual concert, new changes was made every round and we can't really familiarize ourselves with the arrangement. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure of what to do until the final changes were made on the actual day.

We arrived at VCH at around 1+ and helped carried the stuff and all. When we got to the backstage, I found a water cooler! That was such a surprise! Next time you go to VCH, you know where to sneak to to get water! And next, we prepared ourselves for the final rehearsal. I anticipated a lot of waiting time between the pieces, so i took out my Integration 2 notes and started reading. Very extra right? I must have given the OAC people the impression that I'm a mugger and that is very bad...But something terrible happened! Some joker stole my notes along with my water bottle when I went to the toilet! It's true! Before I went to the toilet, I saw my notes with my water bottle on the handle of the front seat-it was so prominent I couldn't have missed it. But when I went back, it was gone! I searched all around and could find totally no trace of it! lol.

The concert was great and the OAC did great too! All the problematic transitions were done excellently (i won't dare to say flawlessly) on the actual concert and I was pretty satisfied with the way things went. At the end of the day, we all felt satisfied with what we 'achieved'. Those who resented helping CO out initially felt had a great sense of accomplishment at the end of this event and decided to forget about all those troubles and last minute arrangements that CO made us go through.

We went for a supper at 老巴刹. Had satay and black carrot cake. Then we went home. On the bus, I realised something! I had lost my pencil! THE PENCIL! Omg... When and where did I lose it? I still had it when we were at 老巴刹. I was really depressed, I still am. It was a pencil that my grandfather found on the street some 10 years ago and gave it to me. With that gift, he wished that I would study hard and be a great man. He wanted me to stay away from the path that he took (being a junk collector). I was immensely touched and although it was quite an old pencil, I had treasured it deeply and had deep emotional ties with it. And now it is gone. Just gone. I thought of taking a bus back to search for it but then realised that I dont know where to stop and I'll get lost if I stopped at the wrong place. So in the end, I had to stay on the bus, and with my beloved pencil, gone for good.

Saturday.

Integration day. Did integration the whole day with Huangzhi. I always find it very amusing, how doing maths was like playing a game-you learn the rules, you play the game. And how you always have a sense of achievement when you finished the game earlier than your fellow gamers. What is more amusing is that the game designers actually nag you to finish their games if you refuse to play them. This is certainly interesting isn't it? Anyways, I completed the whole of Integration Tutorial 1 (90+ questions! woot!) and started on Integration Tutorial 2. I'm going to continue and hopefully finish up Tutorial 2 today. Other than that, there's still lots of other 'GAMES' left for me to play with after this. lol. Here's a list of the games:

1. Waves Tutorial
2. Nomenclature tutorial
3. GP AQ
4. SPA Skill B Revision
5. Econs Revision
6. Work Energy Power MCQ
7. GP Varied Assessment
8. PW EOM

Wow, that's a lot isn't it? Looks like I won't be able to finish Integration by today...No more time to waste, gotta start playing now!

1st entry!!!

2007-07-26T19:49:00.001+08:00

Bet you must be thinking "omg. kah ho started a blog?!? Is that for real?" Haha... Yep, it IS for real!

lol. so what is my blog for? Basically for those who want to know me better and for me to know myself better (Yep, you must be surprised, but i dont seems to know myself very well either). And ya, i heard blogging helps to relieve stress (or is it excessive blogging that created the stress in the first place?) so i hope to blog to relieve some stress too!

Today I paced with clayton during PE for his 2.4. We ran a special route on the concrete path and around the fence. His pace was pretty good and he was quite fast. I felt that we did quite ok and should clock in a time of around 10.15 or so if he continued the pace. However, when I saw the timing after we completed the run, I was shocked! 9.15!!! How can that be?!? I remembered giving my all during the 2.4 some months ago and i only had a 9.30. I wasnt even using my sprinting during the last round while pacing with him and even though the pace was ok, I felt that i could still go faster. Sub 9 would be nothing! So i told mr sham and ms tan about his timing and asked if i could have my timing changed. mr sham said ok, but ms tan said i would have to redo my NAPFA. Redoing was fine with me, cuz i could have another attempt at getting the 1 extra point that i didnt get for standing broad jump. Gotta start training now!

My class also received our progress reports today. Shaun was the only one who passed all his subjects. haha. i received the green form (for ppl who didnt pass all their subjects), but its expected already lah . Anyway when I looked at my report slip, I was quite happy lah...Even though I screwed up, I was better than the average for most of my subjects.

Here's what I got: 72% for chem, 23% for econs, 46% for gp, 84% for chem and 96% for physics.

Not bad right? Had I known I'm in the top 4% for physics, I would have gone to the teacher to claim my 1 mark (she counted wrongly) and another possible extra 2 marks (the answer is correct and the workings made sense to me). Then my 67.5 could have been pushed to 68.5 or 70.5, an A!!! But considering how my friends fared, i was contented and didnt want to be so extra and go claim the marks.

As for my econs, though it was disappointing, it was somewhat expected. I really cant help it for the CT, but for promos, I am determined to pass my econs (>50). If I dont get >50, I shall have no life and be a full-time mugger, like ivan and huang zhi and clayton and hao bo and shi hao (and the list goes on...)

And just as an update, I just got into OAC EXCO last week and am the quartermaster!!! Haha, I'm new to taking up a leadership position but I will give my best now that I'm in the EXCO! Yea! We've got CO backstage these days and sigh, things are getting a little busy...

Yep, I'm going to do my hmwk now, so i shan't continue anymore. Bye!

From my Past,
To my Future.