Let's talk about inessentials, necessities, and life.

Gone.

2007-05-23T19:46:00.000+08:00

We have moved on. To a new dimension. Goodbye little BG. Goodbye fair chatbox. Goodbye dear wishlist. Goodbye everything I stood for, even that little post which got the world of friends rocking and commenting like mad.

Goodbye Blogger!

I won't miss you.

I'd prefer to stay in my cosy new home.

Official Announcement: Humps ahead.

2007-05-04T20:39:00.000+08:00

We never thought of this, that it would happen this way
We never knew of the tribulations that will lead us astray
We never knew, We never knew.

We never read into the lines so much
We never got the meaning of words as such
We never knew, We never knew.

We never thought it'd happen to us
We never dreamed it would come to pass
We never knew, We

But now we know and now we realise,
Now we see and now we visualise,
Now we know, Now we know.

It is hard to cope with unseen intolerability,
needless to say face-to-face conversations, with insanity.

Am I just emotional, sensitive, or simply filled with hatred for one another? I can't figure out.

Unless I get over this tough ride of throat inflammation. >.<

The DE No. 3: Of Voices & Intolerables

2007-05-01T00:10:00.000+08:00

I lost my voice, badly. I regained part of it, but still can't sing Bad Day properly; now people think I can't sing for nuts.

Today was really sucky. Tiredness and fatigue soon took over when I realised one question:

"Why do I even bother? Look at the rest!"

Not going to say too much; but we're turning 24 on wednesday.

Hooray for the 24th SC!

But today was totally shitty.

What a load of bullcrap for tonight.

PW - I think teachers are the reason.

2007-04-27T23:46:00.000+08:00

I shan't say much, but today was a sucky day.

And someone just made it worse at 3.50pm.

I don't like it one bit.

The DE No.2: Relentless pursuit of stability and happiness

2007-04-24T22:17:00.000+08:00

The issue everyone yearns to talk about; the issue that sets hearts beating to its fast paced stride and induces adrenaline pumping; the one taboo thing in certain countries, which might put you to death if mentioned; the favourite word of Casanovas, yet used inappropriately by themselves; the word to be avoided by youths who have immature thoughts about life and what it has to offer.

Have you guessed it yet?

Yes, it's none other than love.

The definition of love is the subject of considerable debate, enduring speculation, and thoughtful introspection. Some tackle the difficulty of finding a universal definition for love by classifying it into types, such as passionate love, romantic love, and committed love. However, some of these types of love can be...

Love nowadays has been transformed by a modern societal change in perception; love has been loosely related to as sexual desire, lust for the partner, or even puppy love.

Stepping into a mixed culture environment (and by culture I mean the opposite genders) this year has been a very strange experience; somehow I feel I'm not getting any more used to it than when I first stepped in.

It's awkward that you really want to talk to a person of the opposite sex but yet you cannot pluck up the courage to do so. It is embarrassing because you may run out of topics to talk about with the other party during conversations as well. That's when conversation starters come into play.

Take for example today; I was having a short discussion with my co-emcee Stephanie for CT investiture on the 9th of May. It was pretty short, sharp but somehow rather tasteless because it was purely professional speak. I didn't have the knowledge to ask her about "randomic" events and questions that may interest her.

Maybe it's too much of a gender difference. (But people say I'm Himbotic, how can that be?)

Then again, there are people who make me feel comfortable around them; people who can connect with you and start conversations somehow. That is the people I like to talk to.

Please do forget the few paragraphs above, as we return to the topic.

Love, is it a warranty for us to engage in shameless flirtatious acts and merciless flings? Is love something to be toyed around with, only to toss it out of our windows the moment it fails us? Is love an entity that everyone is entitled to have, or must you risk your values and material for it? Is love demanding, or do you think love is all about receiving?

Most importantly, is love really the ideal of the human life? Does it hold at least 75% (that's an A.) importance in your lives? Or do you play down the priority, and place your personal obsessions above it?

Love, is love a game? Do we toss the dice of chance to see where it lands; then follow its decrees religiously? Or do we take the reins of the sleigh and maneuver it whichever direction we want it to go?

Do you yearn for love? Are you seeking to find true love? What is true love anyway? Is there anything such as fake love? So how much is unrequited love? How do you quantify it?

Got love?

-inessentialite

The Daily Emotional: Of Black Tags & Spiderman

2007-04-23T23:26:00.000+08:00

The end of the old beginnings, the start of a new end, with a beginning to await for.

New responsibilities, new authorities and new fun to await for. It's not a new step forward for me, but yet a new experience awaits.

Confusion was swept away, as I recall in January. I didn't regret joining Council. It was a good choice, and I'm glad I did not turn back. It gave me ample space to grow from childish and immature to a mature thinker (despite my outwardly actions, I'm still "deep": quote Jomtang).

My life was transformed from nothing to something the moment Council stepped in, because it filled in that hole in my JC life. Without it, I wouldn't have given two hoots to CCAs. But Council was definitely for me.

In a week, black tags adorned, new responsibilities, new authorities, and new fun to await for.

I'll miss the 23rds, and 24ths, here we come.

The Relentless: A Preview

2007-04-22T20:43:00.000+08:00

Days pass by as the tantalising smell of spring whips past my face; my nose ever-so-seemingly willing to follow the trail it leaves.

Sweet melodies of the Earth began to fill ears of those who yearned; those whose senses have been unceasingly stimulated for the past 6 years of their lives since they were 12. Reluctant to let their mouths go astray, they let the sides of their heads do the talking instead.

The salty essence of the morning's glory never failed to amaze me with its fulfilling scent; accompanied by rushing waves crashing upon the sands of the earth.

No one ever saw that shadow passing by; as she walked along the shoreline, feet dusting against the seashells which lined up neatly against the crests of waves.

The search began.

It was two separate stories, two different times, but somehow managing to fuse up into a single and sad story.

The beginning of something new.

2007-04-21T21:57:00.000+08:00

And it all started with a few keys.

The music drifted far and above.

how can I?

Big dreams, but a small heart undertakes it. Can he succeed?

2007-04-20T21:57:00.000+08:00

Me and you,
Setting in a honeymoon.
If I woke up next to you.
(If I woke up next to you.)
Me and you,
Setting in a honeymoon.
If I woke up next to you.
(If I woke up next to you.)

Frustration. Bitterness. Resent. Hate. Anger. Aggravation.

Strong feelings that seem to do wonders to temperaments. But what for? All to no avail, all to useless and futile attempts. We live as Victoria, we represent Victoria, we have Victoria, we keep Victoria, we show Victoria, we ARE Victoria.

Abstract is an attitude, not a description.

I'm feeling it right now.

Words hidden between columns and rows of more words, unencumbered numbered words, hundreds of pages for words, more words than I have ever heard and I feel so alive.

You and I both, it won't happen, at least not now, at least not for the next few minutes, not for the next few months. I'm not deprived.

I miss Victoria; yet I represent Victoria. I miss Victoria, yet I am Victoria. I miss Victoria, yet I live Victoria.

Thank you once again!

2007-04-16T22:50:00.000+08:00

I want to thank the Lord.

Although disappointment inevitably set in; it wore off soon after I pondered and contemplated the implications if I did get it.

More scoldings and nagging from parents, for coming home late on Saturdays; due to meetings.
More complaints about late nights spent in front of the computer; typing miscellanous stuff out which doesn't seem to make any sense to them.
Cannot concentrate on my passion in music, thus losing my enjoyment in my calling.
Less ability to form a band in VJC!
The dismemberment of the definition of "Time", essentially creating a question in my head; "What is time?"

Thank God! Praise Him in the highest!

It's the end of the line, as a new beginning draws near.

2007-04-15T21:43:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow!

Alas, the morning light we cannot grasp as yet; till we unwillingly succumb ourselves to the warm and gentle caress of the night's soft glow.

Keep the lights on; I'm afraid of the dark! I shall frantically panic with the bedsheets; thoughts tumbling up and down through my head. I just can't get to sleep.

Mind-boggling life's mysteries. Every little one of them never failing to speak to you in profound tones; unwittingly deceiving your souls.

It's here, revelation.

Not that I relish the thought of it; neither do I loathe the imminent detrimental delegation.

Ahh, alliteration; how nice to see you once again!

When people change, they leave us pondering.

2007-04-14T16:34:00.001+08:00

I could never look at them the same way as before.

All I want to do.

2007-04-11T22:43:00.000+08:00

is to get a freaking good rest.
is to pray for a weekend.
is to reach the weekend.
is to go for music fest.
is to get away from routinized way of life and escape into the wilds.
is to relive my old kindergarten memories.
is to watch the choir symphony of voices concert on 15th of May.
is to earn money and pay for the concerts i agreed to go to.
is to sleep really well tonight because tomorrow is a long day beckoning our souls.
is find a way back into love. [music & lyrics]
is to talk to my besties in vj.
is to listen to sounds of the wind in my ears and brushing past my face @ ECP.
is to run until my lungs burst.
is to reach out for the stars, land on the moon, and never come back to earth again.
is to pon school for one whole day and just stone at home, doing nothing except watch TV.
is to embarrass myself in front of the whole school during morning assembly.
is to think of a way of how to do that.
is to talk to Him; who listens and cares.
is to have fun.
is to say we trashed HCI 11-6 in softball boys.
is to repeat my happiness and jubilee in today's match.
is to stop typing.
is to really just give up blogging.
is to ponder some more.

and then some more. and some more.

Play That Funky Music White Boy.

2007-04-09T23:01:00.000+08:00

Lay down the boogie and play that funky music til' you die...

Greetings to my faithful fans. It has been really really breezy here because of your ardent support (all you fans are set to power 5 eh?).

Anyway, we had match support this evening. Shan't comment on it so much but frankly it was a enriching experience although coupled with some obstacles faced; but overall it was a good experience.

Meet my new friend:

Honey!

And yes it shall be my saving grace for the weeks/months to come!

Hooray for cheering; hooray for VJC!

Oh and we won HCI 1-0 in Soccer today. :)

Inadequacy and Support

2007-04-08T22:59:00.000+08:00

Hello all you fellow loyal readers out there! I warmly welcome you to read my latest post.

State of Inadequacy encountered!

Please apply if interested in support!

+65********

Yes yes, after today's practice at church, I realise I need drum training. Even if Move Along may seem easy to the drummers out there (a.k.a the simplest song to drum to!); I cannot accomplish it.

So please teach me co-ordination. Please teach me synchronisation.

Please teach me to learn.

On another note; I love my new Air Zoom Vomero+ 2.

Trip to Shoes' San Francisco

2007-04-07T00:22:00.000+08:00

Good Friday was unexpectedly a busy day for me. Didn't have a chance to actually wake up late since church was on at 9.30AM. Had to go help out with chairs and stuff. Menial work as usual; and then got to the service part. I do not wish to lie but I was nodding off at the later half of the service. It was really tiring and my mind went blank several times.

The speaker was (to be brutally honest) really lame, his jokes were either:

a) heard before
b) too deep to understand
c) simply un-funny

and when someone calls you unfunny, you are not lame; you're just not fit for a joker.

So anyway, after GF service, I went back home, did a bit of work and then went to sleep. Oh what a fulfilling sleep it was. Even if it was a mere half-hour or so, it still satisfied and hit the spot. For so long did I not have afternoon naps! Ever since I entered secondary school, I lost that piece of vocabulary.

After which, my parents and sister took me out to Queensway shopping centre to look for shoes! Oh yes, I got my shoes already. They were the Nike Air Zoom Vomero+ 2! Check it out here.

And yes, I finally saw my dream pair of sneakers! The etnies Callicut! It's the ultimate chio-ness! And I'm going to get it in June/July; I'm definitely going to! Woo~ I hope it's still going to be in stock.

Monday's Cheer-day! I'm going to get super-high and enthusiastic about it.

Till then, I have to finish my homework for now. Happiness.

They made us fools of them all.

2007-04-05T23:13:00.000+08:00

The month of April marks new beginnings, defined new borders; we travelled on unexplored territory. We all took risks, tried out different approaches, repeated tries didn't get us down.

We're the ELECTS.

:)

Feeling really high at the moment. I'm so lucky to get it back, because I was dead from 7AM in the morning on 5th April 2007, Thursday; to 10PM in the night.

AT 11.15PM I officially declare myself HIGHNESS.

Greet Your High-ness.

Exuberant Verbosity

2007-04-04T23:16:00.000+08:00

Someone (and in case you were so nosey to know who; Mansoor) said my blog was too linguistically thick; in the sense that it was weird colloquial-like English in motion. Or somewhat to the extent of being too immensely implicit and deep.

I shall stop then.

The hectic week lay low behind me; and will end on a anticipated high tomorrow. Juggling between tons of homework and Students' Council and my church commitments, life has been a wild ride for me.

Coming up!

Match Support Season - it will be a crazy ride as said by the seniors from RECO! But we'll take it like foundational stones on a bank dashed with wild waters.
i! Concert @ TPBC - Practices on Sundays! Service to the Lord; what else can be more enjoyable! :)
Homework! Catching up on Chemistry, Econs and Chinese will be a daunting task that awaits my lazy ass but I'll conquer it. (not my lazy ass, my homework I mean.)
Bible Study! - This will really require discipline; I haven't done regular QT for a great amount of time, which is really detrimental to spiritual walk. Jiayou!
Time with Mom to buy new shoes! - No I'm not materialistic. It's my track shoes! The sole's flap came off. Or something to that extent.
SLEEP! - I really need to catch up on sleep. Saturday morning's taken up! So afternoon shall be sleep time for me. Plus homework and study of course. Who knows how much I'll miss when match support season comes. :D
Now I really miss VS. I need to make it a point to go back someday. Seeing young and hairless victorians entering VJ really doesn't help much. So yes, make it a point to go back someday. But I want to speak to the Sec Fours about coming to VJ! Why did Mrs Chan do it, and not Mr Chan?

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Brr. It's getting cold, can you feel it?

He warmed me with His jacket in the freezing cold, when He didn't even have any thick clothing on. He was freezing, shivering, all the while muttering to Himself.

"Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they've done."

Literary Discomposure

2007-03-31T22:08:00.000+08:00

The night stays young, the gentle breeze lifts its fingers off my face, the touch soft as silk. Relishing the tender caress of the night's warm moonglow on my paled and wrinkled hands, the lightning bolt hits me like the ball hits home. A story evolves.

It's been months, irrevocably. The hardly present speeches seem to evaporate into the atmosphere. Global warming, perhaps.

Too long, the words left unspoken. Heartburns, reluctant rounds around the track. Beating hearts going faster, nausea. That ancient looking tree-house, just around that track.

Reminiscent memories flood past my 16 age-old mind. January what? I don't really remember, the short-term memory really fails me. But it all started then. Seas of blatant backlashes seem to subside with mere glimpses and glances.

The distances fell apart in an instant, constructing barriers between the two sides. It's one step forward that will kill them all, it's that tiny movement that will repeatedly crush you under your own feet.

There are roving eyes all around; and no movement of the lips will escape their staring eyes. The lips quiver, not sure what to say. The scandalous pair puckered, ready to explode into myriads of colours.

This is what we call the over-obsession with metaphors and the like.

Can you figure out the story?

We are the Champions

2007-03-30T22:47:00.000+08:00

Insolency, some say; but enthusiastically speaking, we say winner's professionalism. We win with pride, even if we are brought down at any point of time!

Haha and no offence intended to Andreas okay. ((:

"It's not you, it's me." The thing is, who really cares? It still happened. She keeps digging trenches around him, disallowing him to advance any further into new realms he would like to realise. He knows her too well; she backs away. She thinks she knows him, but no, the reality is that he knows she doesn't and, indeed she doesn't.

The realism of the whole situation is that strong foundations grow on solid ground, not on thin air. We start ground first, on all fours and progress to two. Can we ever go without any? No we cannot. We are limited by forces of nature. Gravity, weight, Magnetic fields of the Earth's core. Whatever there is to hold us back, they are there.

The world sees us the way we are. Face value. Why are we taking ourselves at face value? Why do we even accept ourselves at face value?

He feels restrained, he can't even tell her. What's there to argue for? He is living a life that is stringed. Wariness and embarassing moments are no stranger.

What is the problem?

Aquila won the champion house title for Sports Day 2007 at VJC! It is a immense and indescribable joy to be in the winning house at least for once! Mass dance this time was great because I knew all the prompts! I will hereby announce the removal of my Mass Dance Idiot title! But the GIF will stay there. :D

So long, you Aquila idolaters!

It's not about your words and sweet nothings; 'cos it's all a facade.

2007-03-27T22:05:00.000+08:00

This time, it's not about the wordplay.

Words can harm and cut deeply; even unspoken words that live in the boundaries of others, that create walls of silence between you and her. Lies and deceit, reluctancy to speak; the rainbows they painted just to fill up the spaces between the two of you. The vibrancy of the reverberating sounds fail to reach you, only to pass you within seconds of whispers. The gantries of slipping and wagging tongues which flip and flop like tails of dogs open to the world; and you get hurt by their sharp edges.

You and her; what difference does it make? You and her; you with her.

A world. The size of 7 continents squeezed into one sphere. The world, yet so small and insignificant compared to the rest. Your height, compared to Mount Everest.

So what difference does it make?

Seconds of whispers, a lifetime of hurt. A brief moment of silence, an eternal separation.

Glory to the essence of time; the evil one that always fails us, and never notifies us before it passes by.

It just takes a few words, it just takes a bit of ignorance.

Pre-Jitters

2007-03-24T22:49:00.001+08:00

The song that was supposedly considered for Brownian if we made it into Finals.

Today's semis were jittery, pre-jitters were on the gutter; my stomach overturned unknowingly but it all felt too familiar to me. Perhaps it was because of auditions. Perhaps it was the support of my friends. Yes, I owe it to the support of our friends. It was fun to perform on stage!

Yes and until the results are released, I shall not comment further.

All I can say is, all 6 bands performed well (although I did not catch the first two).

Cheers to MF. (Not Matt Foo by the way)

Hectic

2007-03-23T21:37:00.000+08:00

Welcome to my life!

It largely consists of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, GP, Chinese and Project Work; Students' Council; Science Research Society (H3 NAV); Church Commitments eg. planning committee for upcoming event, and taking a mentee for Bible Study.

Can I cope? It is a test of my endurance, enjoyment level tolerance, and perseverance. Will I succeed? Yes I will come out of it alive. :)

I will survive.

On second thought, choose one:

RECO, FECO or Secretary?

Queen - Under Pressure

2007-03-20T22:08:00.001+08:00

Live @ Wembley Stadium; 1986

Now that's what I call a legendary song performed by a legendary singer.

On hindsight, we are losing such great singers. Yes, all of us are getting lazy as well.

Just random thoughts I thought I'd share with you.

I'm just under pressure. :)

Don't Be Surprised At What They Do With Your Unused Fingernails

2007-03-19T20:18:00.001+08:00

On sidenote; this is what caught my attention on Youtube today.

David Bowie And The Arcade Fire, AWESOME STUFF!

Don't think nothing of the post title; it's just a snazzy song title I thought of a while ago, when I finally got into the spirit of alternative music. Yes, they're rock-ishly alternative. Bands such as Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy, Arcade Fire etc. It's all great.

And yes, all have snazzy song titles too.

Panic! At The Disco: The Only Difference Between Matyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage

Fall Out Boy: This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race

Arcade Fire's Keep The Car Running (though not as intriguing as others, still.)

Semi-finals for MusicFest 2007 have been pushed to Saturday, a relief for some of the bands; time is really tight. Song we are playing? Come and you'll find out yourself! Just that I'd be remaining in my percussion status, and playing bongos! :D

Had great fun learning it, especially when you get the rhythm, you start to really immerse yourself in the song.

Blogging from my own room now, and homework beckons like no other, dogs barking outside and they can't really seem to stop. And yes, PDA has once again arrived into our midst again, in buses and MRTs, PDA never seems to escape my vision.

Oh March holidays, did you have to leave me so?

Have you done your affirmations?

2007-03-17T20:09:00.000+08:00

It has been two days since breaking camp, yet I still cannot get over the euphoria that lingers in my head and heart; it's a camper's feeling, sort of. It lingers till a certain time when you finally get over it, then you return back to a low. I shall refer to it as a camper's high.

So how to land properly and safely after a camper's high? How do we manage the emotions that run amok in our hearts, causing confusion and dismemberments in schedules of our busy hectic lives? How do we relief our pained/aching/longing hearts and find themselves back to our chests, where they rightfully belong?

We do affirmations. (:

Wayne
Camping with you was a really great experience, especially you being my partner in crime for lame-ness. I finally found my match! At first I thought the group I belonged to wasn't going to be very high and it was going to be a dreary and utterly boring group, but with you being my accomplice, we brought Ezalor to a lame-high! Can tell you are a really responsible kid, (no offense, we are all kids! :D ) and you have the potential to go far in Council! Just be confident of yourself; and you will achieve great things! Having you as group IC for the first day was good as well! Cheers, and here's to our council term ahead of us!
Shane
You were great company in the camp! Although we just got to know you, you pretty much were part of the party (no pun intended here), and yes you are fun to be with! Despite the short time that you've spent with us so far, I appreciate your presence in Ezalor and you've contributed much to Ezalor! (:
Jerald
Hey you IP2 junior! Despite being our junior, I'm afraid I have to say you are so US. (aka Me & Wayne) Yes, you are going to reach our standard soon if you continue to try harder! Hah and yes I can see potential in you becoming a great leader (of Singapore too!). So cheers and work hard and we'll see you scaling great heights! Great to have another lame partner-in-crime as well.
Sulaiha
You go, girl! Cheer-maker of the team ya? Our cheers are super interesting, especially the hot-hot-hot one! Makes the other teams cringe in fear/pain/anxiety/disappointment/reluctance/defeat/(insert term here). Very fortunate to have you in Ezalor because you are one of the good map-readers! We wouldn't have gotten from BG to Geylang East if not for you (and Si Min!).
Si Min
You are a great member in Ezalor! Your laughter (although not heard as much) is so contagious, it can crack us up sometimes! Your description of Wayne as a steady uncle always never fails to keep us confused! Oh yes, you are very meticulous also! Good map-reader and leads us in the right way! :D
Jeanne
Hey fellow sister! Hah, you are a great member to have in Ezalor because of your bimbotism! Or rather, act-bimbotism. Heh, great to have you in the group because you never fail to liven up the group's spirits when we are down! The unceasingly present smile on your face brightens up Ezalor's day! :D Sorry 'bout your broken soul (sole) though! ;)
Cheryl
Very disciplined and committed! Got to see you at work in O2 Ad-hoc, and can see that you are very responsible! Great having you in Ezalor! Cheers to the term ahead of all of us!
Facils!
Hey facils! All three of you are so fun to be with, and every second with you is not wasted! Thanks for being there when we needed you, and also thanks for everything you taught us during the camp! It was fun having you listen to our lame jokes, and joining us for our cheers and doing the "cigarette"! Hah. Thanks for taking us as facils, and being oh-so patient with our randomness and lameness! You facils simply rock Ezalor! ALWAYS!

Oh yeah, and important information here!

Wednesday, 6.30pm or later (depending on when Council meeting ends), Ezalorians please meet at Council stairs! We are going to have dinner + BTI2 at Parkway! Please do confirm attendance if you haven't!

The Day I Fell In Love, All Over Again: a la 65th

2007-03-17T01:01:00.000+08:00

Welcome to my blog; you faithful minions of my viewing society! It has been a long 65 posts since the opening of Inessentialite and I'm very glad to have your support thus far!

Yes, I have officially fallen so much in love once again. A separate experience from Yane's, I'd like to distinguish this experience as my own; claim it as Mark's ground and benefit of love. It has already been two years, and our relationship has waned so much since that 2 years, but today we rededicated ourselves to one another, once again.

She got a makeover, and she looks so super good right now I wouldn't stop complimenting her and commending her on her effort to look so nice and sound so sweet. Yes, especially her sound, her voice just got sweeter by the day! Even if it has only been an hour to appreciate her voice, I really enjoy it very much, much like a sweet lullaby lulling our tired souls to sleep.

Although she may not look perfect or be that perfect beautiful lady that I'd thought I might find and come to like after a while, with the rough edges and all, I do appreciate her for all she's worth.

I bought some really expensive gifts for her yesterday; some good smelling perfume, as well as a nice shiny jewelry which makes her look so exquisite.

Oh my gosh, I'm so much in love.

I'm so much in love with my "born-again" acoustic guitar!

Nb: Yes I sent my guitar for a repair and found out that it was the neck that was warped, so I got it repaired and ta-dah! It was fixed and it sounded better than it originally was! Yay!

To be or not to be? That is the question.

2007-03-15T19:42:00.000+08:00

It has already been a long week since holidays started. Thursday has dawned upon us like the light reaches us in the dawning of the day. Holidays are already almost over. What holidays? Since when did we have a holiday?

But then again, yes we did. A meaningful one for me too.

I miss the council elects already. I miss our facilitators for elect's camp too. They are so nice to us!

But most of all, I believe there are more important things to draw from the camp that I just went through from 13th to 15th of March.

Elect's Camp 2007
13th to 15th of March
VJC Campus

Personally, the experience proved very raw and real to me, and I learnt two very important and striking lessons which brought the camp together:

Set high expectations for yourself, don't focus on whether you can achieve it; but rather whether you are willing to try and achieve it. Don't count the steps you need to take to your destination, but rather be brave and take those steps forward to reach - as far as possible - your destination.
Unity is strength! Encourage one another at your weak points, and together we can overcome! Continue to push each other on in your journey, and do not only focus on your own safety, well-being etc. Don't stay in your comfort zone while others are going all out to support one another.

It has been three days, only three days but the elects are sticking it together as one bunch. No matter what others may say, we are BESTIES FOR LIFE!

And yes, of course with great beginnings come endings, and of course great endings with no less emphasis.

Today's ending landed on a spirited high. I just want to say thank you FACIS! Throughout this camp, what really made me very touched emotionally were your commitment to EZALOR! Yes and BTI really helped us to realise lots of things, and we want to thank you also for every other thing you have given to us throughout this period of elect's camp!

Thankyou Shuxie, Beertini and Shuhua (yay new member of Ezalor eh? ;) )

Go Ezalor! Go Elects! Go 24ths!

Nb: I love the elects' shirt!

The need for sleep; or the lack of it

2007-03-09T21:44:00.000+08:00

It has been one whole long week plus a few more days before that since planning for Orientation Two 2007. Frankly, I do believe that from this little experience in planning for this event, as well as executing it, all of us elects learnt a lot.

Communication: How important it is to pass information around effectively to the relevant people and/or authorities
Dealing with Discouragement: Learn to work on what you have and not focus on what you do not have
Opening up to Criticisms: Learn to deal with critics and also be receptive and responsive to what they say
Rehearsals: The importance of doing first-hand experiences before the actual run of the event

To be brutally honest and blunt about it, it has been a very hectic and long week, and sometimes I wished I disappeared into mid-air halfway from school, and pretended not to be there for a bit, just to get away from the hectic schedule. But responsibilities demand commitment, and commitment comes hand-in-hand with a great deal of dedication. Hence dedication pulled me away from doing just that.

At the very least, I do remember what I said for my Pre-Nominee interview.

"I love to organise events for people and derive satisfaction from the participation; as such I always gain my drive from such response."

Now seriously they should have given us a full day at least for today, because it was dreary and tiring, and most of us elects were pretty drained. But that's what it's all about isn't it?

This isn't the end, it is only the beginning.

Tomorrow's Pre-camp, and yes I wonder how interesting can it get with my bleak mood and aching body.

Emotional Atmospheric Pressure

2007-03-06T22:02:00.000+08:00

1.013 X 10⁵ Pa.

That's atmospheric pressure.

But today we experienced a whole new meaning to "ATM", where we hugged each other and said our respective goodbyes.

It definitely won't be the last we see of each other. As I type this, thoughts flash back to my head, thoughts of the past week spent together. Regrets of not taking photos with each other as often as we should. Even if it's only been one week. It felt like the longest week ever. Months maybe. Ze Yi, the forever arty-farty idea-lly creative chap, never fails to brighten one's day with his jokes which always seem to walk alongside mine. Nadia, the TSD-ian who is so much fun with us, with her Ms Swan accent and funny antics. Don't be a stranger, Nadia! Shazalyn, the "quite" quiet one, whom I first met at rock climbing. She is a committed one; we were discussing which to go for, council or rock climbing. Shaza! You will be missed, but come back to say "hi" sometime okay? Dominic! The bright-sunshine guy, always cracking us up with his contagious laughter, and his escapade with a PLMGS... Never mind. We already got the point thus far. We will remember you Dominic!

Good luck to you guys and girls okay! We'll be waiting for your sms-es or calls.

Emotional breakdowns are not inevitable, but be strong, and hold through.

Pre-revelation

2007-03-05T21:34:00.000+08:00

Just let me say something about our time here as elects. Just let me rant on about the sentimentalism and allow me to portray this side of me that most have never seen before.

Yes, I am adversely emotional at times and I can get really deeply involved in "normal-tic depression".

Tomorrow is results day, and no matter what happens, I really just want all the others to stay. It has only been a week, but why does it feel like months! Oh the agony and dreary faces that prolong the sadness. Oh the years of heartaches that pierce like rocks cut the river flow. Oh the frantic rushes of fast-paced lives in school that seem to allow a rift for such lamentations to exit, but they never will.

I worry for the future, I worry for myself, I worry for others.

So much for I won't worry my life away.

Weeks spent together turned into months, our mindbenders set to work, we will forever remember each other in our minds; not only for today, not only for tomorrow, not for the few months ahead, but for the forever.

I'm so emo.

That's so fetch!

2007-03-03T21:34:00.001+08:00

Week-long non-updated blog. The dreaded and weary weekdays ahead commence soon.

I turned SC elect on Monday! Congratulations to those who made it! We'll be a good 24th's batch okay?

On a not-so-side-note, I have joined the O2 Adhoc, and it has been a rough ride from Tuesday all the way till today, Saturday, which was Victorians' Day in the morning and OGL training from 1230pm till 7pm.

All I can say is this; O2 Adhoc are a really great bunch, love them to deaths y'all! We work together till late at night and we keep motivating each other and keep each other going. Who's going to forget the late nights we spent at scrabble board planning and discussing countless of stuff at the same time, and all the while looking for something to eat? It's only five more days till this is over people! And we will make it!

24th Elects! We totally love each other. Everyone is so special in their own ways and I really love them so much! We're an enthusiastic bunch and my oh my, we learn fast! Mass dances were nailed today, although with there's still more room for improvement. (indeed Mansoor! (: ) We spent one night learning mass dances together, and the number of times we went to V35 for dance practice, and the number of times we laughed at ourselves mash-potatoing, and the countless smiles appearing on our faces every time we did "I Want You"; also not forgetting those shakes in the tribal dance!

Although it has only been a week for our term as elects in council, let's continue to strive on as elects and let's continue to be enthusiastic, united and (safety first! :P) bonded together as a whole batch!

Brownian Motion!

2007-02-24T20:30:00.000+08:00

Music Fest 2007; Free Auditions, 3PM @ PT on 23rd February.

The auditions were so intimidating especially in front of a whopping (almost full) theatre of audience, but unfortunately I did see some disappointing acts; some of them thought they could pull off a good one but in the end didn't reach my standard. Heh, I'm making myself sound like an musically elite assessor aren't I?

But anyway, there was just one group who caught my attention and I knew they could do it! Definitely I'm sure they will make it to the finals.

Oh and yeah, about our group?

"It was pretty refreshing." "It was quite a cute performance!" "Very good!" "Very cool, but you just slack there playing that two things; shaker and tambourine?" "At least the music wasn't like very loud."

Hah, generally I was quite satisfied with our performance, but who's to decide? Of course, the judges. But that will have to come later; so when's results?

On a separate note, I managed to get my iSkin today, as well as the iBuds for my iPod (to keep it scratch free!) and for my earphones (to make the stupid thing fit into my ear; which so happens to have a big earhole).

I managed to reduce my homework load today to about half.

No, I'm not stressed.

2007-02-22T19:45:00.000+08:00

No, really.

With Maths homework; Biology essays; NAV homework; Chemistry Tutorials; Music Fest 2007 Practices; my new iPod fascination, who could be busy and stressed?

Embrace.

Results!

2007-02-19T00:54:00.000+08:00

Once again, there comes certain periods in life when you have to wait. When the wait gets really tough and you get all prickly and heated up, you know you are getting really impatient. Check your palms, are they sweaty? Do you feel your heart beating faster than it really should? Or did you even feel it skip a beat?

The word results never fail to come into our daily vocabulary list; be it for tests, interviews and whatnots. For myself, I would have to face plenty of results in the upcoming week. Some of which may be heartbreaking and mind-wrenching, but what is the whole exhausting regime for? Ultimately I do gain something that others will not without this example; perseverance and tolerance.

They ask for something; they ask for patience and patience comes as a virtue. They ask also for satisfaction and discipline. So what if I went in there, performed like an idiot, and made a really lame impression of myself? I still passed the interview. So what if I did not make an impressive speech and tell the whole world that "Lookie here! VOTE FOR MARK! GET ALEONG with SC?" (Note: Marcus, it was a great idea! :D)

I still managed to weave through those intolerant classes who never failed to amuse me with their homework-in-the-morning antics.

I still managed to put out a lasting impression upon some who favoured the orange and that little gadget which starts with an "i" (which I coincidentally am planning to purchase this coming weekend).

I will always remember this process of "examination".

But 2007 has always been about results ever since it started; and ever since it did, it never seemed to stop.

GCE 'O' Level Results
Results of Rock Climbing Trials
Results of SC Interviews
Results of H3 NAV application
Results of SC Elections (Yet to be revealed; but be ready for the "reveal-ation".)
Results of Pre-U Seminar Interviews
Results of JAE Application

Never ever seemed to stop. Once you've nailed them, they come right back at you. Like a tennis ball, the harder you hit it, the harder it comes right back at you.

Who really bothers anyway? It's only your own personal lives that you care about; not mine.

I so feel like KT-Tunstalling today.

Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she’s a beautiful girl
She’s a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
People who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She’ll hold you captivated in her palm

-KT Tunstall; Suddenly I See

猪你新年快乐!

2007-02-16T20:52:00.000+08:00

Uhuh, as much as it has been overused for this year, I believe it makes a big impact.

So anyway CNY strikes again! It's another lovely time of hanging out with relatives, friends and even complete strangers which soon become random friends on your MSN contact list! It's also a time to pig out! Like, totally pig out on the tempestuous food set before our eyes! Fried "mini" spring rolls with chilli in them, cashew nuts, black and red seeds, peanuts, honeyed groundnuts, kueh bulu, kueh bangkit, love letters, ba kwa (mmm YUMMY) and so much more it's just aimless to list here.

Ah and yes, those lovely decoration that never fail to redden and brighten the atmosphere. But let me re-announce to you: "PINK IS THE NEW RED FOR CNY 2007!" You hear me?

Oh and yeah, remember to give me ang pows if you do happen to have extra. Just sms me or something. I'll go meet you somewhere to get it.

PLEASE SHARE PEOPLE, IT'S A SEASON FOR SHARING!

Just as is Christmas. Sigh, sometimes holidays can be pretty boring. Eh? Let me return to my homework then.

Valentine's Day - the vanish of the tradition

2007-02-14T21:51:00.000+08:00

It is amazing to know how people celebrate Valentine's (just as in the case of Christmas) without even knowing the true story of it all.

But then again, how many of us do care? As long as we know it's a time for the sharing of love to one another, and the dedication of our heartfelt thanks to our loved ones. No? So what is Valentine's all about? Is it just about exchanging gifts with one another at your school or workplace, only to find out that what you give out is more than what you get returned?

Thanks to the trusty Internet, I managed to source out the story.

Legend has it that the holiday became Valentine's Day after a priest named Valentine. Valentine was a priest in Rome at the time Christianity was a new religion. The Emperor at that time, Claudius II, ordered the Roman soldiers NOT to marry or become engaged. Claudius believed that as married men, his soldiers would want to stay home with their families rather than fight his wars. Valentine defied the Emperor's decree and secretly married the young couples. He was eventually arrested, imprisoned, and put to death.

Valentine was beheaded on February 14th, the eve of the Roman holiday Lupercalia. After his death, Valentine was named a saint. As Rome became more Christian, the priests moved the spring holiday from the 15th of February to the 14th - Valentine's Day.

Yes and that's how it all began. Betcha' didn't know.

Of course, what followed after the pronounced death of the early ages of civilisation; was the perpetual death of our lovely days of courtly love, as compared to the modern notion of love as romantic love, "greek-ly" known as eros.

As to honor the Greek tradition of St. Valentine's; I hereby abstain myself from any Valentine's Day celebrations.

For the next month.

When You Say Nothing At All

2007-02-10T22:55:00.000+08:00

I know you mean well, I know you mean best for me when you don't say a word. Because you know that if you break out in joy, you will unconsciously hurt those around you. You care for me. You know that if you rejoice in laughter, you'll break the hearts of those who rejoiced for you. So you kept still, quiet and made no attempt to reveal the expressions in your heart.

You buried your feelings underneath so that I might be kept safe.

And I genuinely thank you for that.

The 'O' Level results are out already; I must say I'm not overly overjoyed, or depressingly saddened. Perhaps I'm caught in the middle.

It wasn't too little, wasn't too much. Just the right amount. I'm already happy to be able to stay in VJC.

Thank you Lord!

Thank you Lord, I just want to thank You Lord...

- Paul Baloche

As we move on towards our next point in lives, let us not separate in our hearts, and although physical separation may span between us, we'll be kept together by these little connections we have with each other!

The atmosphere was cold and suddenly chilly. The warm hands that grew to be wrinkled with sweat turned cold. It wasn't the weather, nor the fans which seemed to be perpetually at full blast. The results were now out.

Words of encouragement didn't seem to break the silence. People shifted in their seats, some shuffled their hands with increasing vigour; in hope of breaking the anxiety within their palpitating hearts.

The 'O' Level results 2006/7. It was a point in time to remember.

But no matter where we went from there; we never really left.

Nil Sine Labore.

Of kids and realistically dumb caregivers (aka Me)

2007-02-07T20:56:00.000+08:00

It was an eventful day yesterday. Guess what? We skipped Chinese Lesson; and PE! But we didn't pon, we just went for our SLV. But of course we had a sense of accomplishment when we returned home and figured that PE had just started a while ago. O.o

Anyway here's some photos for reflection purposes. Oh yeah, and that reminds me. I need to do reflections for the whole event. But really the kids were like oooo-tra cute! I took a few photos with them and you can view them on my Flickr.

Oh yeah but some were pretty naughty. They start crawling over your head once they've got your attention. Urgh. But generally pretty fun-loving kids. Oh yeah, plus a really cute girl (not cute in the sick sense) who refused to take photos with us! Her name was Celeste or something. Yeah so anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and humiliating myself in front of kids wasn't such a bad idea after all. Mr Lim said the coordination was good! :D So there! Oh and I learnt pretty much about how to take care of kids. :|

Results are on Friday! PANIC AT THE DISCO. :D

This is the day

2007-02-05T20:43:00.000+08:00

...that the Lord hath made.

February 9th; 2007, a Friday.

It is a Friday where many Victorians rejoice at the fact that there's no school. Then again, it is a day where many experience a myriad of emotions. It is a day where tears flow freely like nobody cares and people give up social barriers that once parted them to hug each other like they were born in the same hospital.

What on earth am I talking about?

GCE 'O' Levels Results Release date: February 9th, 2007; Friday.

Of Campaigns and backlash

2007-02-03T22:24:00.000+08:00

Hello earthlings.

I have officially started campaigning on Friday; and man was it eventful. Some said I was too BHB. Others said I was kiasu. LOL.

All in good fun; and yes 捷足先登!

Right now I shall start making posters as well as craft my speech before time runs out. =D

OES - The entirely new world experienced

2007-01-31T21:48:00.000+08:00

What is OES? It is the acronym for the "Overly Enthusiastic Syndrome"; commonly experienced by nubile youths at the age of 17 - 18 (age may vary according to gene material found in specific individuality), and is characterised by the dramatic ecstasy pronounced clearly by the patient's actions.

For example; he/she is seen jumping up and down for no reason, sometimes when they walk normally. Another illustration is seen when he/she is always found in a group of people, and he/she seems to be the most outspoken person of the group. Often found telling lame jokes to "break the ice" (it was later found to be an excuse for the OES), he/she may be experiencing from the following symptoms and/or infections:

Post-orientation blues; was later found to be a temporal infection which went away in a few weeks
Lecture-overload; this symptom was discovered to be permanent on the patient
Undone-tutorial-eyes; patient's eyes were found to be red, dreary and weak, at the same time watering
HIVS; Highly infectious Victorian Spirit, later only to be found on boys who came from a specific school
AIDS; Abnormal Intellectual Disability Surplus, 1/2606 suffering from OES may encounter this infection.

More information will be posted later on this disease.

Meanwhile, if you are intending to visit your family doctor for a checkup, do remember the safety precautions. WEAR A MASK IF YOU HAVE AIDS, it is highly contagious and can spread through mere breaths. ADDITIONALLY, TELL THE DOCTOR IF YOU HAVE NO UNDONE TUTORIALS, or the doctor will diagnose you incorrectly with UTE, and you will have to be shot (jab).

For more information, please call 1800-I-HAB-OES.

Chronicles of JC boy

2007-01-27T00:47:00.000+08:00

Welcome to JC life.

You start out a small fry, yearning to be one of the top dogs and succumbing to the temptation of cracking lame jokes for the sole purpose of ice-breaking.

You then become the class joker. Your jokes aren't even funny, what's worse, your class makes you the butt of their jokes. You don't really mind; because you seem to find it funny as well. Your tutors like you and they think you are their model student. But you know you really aren't because you don't do your tutorials on time and you always copy the answers from the board.

You are elected a subject representative. Then you get to draw lots of graphs and diagrams for your tutor. You fold paper cranes in that class. Then you get misunderstood. A whole trend occurs as fast as fire spreads. Not that you really mind it. You become the biggest butt; of the class' jokes.

You decide to run for a high-profile CCA. It is tough work, but you go for it anyway. The stages have not even passed yet, but you are worried about the results. What should you do, you wonder. You then try out for a CCA that can get you all sporty and fit. You begin to like it very much. Who knows?

You begin to meet people you don't even know personally. But you meet them anyway. It seems you are becoming more friendly by the day. Has this JC changed you; you wonder once again. It seems that more randomly erupting thoughts are flowing out from your brain. You begin to find your place here.

A highly recognised event in the JC has caught your attention. You want to join it; but you do not really know where to start. You begin to wonder about relationships.

Relationships start forming in your class. No, not that sick kind of relationships. But true friendship-relationships. You begin to think that all of you are really bonded together tightly. Something happens to prove you right; a few classmates leave the class inadvertently. You cringe and your heart sort of melts because you feel some pain. Not big enough to hurt you badly, but pressurizing enough to feel a pinch in your heart.

The story you have just read is about none other than yours truly.

Except that I didn't state I was doing my Chemistry Tutorial whilst typing this entry.

Hooray for JC life. Not that I don't enjoy it, but not that I do either.

Weekends, how I love the way it sounds.

Missing

2007-01-23T21:08:00.000+08:00

What?

No I didn't mistype my title.

The perpetual lingering feeling of emptiness; seemingly perpetual I'd say. Tomorrow's Rock Climbing trials. I've made up my mind to go! Happiness; I have never made such a sure decision in my entire life. But wait! What time? LOL.

Emptiness; why? Because I have finished my duty for now. Turning up for interviews was my personal duty and because that has been done; I can say it is finished. My job has been done here and all I have to wait for are the results.

So why exactly am I feeling emptiness? I'm at crossroads; not knowing where each path will lead me to. PAWS; another option which I'd definitely look forward to take part in. I do love animals! I like that cute dog on Mrs Cheng's laptop. It made us all go "aww" in the lecture theatre.

And so the revelations of the day; here it begins.

I was lucky twice, today being the 2nd. Biology lesson was particularly interesting and mind-boggling because I was lucky to guess the answer for the following:

Q: Where are hydrogen bonds synthesised in the cell?

Of course I had no intention to answer. I didn't even have the answer. But she went on to tell us it was an organelle. Being notoriously the brave speaker in class; I thought of the next best alternative to mitochondrion, and voila!

"I know! I know! Endoplasmic Reticulum!"

Half expecting a "No!" from her; yet it was not to be.

"Yes! That's right!"

And with that shocked face of hers I knew I was doomed. I don't want to be called smarty-pants okay. Can I be smarty-shirt instead?

Laxatives rock!

Thank you!

2007-01-20T14:27:00.000+08:00

Push the door, I'm home at last and I'm soaking through and through
Then you handed me a towel and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down now, I wouldn't have a clue
Because you're near me and

I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life

- Dido, Thank You

This is just a shout-out to all my closest and best-est friends out there who gave me ceaseless encouragement throughout my period of uncertainty and unfruitful decision-making.

What I've been experiencing has been a myriad of emotions, ranging from confusion to the occasional disbelief. Ever since school started, things have been a little rough on the edges, namely because CCAs were a huge headache. But I just want to give a big thanks to those who have helped me see myself through this and make a final decision.

Indeed it is you who have made me choose this path and make this choice, indeed you are the ones who have been behind me pushing me on.

I just want to thank the closest friends from Victoria School, (pardon the sudden emo-ness), Calvin, Jarren who have been a great encouragement (07S34 forever ya?) and spurred me to pursue this ideal of mine. Student's Council would have never been a clearer decision without you guys. Zonghe! He helped me to think of stuff to write for the essay as well!

The people at church who have advised me here and there! You have once again made me realise that we should do whatever God told us to do. I'll try this route, I'll trod this path and follow God's lead.

The seniors formerly from Victoria School! They have been a great help, and I'm really very very touched by the fact that they are so willing to put up with my stupid conversations, and lame jokes and all. (No more VERY lame jokes from me though, just mildly lame ones) They are the people who have also sounded me out about my final choice, and I must say that it was a great influence by them to decide on this choice.

I'm beginning to think that this is just a regurgitation of the "Thank you" part of my essay, but nevertheless I shan't leave this out because this has become a landmark in my life.

The journey, the walk, the life-lasting race.

2007-01-18T21:31:00.000+08:00

I have officially finished my first round of the essay I'm required to write for the application to the Student's Council. I have been told by some sources that there has been a huge turnout for applications. Then again I have been told that interviews will cut them down to half.

Please do note that I'm not seeking support through this blog whatsoever.

Will the half that is to be cut include me? Will I even make it? This essay won't even impress. It will definitely fail to impress others. Such a long and dreary essay, who would read it? There's no face value to it, who will even take so much as a glimpse of it?

You may say I'm unconfident. Whatever. I've tried so hard to reach the stage where I try to be comfortable with everyone. Nobody cares. They say I try too hard. Okay, then I shall stop it.

Econs rep. Tutorials are left undone, whole class. Me included. Bad example? Who is to blame? We are new to the JC system after all. But never mind, I shall take the blame then. We shall take the blame.

What is popularity but a competition? I shall just try my best to beat competition via legal means. No more jostling and lugging myself around with weights that support my back.

Random thoughts.

Sigh.

It has been a rough week. Just one more day to go. Yet there has already been multitudes of stress placed upon my shoulders, both physical and mental. I seek solace in someone's arms, but not of physical comfort, it is indeed of the God above. But I often complain of too little time, and I fail to do my QT for a very long time. It has been a long due "assignment", and it has been really irregular ever since the school term started.

What's worse, the 'O' Level results have been announced to come out on the 9th of February. Although it is said to be tentative, it is more or less confirmed. Guess what, 9th of February is Student Leaders' Investiture day. Woo happiness. :\

I'm officially running the race, walking the journey, but who's to continue after I'm gone?

This is not a complaint, this is a plea for sanity.

2007-01-14T22:45:00.000+08:00

Tutorials are already flushing into my desk before the school term has "officially" started! But not to fear, Captain Planet is here to save the day (now, get rid of these papers from my desk, put them in the recycle bin! (: ).

By officially starting, I mean that the school term will only start when I have adjusted myself to it. So it may also mean when the common tests arrive?

Okay, people have told me that they prefer the lame version of myself but actually I prefer to stay farther away from that version because like Windows NT, it is so passe. So anyway, Darel taught me something new today. I shall now be a super-cynical person. (Note to Darel: I won't do that stupid fish thing with my hands though. :P )

So basically, the school term started with lots of payment. Payment for textbooks, payment for OPACs, payment for PE kits, payment for printing fees, payment for class funds, payment for calculators, payment for TIME Magazine subscriptions and whatnots. There's plenty to list down but I shan't.

Nonsensical Math questions have started to pump up the pressure, and not only am I feeling it, those who lost touch with their Math ever since the 16th of November (end of O Levels for those with my subject combination) are definitely feeling it too.

Even the first Biology lecture was dreadful. So much for electrolysis VS electrophoresis (props go to Jarren, the ever popular CT Rep), and who knows nuts about Acidic AAs, Basic AAs & Neutral Bi-polar and Non-polar AAs.

Proteomics. I have a bad feeling about the forthcoming lectures. So much for choosing BCME.

And for all those who lashed back at me for my liking for economics, please do take them back. No, you won't face my wrath if you don't, but after much consideration and plenty of scanning through my future tutorials, I realise Econonomics Stats is not exactly the most "interesting thing" to embark upon.

Oh and GP is really affecting me, now I have to take note of how I speak to people. Lest I make a bad impression.

But one overhanging worry, will I be able to stay in VJ?

My seniors have been re-assuring me that I will definitely be able to stay, and save my worries for later when the results come out. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I really hate the feeling of leaving VJ. ):

Dilemmas

2007-01-10T22:37:00.000+08:00

I have now decided to revert back to my original self, the one before the lameness swept into me.

On to a more serious note, I was facing a dilemma on whether to join the VJ Student's Council or not. Because of that, I've not been enjoying myself thoroughly since school started on the 9th of January 2007.

But I've now made the choice.

I will try for Student's Council.

All the best to me! =)

Side-noting, economics has just gotten interesting for me, because the research I've done on the net (plus Ms Teo's Internet Exercises) have added a few "chim" terms to my head. =D Economics ekonomics ekronomics.

Hooray for economics!

VJC Sea Regatta 2007

2007-01-08T22:09:00.000+08:00

Orpheus Oracle are 2007 CHAMPIONS (of sea regatta). -evil laughter-

Sea Regatta made me become a few things:

It made me considerably sunburnt AND darker
It made me Popularity Champion for number of times to be dunked
It made me realise how swimming in the sea is especially frightening when you don't have enough footing (Don't worry about me, I'm fine)
It made me realise how important it is to keep your spectacles away from the vast ocean/sea
It made me feel pain on my neck, face and hands

No pictures sorry. I'm so high, but lessons start tomorrow, and it's going to nonsensically cancel out the high.

Argh, hooray for O1?

I...can't...(gasp)...breathe...

2007-01-05T22:29:00.000+08:00

Can't talk now...

Very tired...

Fun-filled excitement...

Jubilee...

End of Orientation One 2007...

This marks the beginning of a new chapter in VJC.

VJC!

2007-01-04T23:00:00.000+08:00

Pirates & Patriots
Do you have what it takes?
Orientation 2007

Tiring, but fun.
Thought-provoking, but self-controlled.
Daring, but adventurous.
Sleepy, yet awake.

FUN!

How to survive in the year of 2007 in your JC/Poly/Working Life

2007-01-02T11:03:00.000+08:00

Hello once again! I am totally like 1 day late in wishing you all, but never mind the lateness, better late than never, eh?

HAPPY NEW EAR!

(So did your hearing get better? Did you make a trip to the Body Shop?)

So anyway, click here to see the photos of what I did during the period where everyone's counting down to the year 2007!

In the same link you'll see some photos of Matthias' stayover at my house... LOL we played sorang daidi as well as stress and classic UNO.

A feast on "龙井茶糖" was inevitable as well, since Matt has a liking for these sweets, and we also feasted on the rabbit sweet (chocolate flavour!).

That's besides the point. As quickly as it seems, we have reached the end of 2006 and suddenly we find ourselves at a one-way street, to the next stage of our lives.

For my age group, it means either to the above three choices: JC/Poly/Working Life.

In general, since many of us have gotten into the spirit of the holidays far too much, and have forgotten what is it like to live in Singapore (stress, money problems & homework), let us remind ourselves that the holidays are now over and we have to wake up our idea!

Here are some tips on How to survive in the year of 2007 in your JC/Poly/Working Life:

Don't be a total goof and try to be funny and piss off people in your new environment, because they will get you. Hmm.
Lame jokes can be a great conversation starter, but don't be lame and talk in lame jokes.
For people who start work this year, remember that the working world may be a dog-eat-dog world, but please don't bring dog food to the working place. In fact, these dogs are cannibalistic.
For JC/Poly students, don't waste your time socializing with people that you don't really know. Don't bother, because they don't really bother either.
In your new environment, you are bound to go for an orientation or tour, so please be a sport, join in the fun. If you don't, prepare to get lost in your school/workplace.
Don't drink and drive.
Give up smoking.
Don't take drugs (this also includes excessive use of painkillers).
Do not engage yourself in senseless talk because it will get you nowhere.

If you decide to ask me, why 9 points only? Because I'll rather leave it at 9 (frankly I ran out of ideas) and because 9 is a nicer sounding number than ten. Just because.

Or if you ask why the last few points are crappy, then please navigate yourself away from my blog. =)

Alright, for some business-oriented people, here are some real tips for the year 2007. click here

I'll see if I can get some orientation photos up tomorrow evening. Till then, adieu!

Jamming Session @ Audi, TPBC; 30th Dec 2006

2006-12-31T17:37:00.000+08:00

The last jamming session of the year with many peeps!

click here

Attention all Cinema Goers

2006-12-28T20:40:00.000+08:00

My humble apologies to those who are expecting plenty of eye candy in terms of movies or outing pictures; I didn't bring a bag along because I was travelling (uhh, my Dad fetched me to my outing today) light.

I started off the day at about 9.30am? Didn't get a chance to say bye to my sister who was leaving for Malaysia (of all places?!) today, must keep praying though because Malaysia is having some floods (stupid rainy weather) in some areas.

It's been a while since I've blogged about something that starts a revelation, and I'm not too sure what was the essence of that something that I've blogged a while ago... Heh. Somebody remind me please?

On to some serious stuff. My computer connection has been down for several days (although I can manage to go online, for some funny reason) so I have refrained from tagging, blogging etc etc (anything you can do on an internet browser). But again for some funny reason (Nb: PLEASE PAY ATTENTION SMC, because your router is having some serious problems) I managed to fix it without even lifting a finger.

So anyway, I managed to finish the story of GTA: San Andreas; and frankly it isn't very interesting because the antagonist died without even me touching him. =D

And then about the stupid floods these few days even in Singapore: click here

Sometimes I look at myself here at home, and I ponder about the world outside who got caught in the floods at any one point in time. Heh. The moral of the story? If you can't take the rain, don't stay in Singapore.

I'm looking to find that media picture of the taxi at upper thomson road on that day where it got caught in the floods. Sad case.

So anyway, I went to catch Curse of the Golden Flower today with ZH again, no complaints because he has been my movie kaki for a very long time. And I really have no idea why some of these self-proclaimed movie critics argue that the movie is overrated and uninteresting. Somehow, there is this insistent existence of a bias against Chinese movies.

It's not just this movie, think Banquet.

So anyway, this movie is really funny because (don't blame me for my twisted frame of mind) you have to keep veering your eyes away from the revealing clothing that these "Tang women" wear. I have to keep wondering, is this really the Tang dynasty? Do they really dress like that? If you are wondering what I'm talking about, please watch the movie.

And funny because the expressions on the main character's faces are really defined, which sometimes draws laughs from the two of us (ONLY, I was frantically staring to my right to see if they were laughing but NO. Maybe we're really twisted).

But that's no the main point. The main point is this. Although this topic has been widely written about, I've decided to take the reins from here. It is really too much to bear.

Here are some of the irritating incidents that happened to me in the cinema today as well as for other incidents:

People who cannot control their bladder. I know it isn't their fault, but can't you just tell yourself "Just 5 more minutes" every hour? Mind you, if the toilet is 5km away, you'll miss the entire show so don't bother even running back to the cinema; especially in those ulu theatres LOL.
People who return from relieving their bladder. Especially if they are seated in the same row as yourself. "Excuse me, sorry" is all they could muster as if to hide their obvious embarrassment. And as if arching your back and crawling back to your seat would help me catch that few seconds of a famous cutscene which everyone would talk about a few days later.
People who don't relieve their bladders. Before the show, I mean. I don't like people who shfit in their seat when they are controlling their bladders. It's disgusting. 'Nuff said.
People who come in late for the show and make a whole lot of noise. This really disrupts the precious few seconds of screening. Especially when the introduction of the movie meant a lot to the whole plot. Grr. And those primary school kids who just got their outing freedom. Some of them haven't seen a movie screen before, they have to make such a hullabaloo in the cinema that we can't even hear our handphones ringing.
That said, people who don't turn their handphones to silent mode. What, you think we are interested in listening to your famous "Ah Beng" ringtone? Mind you, we don't even like techno!
People who don't close their mouths when eating. Popcorn isn't exactly your porridge. If you have to munch, MUNCH WITH YOUR TRAP SHUT.
People who call during movies. Especially when they already know that we're watching a movie. Can't you wait to call us?!
People who are too tall, yet they choose to sit in front of you. Yes exactly. Your big head (perhaps developed by years of training) really blocks our view so please, either slouch down or change your seat lah. I mean, you know you are 1.8m tall, so please choose a backseat the next time. Buy your ticket earlier or something lah.
People who choose to comment on every single part of the movie. Yes, you hate it when you friends do that. But what's worse, you hate it when the stranger beside you keeps telling his friend what's going to happen next. You can't control the stranger's mouth, but please for goodness sake, control your friend's mouth.
Lastly, people who watch movies twice. I have no problems with people watching the movie twice, actually. Just keep your trap shut for the rest of the movie, we don't need persistent sneak previews during the screening because surprise, surprise! We have eyes and we can see for ourselves.

That said, please, cinema-goers, please take note of these 10 points and don't break them.

Argh. Bad cinema day.

The Discontinued Yup

2006-12-26T21:42:00.000+08:00

Well I've decided to let photos do the talking, and I've realised that the remainder of the photos are only of a little amount; so I've decided not to do anything with it unless someone asks. o.O

Anyways, it has been such a long holiday and it seems ever so sweet because

There's no holiday homework; now I know many will humtum me after they read this but who cares? I'm free of secondary school life!
I've finally got my 2nd trip to China! As much as many would hate even a 1st trip to China, I liked it so much!
I have finally upgraded my guitar playing tools; by buying a multiFX pedal, as well as an amplifier that costs below 100 bucks! Whee!
Plus! I have received a drumstick bag for Christmas; no more lugging single pairs of sticks around in a bag! Now every stick is accessible at one shot! (I feel like a sales promoter.)
I have finally got another gig done with a church band! Woohoo that's 2 gigs. ._."

I have indeed plenty more to achieve! But let's leave it to next time.

I got a call from Bimin, one of my orientation group leaders, and she told me lots of stuff and I got lost halfway actually. But I do know that I'm in and orientation group called Orpheus, small group Oracle!

V I C T O R I A

I highlighted the "O" to show which group I'm in.

And anyway, I'm like so super excited about orientation imma' jump with my sebaceous glands all hanging out from my body like flappy wings! Argh this holiday season is getting to me, and I'm getting mad.

I have not finished my GTA SA game yet (sorry ZH, but it's too long) and needless to say NFS MW is not finished. Let alone Simgolf.

Hah, I guess the holidays' too short for me to complete every game.

Till Orientation, pics galore!

Yup.

2006-12-20T21:54:00.000+08:00

Alas, it has been a long hiatus and in the utterly tiny twinkle of an eye, a full week "plus plus" has gone by, leaving those with holiday homework in despair. Definitely not I!

Okay, some of you may be demanding an explanation for my absence ever since I came back from China on the 17th December, only showing traces of activity on my tag-board. Unknown to some, I fell sick on the 2nd day of my trip, and hence I have not recuperated enough given only 5 airplane hours (please note that an airplane 5 hours is not equivalent to on-ground 5 hours; the difference is about many kilometres). Plus, I have an irritatingly annoying cough that doesn't seem to go away each time I force one out. Argh, the flu bug caught me before I escaped China. :D

By the way, if you are expecting a step-by-step, day-by-day, location-by-location synopsis of what I went to see in China's various exotic places, then you have come to the wrong place. I'm sorry, I don't have the luxury of time as I'm rushing out my Christmas programme.

But here are some snippets of the morally upright and cruelly down-wrong(?) things I encountered in China.

China toilets are not as ugly and dirty and run-down as everyone thought: Hello? We live in the 21st Century? Things do have to change right? What, you want a picture to prove it?
China does have 5-star hotels, some even more advanced than Singapore ones: Yes, there is a hotel we stayed in where there was an automatic shower curtain; one that slides up and down much like a projector screen, controlled by a switch. Weird thing is, the curtain opens up to a transparent glass panel, where the guests in the bedroom can see your bathroom antics.
Singapore's Watsons cannot wage a war against China's Watsons: The Watsons in China can be equated to be the Orchard Road of Singapore, even on a weeknight. (Please do not mind the contrast, it is meant to be, since China is 1000 times the size of Singapore) They are filled to the brim and queues of people are always present, no matter how long you wait.
China citizens are helpful VS Singapore citizens are less helpful: Picture someone knocking over a nicely stacked pillar of toys. In Singapore, the norm would be that everyone will be walking away from the "crime scene", as if there was an evil aura lurking in the corner. In China, I saw a guy (a teenager; might add to emphasis) picking up the two dropped items when someone else knocked over. Of course, it is not a very wholesome conclusion that I should make, but nonetheless.
China toilets are very dirty: Why would I make such a contrasting statement? A contradiction, in fact? Well, although the toilets are much cleaner than we thought, they are still very dirty. People leave their business all over the place, (now, aren't you feeling lucky I didn't post any pictures up here?) and throw their used toilet papers into waste baskets provided in every cubicle instead of just flushing it down the hole. EUGH.
China is a spit haven: 'Nuff said.
China's Hangzhou is the real Clean & Green (sometimes Orange) city: Who said Singapore was "Clean & Green"? Who said this standard was enough? Hangzhou is the model we should learn from. It is by far the cleanest city in China I have ever visited.
China's food is very oily: Oily food makes me puke. Every meal, there will always be this dish known as braised pork. Just the sight of it now (I just had it tonight) makes my stomach turn.
China's Wuxi Pai Gu is the best: 超赞!
China is a big city, and by big i mean B-I-G: It takes 4 hours to travel from Shanghai to Nanjing, and we only have 2 rest-stops (which means, toilets!). Furthermore, every trip we take to and fro places is like a short rest for our souls. Worse still, our flight to Shanghai didn't allow us much sleep; we were living zombies roaming the streets of Shanghai. Imagine, 12:00am is sleeping time, while 6:00am is your wake-up call. What is the difference between that and school?

Alright, as I share these little snippets, I hope these interests you for a little while as a teaser. In the meanwhile, I already have little ideas working up in my head, so I will continue to brew them before I blog again about my holiday to China.

Meanwhile pictures here! click here

Please note however, that there are only 200 photos (limited by Flickr); I'll try to get everything up by next week! (:

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas to all! -waves candy cane-

Opiniated Opinions

2006-12-05T23:31:00.000+08:00

I have received much flak from the public viewers of my blog for my latest post on the 30th November, entitled "Un-fruitful Holidays".

To give those new-readers (what are you, outdated?!) a short summary of the post; I talked about why my holidays aren't so fruitful after the O Levels especially since most of the Secondary 4s have nothing better to do at home, and attributed this "un-fruitful-ness" to my lack of a girlfriend.

Apparently it has drawn much attention (see: Yane) to my blog and many viewers had loads to say. But to much of my concern, Yane has decided to launch a blog war against my post on 30th November; which I of course politely declined in his blog.

In essence, he argued his case rather solidly, and I applaud his efforts. He has gone to much extent to argue about the joy experienced in "singlehood-edness" (sorry, I just had to invent that word; it was just too tempting) and that singlehood will never be the same as "being attached" as he put it.

Instead of rebuttals and whatnots; I have decided to build my case upon his judgement and analysis.

Indeed, singlehood-edness is just a mentality, a mental state of the mind. Imagine, it's just one step forward (two steps back?) that changes everything. Either you are attached, or you are not. All it takes is just initiative. But whether you decide to be single or not (and point to note: when you get attached, you'll really have a hard time getting out of it if you want/need/have to; so i advise you to choose and judge properly), the decision really takes the cake.

So I was at my cousin's void deck two days ago, and I saw the sweetest thing. A couple, a boy and a girl, were working together, bring stuff to and fro. Well of course, not that I'm condoning such behaviour, of two very young kids having a relationship with each other. But hey! I really do not know (it's only my own judgement) whether they are a couple or not. Who knows, they may be siblings. ^^

Well all I have to say here is, being single is really one thing, and yes I agree with Yane that it may not be the saddest thing on the face of the Earth, and it really depends on you to make it fruitful and all happy and joyful (CHRISTMAS IS COMING!); because being single means you only lack one thing, being attached. And you don't lose too much either, 'cos you still have your friends, family and other loved ones to give you all the "lurrvee" that you need.

But being attached doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing either; because really you begin to taste a whole new perspective of life, and really you learn how to care more for other people through your partner, and it helps you to look out for others more, become more observant, etc etc. The list goes on and I shall not elaborate.

In short, being attached, or being single, it is really your choice, and this decision may affect your life much; but it is really up to you because you can change this effect, and it is up to you to create the effect you want.

I really don't want to dwell on the Nov 30th post any longer, it being a very disastrous talking point.

I have been away however, for three whole days, and this was due to the demise of my grandmother. So I have been spending nights away from home, so it was pretty tiring. Some pictures of the last few days can be found here: click

The crystal jade photos are courtesy of my sister; we took a few of the dishes there and we tried to take a picture of -cough-julianhee-cough- but failed miserably because most probably, he noticed our funny antics. My sister lah, kept making me laugh so crazily.

Then the dogs are in my cousin's house; and they are such beauties! Elle is my personal fave, because she is more comfortable to people, rather than Muffin, because she's very frightened of people. How interesting dogs are. ((:

So I've heard from auditions that it was quite okay and stuff, and a few selections have been made, some drastic measures have been taken and the next practice will be on Friday as well as Saturday.

People, I'm flying on Saturday so please wait for more photos (I think I'll have to create two Flickr accounts :D JUST KIDDING, FLICKR'S MANAGER! =/ )

Until I return to Singapore, you shall not hear from me anymore.

Treat this as a bon voyage post.

Un-fruitful Holidays

2006-11-30T23:16:00.000+08:00

Again, I'm so sorry that I forgot to take my camera out of the house. Hence, no pictures today. Originally planned to take some pictures of us practising for SWS this sunday, but I was in such a rush that I forgot.

Anyways, one important thing is that I can run fast in slippers (although it hurts my soles). I almost missed a bus 139, I ran with all my might and if I really could capture a picture of myself (which is virtually possible, if you think about it), which was practically impossible, you could see the passion in my, uhh, bouncy thighs.

Missed a sto0pid bus 153, and I was sweating intermittently (which is, again, virtually impossible if you think about it) and the sweat drops kept disturbing my sto0pid earphones. (Nb: the incessant use of "sto0pid" seems to suggest that I'm pissed off or something, but no, I'm not.) When I finally got on my bus 153, I started to people watch again, like I always do when I'm bored.

I started to think about things. Really important and serious thoughts flooded.

Then I realised, why my holidays aren't fruitful.

But before I start today's story (well not really story, since they are random thoughts), let me warn all audiences that this story represents only random thoughts, and I stress again random thoughts. The following information you are about to receive does not represent my state of mind at present or in future, and does not in anyway express my wants as of the moment.

Now that that's done, let's continue.

I saw this couple walking across the streets. Now you'd probably say that I'm just ranting on about having a girlfriend, and how it would be so fulfilling during the holidays, and how you could always spend time with her, and have a great time shopping (eww) with her, and have a whale of a time cycling or visiting theme parks and buying cotton candy, and sharing those stuff with her, and sittting on a park bench and talking about stuff, sharing about life's precious little moments...

Well, you're right.

So that is basically why I feel that my holidays aren't fruitful. Because I have no girlfriend! Actually I'd prefer to think of her as a "life-partner" rather than a girlfriend. Unless, if you mean girlfriend = someone you are spending the rest of your life with. (another cheesy movie line)

So anyway, I was thinking rather deeply about it, and made some comparisons; with or without girlfriend. With these rantings going about in my head, I finally came up with a very contrasting statement/comparison.

Without girlfriend, holidays will be like...

Waking up at 12.00pm (which happeneded today) and then turning on the computer, playing GTA San Andreas and NFS etc etc. Occasionally going out with male friends, hanging out and eating etc.

With girlfriend, holidays will be like...

Waking up at 0800 hours, maybe even 0600 hours for a 2 hour phone call (both phones are free incoming, but I call her), Spending 1 hour in the bathroom doing personal grooming, spending time on the bus on the phone once again (this time she'll call instead of myself, no choice lah, have to save money), instead of stoning on the bus. Then whole day out at Orchard Road with shopping targets = 0, just window shopping would be enough to satisfy (her, not me). But both of us will leave Orchard satisfied. Myself? Satisfied with her company. Her? Satisfied with her new gifts. Of course, when I leave Orchard Road, I lose something important. Cloth at the bottom of my pockets. (PS if you don't get the joke, please tag.) Then when she gets home, (I'll probably sit her bus with her) I will call her again to make sure she's safe and sound etc (even though I saw her up to her home).

There you go, the starkingly stark contrasts in the two different situations. Oh I forgot to add that I will probably reach home at about 10pm for the second case?

Anyways, I don't even think you guys bother to read through the whole post so let me cut this short.

In the end, I was thinking on the bus; if I held a "Win A Date with Mark Leong!" with bolded exclamation marks to add emphasis on the excitement it would bring, would it work?

Aiyo Mark, can you please don't be so BHB. =D

Who cares, the road's been planned, all I have to do is just stick to it. =)

The day of maturity

2006-11-29T19:41:00.000+08:00

Today I've just been recognised (although by a less than ordinary shop; but nonetheless) as a maturing teenager.

But before I relate to you the story, let me present you with what I did today.

I slept till 11am, packed my stuff, fixed my computer Graphics Card up, and then got ready to go to Macs @ Bishan for a meeting with Norman. Turned out Samantha was sick, so she couldn't make it. So the two of us had a really unexpectedly fruitful discussion (owing to good planning by Matthias, Samantha and myself; HEH), and we came up with a few dates for rehearsals etc.

Went home rather early, about 3.15 we left Macs and headed home. Reached home at 4pm, which was the more than often late, due to the bus uncles/aunties (don't know what they are doing in the terminal, but hope it's fruitful) taking a long time to get to 139, and it's always the case. Two 145s leave, and then a 139 leaves. The worse was a few days ago, I was waiting for a 139, but there wasn't any present at the depot (which meant we still had to wait for 139 buses to return before being able to wait yet again for the bus uncles/aunties to get to their seats.

Anyway, before I went to the queue, I went (once again) to the bubble tea shop. There was a part of me hoping for something. (heh) But anyway when I was walking to the bubble tea shop (Nb: STORY STARTS HERE), I passed by this jewellery store.

Now usually I don't take too much fancy to jewellery, and I don't look like that kind of guy who would have a girlfriend and buy jewellery for his girlfriend. More importantly, I don't look like a sto0pid adult. Hence, usually when there are these publicity people distributing flyers outside their jewellery "gallery" (can't find a more suitable word), they won't give me these flyers when I pass by.

TODAY WAS AN EXCEPTION. I was finally offered a flyer!

This obviously means that I have become more "adult-ish" (if you may pardon the use of this word), and I'm recognised by an adult by the society!

Hooray for adults. =\

Nb: Sorry, I have no pictures to offer today.

SF X'mas Programme Discussion & Zonghe's BV Dinner

2006-11-28T23:51:00.000+08:00

Pictures galore!

Discussion @ Matt's house went smoothly! Plenty of distractions but other than that, we finished and accomplished quite a lot. =D

Then I went to Orchard to practically wait for Zonghe. Oh my, he took such a long time I had no choice but to people-watch. What was really interesting was that yet another charity organisation came up to me and asked me to donate. Frankly speaking, I was a bit scared. This afternoon a girl came up to me and spoke to me in chinese and asked me to donate. I said "Sorry I'm in a rush..." After that, when I was in Orchard MRT, another girl came up to me and spoke to me in chinese and asked me to donate for a soft toy. I was like "Okay, but I only got 5 bucks to give you," which was in essence because I needed 10 bucks for the dinner later. I had no money on myself already and was considered the average broke.

Anyway what's most important was that they spoke CHINESE to me?! Do I look like a China person to you? Granted, I look like a ghost in white light, but that doesn't mean I'm from China! It means, I'm fair-skinned and all you jealous people listen up. I don't want fair-skin! I want to be tanned. And it's not that I did not get tanned before. I did. But I became white again. It's a medical condition and it's SO TRUE. You better believe it.

Here's a link to prove my condition. CLICK

Anyway, went to Kinokuniya with Zonghe to buy his 2 books. Bought Man Booker Prize winner's book (forgot what it was so don't ask me) and another book; I think it was Jodi Picoult.

Went over to Lido to eat dinner. Three pictures will explain almost everything.

A footlong sandwich shared with ZH, only half eaten and I feel full. But ZH went to order more, and I frantically agreed. Didn't know why but I guess I have an incurable obsession with Popcorn Chicken for KFC. VERY VERY NICE.

Anyway Subway's Subway Melt sandwich (not sure if it's called that) was super nice. Don't mind the free advertisement would you? Yeah the Sweet Onion Sauce was simply delicious and it was really so sweet that I long for it again. Thanks ZH for the recommendation by the way. What's more, this is the first time I ate lettuce, tomato and cucumber so willingly (although it's probably because I was hungry); I really relish the dinner.

Hah and anyway after that much eaten, ZH feels hungry still. I suggested Gelatissimo, but he said he already ate it recently. So he sat down and ordered a cup of coffee from McCafe. Sweet Latte. EWW.

I still can't see myself eating so much today. Mutton soup was already bad enough. Now this?

I think I'm going to burp 100 times before I come back and post tomorrow. Bye.

Let's talk about girl-shyness.

2006-11-25T20:56:00.000+08:00

This post is in essence very long-winded, so if you cannot stand long-windedness, please DO NOT READ ON or READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. In addition, this post is to make up for the very short posts I have put up recently.

I am in fact, a rather shy person. Especially when it comes to girls. You know when you grow out of that primary school mentality where "Girls suck!" and "Girls drool" etc? Yeah that was the first stage of this phenomena. Let me tell you the norm after this stage; usually when we go on to secondary school, we begin to treat girls like, considerably and relatively better? That's because we somehow start to respect them and respectably, they mature faster than us hence we acknowledge (or most of us do acknowledge) that we are more immature and that they have more "experience" than us. Then after this stage comes the acceptance part. We begin to accept girls as a so-to-speak "part of our lives" perhaps in the future. This is when we begin talking to girls like we've known them since yesterday and this precept of shyness disappears into thin air.

So basically, 3 stages.

Primary School Stage
Better-treatment Stage
Acceptance Stage

That's right. Sad to say, I'm still stuck at stage 2. Shyness is still my problem. So even as my parents warn me about not being so close to girls, or not hanging out with them too often, I still don't have that kind of "oh no, I may get caught one day" mentality. That's because I am still very shy! I don't tend to relate well with girls and so, I tend to be less comfortable around girls, and hence I try to "avoid" them! That's why Mom and Dad, you need not be so afraid. -shrugs-

So what is the phenomena?

Girl-shyness is practically a hindrance, an obstacle, an obstruction, a road-block; to your progress in life. It is a stumbling block in development to every male on earth. In fact, girl-shyness is more commonly known as Love shyness. It is, in essence, a type of severe chronic shyness.

As described in Wikipedia , love-shy people find it difficult to be assertive in informal situations involving "the opposite gender".

In a psychologist's study, in fact, the one that coined this term, he stated that one factor causing this could be "the low frequency of going out (or even rarely) with women".

I'm a perfect example of that. For one, I am in a single-gender school, and I do not mix around MUCH with girls. Granted, certain Sundays a few of us get together with girls and have lunch together. But other than that, no more.

Well, let me list down the few girls that I am more comfortable with:

My Mommy
My Sister

That's it.

So plainly this describes my problem.

Any help?

Waste of money?

2006-11-24T22:02:00.000+08:00

Today was a super spendthrift day.

Two movies, wasted MRT trips, same venues, expensive lunches and dinners (Beef Noodles S$3.80, Carl's Jr. $5.20)

Not to mention a pair of new sticks for tomorrow and the coming jamming sessions (if there are anymore to come).

Argh, no photos today.

My posts are getting shorter and shorter by the day, how?

Jamming photos uploaded!

2006-11-24T00:12:00.000+08:00

Click here to access it!

This set was shot and created on the 23rd of November 2006.
Copyright of inessentialite@blogspot

Dai Di Fiesta

2006-11-22T15:39:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was PB Camp day. My last camp in Victoria School as the class of 2006.

But then again, yesterday was also DAI DI galore day. We played Dai di (four of us) together for a very long time until we missed out on a lot of sleep.

Besides, we also played lots of carrom and ate lots of junk food. Argh by God's grace I managed to drink lots of water to keep my voice for tomorrow's jamming.

=D Daidi, anyone?

Sony T10

2006-11-20T21:40:00.000+08:00

In response to a certain tag on my chatterbox, I hereby shorten my post to only one sentence and here it is, I just bought my Sony T10

P/S: Tag in matter is by yane

Monday Blues

2006-11-20T11:16:00.000+08:00

Woke up with dreary eyes and a bleary morning voice. Very tired because I slept at 1230am.

Went down to cut my hair and voila! I'm all awake now.

Okay so it's confirmed that our jamming session with full force will be on 23 NOVEMBER 2006, THURSDAY 2-5PM, fourtones@clarkequay.

Those who are going for lunch please meet at Clarke Quay at 1230PM.

Now that advertisement is over let me tell you one of the troubles I have now.

Today we are supposed to go out (by we, I mean my parents and myself) to buy a camera for myself (YAY!). However, we have met with several setbacks. (edited text)

Alright, there you have it, the numerous setbacks we have uncovered ever since we've embarked on this arduous project of buying a Sony T-10 camera.

Yes many of you may say that T-10s are lousy, having experienced it for a long time. WHO CARES? I just need a camera that I like, not one that doesn't suit your taste of functionality! Who cares about colleagues who say Sony only uses Sony Memory Sticks (NB: Sandisk creates memory sticks now too), they were wrong at the end weren't they?

BLAH.

First Day of holidays

2006-11-17T23:08:00.000+08:00

It has been sweet. But mostly bitter.

It is indeed a bittersweet feeling to know that O Levels are over. Yes, and I for one, will continue to blog as frequently as usual, until my JC days come.

Today I went jamming at fourtones. FOURTONES ROCKS MY SOCKS!

-free advertisement-

And I really love my band man... They rock your socks off laa. All of them are like super pro-ded, I'm afraid I can't match up to them. Heh but it's all for God.

=D Jamming next week with full strength!! 7 people making music for God!

Freedom with a capital B!

2006-11-16T20:41:00.000+08:00

Yes! Finally, freedom is mine.

Today I have successfully completed my O Level Examinations 2006!

Sad to say, some others have not but, anyway it's time for celebration!

=D =D =D

Let's go full time jamming!
Let's sleep 100 hours!
Let's do all sorts of things that we couldn't do during O's!!!!

ARGH I'M SO SUPER EMO NOW I CAN'T TALK GOTTA GO BYE.

*post shortened due to excessive inhalation of happiness in air. Wait, 1% of happiness in air can be absorbed by steel wool?

Exam Schedule!

2006-11-16T12:26:00.000+08:00

As you all know, it has already been roughly a period of two weeks and today is the last day of our O Level Examinations!

Right now, I'm awaiting my O Level Chemistry Paper, and I'm now at Marcus' house. Heh.

Here's the remainder of the schedule:

06/11 - E Math Paper 1, Combined Humanities Paper 1 (Social Studies)
07/11 - NIL
08/11 - English Language Paper 1 & 2
09/11 - Biology Paper 1 & 2, Combined Humanities Paper 2 (Geography Elective)
10/11 - E Math Paper 2
11/11 - Saturday
12/11 - Sunday
13/11 - NIL
14/11 - A Math Paper 1
15/11 - Physics Paper 1 & 2
16/11 - A Math Paper 2, Chemistry Paper 1 & 2

Time passes so quickly!

2006-11-14T18:09:00.000+08:00

Hello world, once again I have come to blog about the inessentials in life.

Firstly, it's down to 2 days more! 2 more gruelling days of Math and Science. After which we will confirm + guarantee havoc outside.

Of course, I will have to prepare a list of things-to-do in the holidays, to make sure I don't waste my precious holidays (or what's left of it, grr O Levels, make us waste our holidays). So without much ado, let me begin sorting out my list today. There are certain areas which you may have to fill in for me, those with (insert _____ here). Perhaps you could give me some suggestions heh.

Jamming with Yane, Matt Ho, Matt Foo, Ben Chia, Daniel Pflug and Melodie!
Submit application for PAE!
Giving tuition to Church Friend(s)!*
Singing K-box with the HBBD kakis!
Go to Shanghai!**
Go to Vivocity for the FIRST time! (Is it Vee-vor-ce-tee or Vee-voh-cee-tee?)
Watch a movie (ie any movie as long as its rating fits my age, heh.)
Having family gatherings that are as often as before O's came!!
Pack my room! Eughh get rid of the Sec 1, 2, 3, 4 books!
Join an outing with the SFers!
Learn how to play the (insert instrument here)
Do some Secondary 4 (insert subject here) Papers for fun
GET SOME SLEEP!!! Me going to get like 100 hours of sleep a day
Be a full time listener of YES! 933FM
Buy CDs online (ie. Won Fu's second album in 2004)

*Any recommendations as to whom might wanna have tuition?
**Anybody who wants me to buy them stuff from Shanghai? Just tag me ya?

Phew what a list. There's plenty more coming, more that I haven't got a chance to do since exams took over my life in Secondary School.

Anyways, here are the updates for the exam schedules so far:

06/11 - E Math Paper 1, Combined Humanities Paper 1 (Social Studies)
07/11 - NIL
08/11 - English Language Paper 1 & 2
09/11 - Biology Paper 1 & 2, Combined Humanities Paper 2 (Geography Elective)
10/11 - E Math Paper 2
11/11 - Saturday
12/11 - Sunday
13/11 - NIL
14/11 - A Math Paper 1
15/11 - Physics Paper 1 & 2
16/11 - A Math Paper 2, Chemistry Paper 1 & 2

TWO MORE DAYS!! I'm feeling super emo now. I can see it nearing me, the screams of joy and laughter filling the once-moody atmosphere of the hall, and everyone starting to jump up and down, and the frantic poundings of feet on the waxed and varnished floor...

But until then, it's Physics.

Still, I wanna thank the two impostors on my tag-board for making me famous, and I want to thank them for "hating myself" and "(being) the drummer of marksband and i rock! so does physics!"

Even though I hate Physics. Or dislike.

Yes and I have not touched on the more important topic. Something inessential, but something fairly important in our lives!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Take out the banners, put up the decors, deck the halls with boughs of holy, tis' the perfect season to be jolly!

Many a times I tune in to the radio, immediately I hear songs of Christmas carols and it certainly brings back memories. I remember the times at my previous old apartment where we always had fun putting up the christmas tree, hanging the numerous tinklebells and coloured shiny balls, and of course, us trying to reach the top of the tree to plant the Angel!! It was my favourite time of my life, Christmas.

But as we all grow older, some of us really forget the essentialism of Christmas and its joyousness. How I wish we could all be children once again, with all the presents and smiles on our faces. And although we were small, we knew that our happiness painted on our faces would inevitably bring joy to our relatives and parents because our joy is their joy.

I have forgotten when was the last time I forsaken Christmas. Perhaps it was when I went into the Primary 6 stage, where bombardments of eensy bits of life's little pieces started to fall into my life eg. the need to be accepted by friends. It was then I lost the joy of Christmas, where I started to think, "Christmas is just another holiday what".

Truly, it is a holiday to non-christians, but it highlights the most important gift of Sharing. Don't forget, it is also the birthday of Jesus Christ!

So maybe one day during my very free holidays, I will decide to actually pop down to Orchard Road, ALONE on perhaps Christmas' Eve Eve Eve, (before it gets really crowded) and walk alone on the stretch of road. It will definitely bring back memories of the sweet childhood and hanging up of christmas trees and the like, and it will evidently evoke the warm and fuzzy feelings of the early years once again, and then once again, I'll feel like a child, celebrating Christmas with many gifts and toys, awaiting to open each present with the approval of our parents.

Let's all sing a Christmas carol!

O Come All Ye Faithful!

The text to the Carol O Come All Ye Faithful was originally written in Latin (Adeste Fideles) and was intended to be a hymn, it is attributed to John Wade, an Englishman. The music to O Come All Ye Faithful was composed by fellow Englishman John Reading in the early 1700s. The tune was first published in a collection known as "Cantus Diversi" in 1751. In 1841 Rev. Frederick Oakley is reputed to have worked on the familiar translation of O Come All Ye Faithful which replaced the older Latin lyrics "Adeste Fideles".

O Come All Ye Faithful
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

O Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing all that hear in heaven God's holy word.
Give to our Father glory in the Highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

7 down, 4 to go

2006-11-09T17:48:00.000+08:00

06/11 - E Math Paper 1, Combined Humanities Paper 1 (Social Studies)
07/11 - NIL
08/11 - English Language Paper 1 & 2
09/11 - Biology Paper 1 & 2, Combined Humanities Paper 2 (Geography Elective)
10/11 - E Math Paper 2
11/11 - Saturday
12/11 - Sunday
13/11 - NIL
14/11 - A Math Paper 1
15/11 - Physics Paper 1 & 2
16/11 - A Math Paper 2, Chemistry Paper 1 & 2

17/11 - Freedom Reigns.

Traditional Midnight Oil

2006-11-03T14:18:00.001+08:00

Yes, traditional midnight oil. And in case you do not know what I'm talking about, it means burning the traditional midnight oil, like in the olden times. Just like ol' times when we stay up till late hiding clock faces from our line of vision to cram in whatever facts we can into our heads.

This is the first time I have crammed so much into my head; yesterday night. Well and in case you think I'm exaggerating, here's the timeline.

10:00PM - 4:30AM :: MUG/CRAM/STUDY/BURN-MIDNIGHT-OIL

Yes, under 7 hours I have managed to cram fact after fact into this teeny weeny brain of mine (not that I dislike it though) and still remember it today! Let me see; 1946 (?) Malayan Union Scheme was brought to consolidate citizenship for all Malays & Non-Malays as well as to transfer all powers of the Sultans of the nine federated and unfederated states and straits to the British Governor.

Phew, let me take a breather.

In other words, children, please sleep early and don't let your brains burst and explode with facts. Study smart, not hard. I mean, well you've got to study hard, but not hard as in stressed out hard, but then again smart not as in...

Studying tips!

2006-11-01T11:21:00.000+08:00

In case you are expecting to see a list of what-to-dos and what-not-to-dos, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you, dearies.

This post is merely dedicated to a blogger friend who have just helped me in relishing studying oh-so-good times again.

Thanks for those study tips!

*Disclaimer: Please do not ask me for any study tips because study methods can vary from person to person and I am solely NOT responsible for any damage caused to your grades.

S.H.E 'Perfect 3' World Tour 2007

2006-10-31T22:07:00.000+08:00

S.H.E 'Perfect 3' World Tour 2007
Singapore Indoor Stadium,27 January 2007 8:00 PM

Tickets go at S$148, S$128, S$98 and S$68.

I would give up so much for a S$98 ticket! =D

More details

Happy Holidays!

2006-10-30T09:52:00.000+08:00

First of all before proper greetings let me have a word with the HMT Students!

Today is be the last day you guys touch Chinese if you do well for it! So chiong chiong chiong! All the way!

Hah, and happy holidays to everyone who has finished their exams. =\

I'm feeling Chinese.

2006-10-26T21:33:00.000+08:00

NB.: Please note that you must have Chinese encoding installed on your computer and browser before reading this post. If you don't, THEN BUZZ OFF, you ardent supporter of the "jiak-kang-tang" gang.

In another four days, it's the first written paper for the few Victorians who are taking their Higher Mother Tongue 'O' Level Paper.

In conjunction with this mega event, I have decided to go "Chinese" today and tomorrow to project awareness to the masses such as to rally support for these battle soldiers who are fighting their first battle in the O Levels!

今天我们刚考完了实验测验, 而且是考 PHYSICS 科目. 不必多说, 许多人都叽叽喳喳地在食堂里讲个不停. 真闷.

用华语与你们交通真难, 我真是佩服那些考HMT的学生... 好了, 我决定放弃...

Phew, that was a hard time. -director shouts in the background- What?! Only two to three sentences? That was a whopping hard time for me already!

Doh.

I guess some people can never run the job of Linguistic Professional.

6th Global Chinese Music Awards Disappointment

2006-10-25T21:10:00.000+08:00

全球音乐焦点顶尖乐坛盛会
第六届 [ 全球华语歌曲排行 ] 榜颁奖典礼
10 月 28 日就在新加坡！

Yes, a great disappointment has befallen upon me.

Yesterday night, I tried for the pair of tickets, thinking that if I won the pair of tickets, both Calvin and myself could enjoy a great night at the Indoor Stadium together two days before his first written O Level paper.

I even prepared my handphone in writing the format out in the SMS before the DJ even announced it.

Then I wrote this reason for my wanting to go to the ceremony: "I want to give my best friend a great graduation gift before his O Levels!"

I thought that was enough to touch the DJ.

I was wrong.

Someone wrote in to say that he wanted to witness the hard work put in by Yes 933 radio station. I wanted to try again this evening. Yet I missed the announcement by few minutes as I was eating dinner.

I should've known; the world is so great. Maybe next time I shouldn't be a goody-two-shoes and just go around sycophanting others for the good of myself. Maybe I shall stop thinking about other people's welfare and start thinking for once about myself.

Maybe I shouldn't put up with people's airs and tempers and start putting up some myself. Maybe I should start messing my character up to be a real bad-ass.

Maybe I should just stop writing.

PS: Just a little ad here; there are very little tickets left for the ceremony, only the S$68 tickets are left. If you are a student (yes, I am and I'm grieved at the fact I'm still stuck here) or are part of the NS Servicemen Team you get to buy it at S$50; and if you are Singtel or Singnet user, you get a 10% discount on tickets.

But considering that I won't even get a chance to attend it, I might as well just give up. It's futile.

Graduating Class of 2006 Photos

2006-10-24T00:16:00.000+08:00

Access the photos here.

O's are here! Let us all run hard and fast and smart to reach that goal!

Plans for the not-so-far future

2006-10-23T21:56:00.000+08:00

Relentlessly fighting for what? Just to get ahead in life.

In view of the impending (not theoretically correct, since it has officially started) O Levels, I shall keep my post amazingly short.

The not-so-far future, something all of us can see so close to us, yet we can't grasp.

We yearn to see tomorrow; but how do we know that it sees us; tomorrow?

Jam bands; ODACs; Air Pistols; Choirs; Symphonic Bands; what else to life?

Is it not just a fight for sanity? In this rapid-paced dog-eat-dog world?

Society is upturned; downturned; whatever, it's just screwed.

In short addition; I managed to fix my computer.

The end.

I'll be the happiest person on Earth if...

2006-10-07T20:26:00.000+08:00

Due to a sudden rage and insurgence of impulsive actions, I have decided to retract my previous comments and attribute them to the following reasons:

- Unintentional impulsive behaviour
- Sudden fit of sentimentalism
- Uncouth and rough SNAGism
- ~~Love-sickness~~ Lack of romantic encounters
- Hunger pangs
- Chronic Lactose-intolerance-caused Diarrhoea
- Phlegm caused by Chronic Bronchitis
- Incessant usage of magazines popularly known as "8 Days"

As such, I have decided to revamp my blog and hence post up more useful stuff rather than shoutouts to randomness.

Qian Lian Zhi Wai

2006-08-31T15:37:00.000+08:00

W00t! I forgot to tell you guys that I pre-ordered Jay Chou's newest album, Still Fantasy (依然范特西) ! Pre-ordered for S$18.95 so yeah I guess that's a good deal because 霍元甲 was worse than that, almost S$23 I guess.

The new song, 千里之外, is so super nice! It features a duet with Fei Yu Qing and himself, obviously making waves around the album as it distinguishes between two sides:

Chinese cultural feel VS Non-chinese cultural feel

I think I belong to the latter, because I'm an ardent fan of his! Besides, what's wrong with the cultural feel of the song? It's perfect and I like it because he is supporting his culture, nothing wrong with that.

Another thing that leaves many fans to be disturbed is the leakage of songs of his album when it has not been finalised yet. I guess I won't feel the same way but I wouldn't want that if I were an artist.

Well, we'll just have to wait till Friday.

Cutesy little things!

2006-08-30T16:53:00.000+08:00

Hihi. Just finished my Bio practical at 10am (okay, so it's not JUST but VERY LONG AGO).

Yep pretty simple practical, just the theory was a little more tedious. And I was right! Ethanol Emulsion test DID COME OUT! See!! What did I tell you? Huh? Huh? -looks all smug and proud-

Actually Prelims are just preparation exams to the O' Level, so it's sorta expected because we haven't been doing fat tests for a long long time.

I just got this made today!! It's super cute:

Prettay eh?

I went to PP today again. Not exactly again, since I've not been there for years! Went there to buy some Teacher's Day gifts and cards. In the end I was quite broke and was lazy to go draw some cash [cos no pencil to draw ;) ] so I headed home with 6 cards and 2 flower like thingamajigs.

Had to go all the way to TP to renew my card, so I didn't stop at JR bus-stop. How I love these acronyms! Okay then had to renew my POP card and then I totally forgot to stop at SS to buy MT!!!

OMG I'm having so much fun and it just isn't me to type this way. Let's see tomorrow.

Teacher's day, come in PT Kit? =p

Physics Practical Preliminary Round

2006-08-28T15:42:00.000+08:00

Very exciting today because we got Lenses! Guess I should have expected it because it hasn't been coming out for O's and they ARE INDEED preparing us for the O's, aren't they?

Lens + Pendulum came out.

Tomorrow is a free day! Which means, tomorrow is SS-whacking day!

At long last, daybreak!

2006-08-27T22:31:00.000+08:00

Finally managed to login to Blogger without much fuss and lag.

Good news!

Progress of Mugfest:

Social Studies: Two chapters left, One not compulsory

E Math: 5 papers completed!
A Math: 4 papers completed!

Chemistry Practical Prelims and English Prelims are over!

That's all for now! =)

Mugfest 2006

2006-08-14T20:53:00.000+08:00

Changes:
- A change in the picture to feature a mug...uhh...fest.
- Added a few more songs whilst an erasure of a few songs were put in place
- Changed mood to confusionized elation
- Changed wishlist!

Of course, this marks the hiatus of the blog. Except a few weekly updates here, because it is the start of Mugfest 2006: The slaughter of the mug.

Meanwhile, enjoy the hiatus and check back on weekends (usually) and I'll keep you posted!

The band concert was great, and I'll post more photos on it later!

Thanks for coming to this site and being a faithful fan (and even if I don't have any, I'd wish to think I have quite a few (: )

Remember kids, study hard and don't let your parents down! (:

Reluctant!

2006-08-05T09:21:00.000+08:00

Hello again.

I realised that everytime I touch the "Blogspot" button and login, and then after I get to the posting page, I always find myself in a dilemma. Because I am so reluctant to write.

ZZZ.

I just finished my mocks this round, and the next would already be Prelims. Graggh.

I have no mood and time to write now.

Disappointments

2006-07-28T18:50:00.000+08:00

Sat in the corner, twiddling thumbs make light of day
Stares at the clock, twenty minutes past favourites
Pointed fingers appear accurately,
Time's running out, better keep yourself in check
with the occasional vibe of the music

Anxious-mindedness
made the order of the day
1 minute left! Quick!

The wind sweeps through gusts of stale air
man-made collisions with the stable ground and rubber
shifty sounds and gazes everywhere
What now? The spotlight darkens.

Gentlemen! Halt now!
Swords are drawn, caterwauling
Pleads me, just one more!

Sighs and guffaws fill the musky odor of bodies
Spirit of hopelessness' dominion, matrices of faces down to earth once more
Dreams shattered, miracles unbelieved and unspoken

How now, brown cowards
Droopy faces now adorned
on their oiled image

Because I believed, I thought I could conquer
Halfberds still in air, the battle is lost.
Grinding to the monotony of speech
Gradually emptied feeling.

I was feeling a little poetic, hence the immense verses of poetic unrhythmic sense. Notice the haikus in the middle of each verse.

Let's see who's the smart aleck who can guess what this poem is really saying. And who's the smart aleck AFTER to guess how long this took to create.

I've officially reached mugfest saturation. It's official because Mocks have started, and I realise I do not have so much time to spare.

My MSN Nick writes: "360 Degrees of Change. 720 Degrees of Consistency. 1440 Degrees Of Nothingness."

Extendedly, the other writes: "Were you prepared when you met it? [Under defeat by standing champion; mocks. Next Round: 31st July 2006, D-day.]"

I had a Biology Mock Practical today and it was midly fine. Except that it took a little too long for me to realise that I was going slower than the rest. And "Water Bath" didn't mean "a real water bath" but just a water bath made with beakers. Geez.

Haven't been blogging for long because I couldn't find the time. Will not be blogging for a long time but here's a nice story to share just in case you find this blog boring.

Black and Gold Boxes

I have in my hands two boxes
Which God gave me to hold
He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black,
And all your joys in the gold."

I heeded his words, and in the two boxes
Both my joys and sorrows I store
But though the gold became heavier each day
The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black
I wanted to find out why
And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole
Which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God, and mused aloud,
"I wonder where my sorrows could be."
He smiled a gentle smile at me.
"My child, they're all here with me."

I asked, "God, why give me the boxes,
"Why the gold, and the black with the hole?"
"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings,
the black is for you to let go."

- Source: http://www.inspirationalstories.com/2/263.html

100 leg presses and 20 arm curls; but no 1.5km run.

2006-06-23T11:26:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since I've blogged.

This morning I've been dragged out of bed (yet again) to go to the gym, which took a whopping 15 minutes (of my precious sleep time) to get there by foot. You can expect how tired I was when I came back with aches in and on my feet, and some developing blisters on my hands, acquired from the Dip Assist and the Chin Assist station. Besides which, I realised that I could do a 10kg on my right hand for Arm Curls (single-handedly), but still have yet to train my left arms for it. For Triceps Extensions, which probably are easier than Arm Curls, I guess I could also do a 10kg on my left as my right.

Oh and after yesterday I realised I need to improve my strokes a little to give power to the hands to play the drums. As well as dig in to the bass pedal to give a stronger sound to the bass drum. And of course, I corrected the mistake of playing the crash cymbals 90 degrees down, by sliding past the cymbals; which gave a sharper sound.

One Way was one of the songs we played yesterday, the melodious harmony and the enthusiasm I could feel in the music was tremendous in ringing throughout the church. Nobody complained though; all for the Lord!

Just hope that everyone went home knowing that this was worship to the Lord, and we are worshipping Him alone, not the music.

Yeah, next Saturday will prolly be our band's practice, for SWS the following day. I kinda look forward to it!

And I know that everyone looks forward to it!

Brazil is still going on strong but Ronaldinho (as I've heard since yesterday) has not been showing much of a lustre; a lacklustre I should say. And I wonder why everyone likes Kaka, and by everyone I mean all the girls. -shrugs- Besides the fact that he's good-looking, what else? He's not better than Ronaldinho at Samba, and only perfect at assists, so what else? Yes he did score goals, but Ronaldinho has shown better. Well, we will see at the Finals.

I guess maybe Brazil's playmaker is plotting a big surprise for the finals.

Cake, soccer and switched presents.

2006-06-19T18:00:00.000+08:00

We basked in the moonlight as we strolled down to our dinner place, Parkway Parade. It was a pleasant experience (even if it meant wearing pink panther t-shirts after washing up at a fairly open and crowded bathhouse).

The Secondary 4 (+ JC) get-together was a huge success yesterday as we spent the whole day together at TPBC campus and East Coast Park, and then PP.

Even as we got together to play games, eat dinner etc, we never forgot who made this possible, the one and only Lord of the universe!

Yesterday it started off great, with a gathering at the void deck of our church, as we feasted our eyes on a coffee cake. Medium as it may seem (in size), I was touched by their gesture. No friends (in my entire life) have ever bought me a cake to celebrate my birthday! I only remember that it was my family who bought me a cake. After reluctantly biting the candles off the cake (initiated by so many of them), we started eating. Until a few of them decided it was fun to throw the cakes at people! So we started targeting each other in the faces, and in the end we had to clean up before we set off. It was funny to see all of us having cake smeared on our faces.

After which we set off to ECP. On the way, we were told to open "our" presents. I got a cool purple t-shirt, as well as a baby blue ripcurl flip-flops! And the other present was a fairy wand. Hah! Then we realised that me and Deborah had to switch presents. In the end, I had a pair of Zildjian drumsticks (Model 5A; wood-tipped) and a Pink Mickey Mouse tee which had a embroidered Mickey image on it.

ECP was fun, because we played soccer, we frisbee, volleyball, captain's ball and water bombs! All of us got really but of course, it dried off in due course. Yeah, I guess the games really invoked memories from my mind when I saw the pictures this morning. The bonds that binded us together yesterday, as I prayed to the Lord last night, will never be forfeited!

I guess we'll just have to wait till December before we can enjoy ourselves once again.

Befalling Despondence

2006-06-07T00:00:00.000+08:00

It has been three days since the passing on of a close relative of ours, my Aunt. She (as they always say at funerals) has passed away peacefully, and has been called home to be with the Lord.

Frankly, do we need further reminders that life is fragile as such, and how susceptible it is to dangers that constantly surround everyday lives of millions around the globe? Do we always need news of deaths of people we don't know (but why do we even care?) to tell us that we have yet to experience trying situations?

I'm afraid we do not need so much of controversy around us to continuously remind us how precious life is.

Yet, many of us do not take into strong consideration the concept of fragility. Many of us (despite the nagging reminders of the need to plan your life) take for granted the peace and quiet we have today, ignoring that growing sound of growls arousing from their stomachs, or that piercing pain that comes from between our thighs when nature calls.

No, not literally. I mean, there is a battle being fought in our own bodies, yes, and that is practically one of the factors we humans ignore resulting in the destruction and disintegration of our physical being.

Figuratively, I mean we often take for granted racial harmony (unfortunately pieced together by an authority, not fully enforced by a nation's people), societal status stability; which has not been in focus since the beginning of time in our nation, and the heavily emphasised terrorism safety (or lack, thereof).

What if, the rich turned against the poor? Wouldn't there be a glaring disparity amongst the vulgarly rich and the contemptible poor? And what would we expect to see? Luxurious estates crowding at one famous shopping belt, and run-down slums at some faraway desolate corner?

Wouldn't there be fights everywhere? Wouldn't there be disagreements between countries in result?

Well I think I'm slowly straying from the point.

The point I'm NOT trying to bring across is, solve our differences peacefully, live together harmoniously (as all textbooks and study materials here tell us); which will (fictitiously and untestedly) bring in prosperity.

The fact is, life is fragile, treasure it, or you might lose it forever.

We always say when someone close to us leaves the face of the Earth; "I wish I had done [insert action or gesture here] for [insert name here]." or "I wish I had more time with [insert name here] so that I won't miss out on giving [insert name here] the best days of [insert name here]'s life."

Why? What for? For whom? We really do not know. We are made in such a complex way that we are made to come to Earth, then leave again. Whether we leave a legacy or not, it depends, but we do definitely leave a trail ablazing of people regretting what they did not do instead of treasuring what they did for them.

Live for the day's worth, for you never know when you might forget the days behind you forever.

Virgin Post

2006-06-05T16:47:00.000+08:00

After so many months of trials and tribulations, my palpitating fingers finally got to the mood to blog and create a new blog in fact! Besides, since the World Cup 06 is coming, I might as well be using this blog to post reviews and stuff (provided I am allowed to catch any match, which is a measly 4 out of the many more matches broadcasted).

Anyways, this year my sister came back from AZ and she reportedly said that she had a good time there, and claimed that we should go over there because it was fabulous and awesome and studying there was good because you didn't need to study. (Apparently, someone obtained an "A" without studying)

In other news, I've got myself a pair of flip-flops already, and its a gift from my sister (which she didn't bother to wrap because it was "my birthday present", and when asked to wrap she said a huge loud "NO!").

Besides that, this week was a fair bit of lunches and dinners. Memorable ones like the one with my teacher Ms Tham at Raffles City as well as the Red House dinner with all our relatives (only the closer ones).

Mid years was great for me, I dropped from a whopping 18 points to a measly 14 points (in points, the lower the better). Improvement, but still needs more working on to get to VJC (my dream school btw)

There's nothing else I would like to add, just stay tuned for more news.