Thoughts Unlimited

Future Time

2007-06-19T20:14:00.000+08:00

I never thought I would be at this age, choosing my future, looking at it and wondering what it holds.

14 years ago I said I wanted to be an architect.

10 years ago I said I wanted to be an artist.

8 years ago I said I wanted to be a lawyer.

And today I don't know what I really am going to do with all that future time.

sunsets don't discriminate

2007-06-10T17:24:00.000+08:00

No, they don't. Singapore sunsets are awesome. If you bother to look.

Yesterday's was pretty nice, although not the nicest I've seen in Singapore.

The Mug has started.

2007-06-08T01:14:00.000+08:00

Yeah, it has. I really need to stop doing nonsense (like this!) and start actually studying.

I'll just post this pic and be done with it. For now.

Essentials for studying:
Ah too bad blogger doesn't like me and so it refuses to let me post the pic. Just make do with the link then.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e186/rh89/CIMG4851_small.jpg

Dear Blog

2007-05-11T22:14:00.000+08:00

Dear Blog,

Today at just past 7am, yinx drank one cup of teh ping (iced milk tea with about 5 tablespoons of sugar), ate one egg tart (pastry with artificial yellow colouring and flavouring), and also managed to eat 7 sweets costing 10 cents each (this was done in the space of 5 minutes).

Well, then she got high and laughed until she cried.

I'm Too Sexy For My Maths Tutorial

2007-01-25T00:09:00.000+08:00

Adapted from the lyrics of I'm Too Sexy, the result of me and yx's bo liao-ness.

I'm too sexy for tutorial too sexy for tutorial
No need to do basic questions

I'm too sexy for lecture too sexy for lecture
So sexy it hurts
And I'm too sexy for LT4 too sexy for LT4
H1R5 too

And I'm too sexy for my tutor
Too sexy for my tutor
No way I'm doing vectors

I really hate vectors you know what I mean
And I don't do my tutorials anyway
Yeah I don't do them at all yeah
I don't care anyway

I'm too sexy for my notes too sexy for my notes
Too sexy by loads
And I'm too sexy for my GC too sexy for my GC
Obviously don't you see

I'm a slacker you know what I mean
And I take my little snooze in the LT
Yeah in the LT in the LT yeah
I take my little snooze in the LT

I'm too sexy for H1 too sexy for H2 too sexy for H3

Cos I'm a ponner you know what I mean
And I spend my time in the canteen
Yeah in the canteen in the canteen yeah
I spend my time in the canteen

I'm too sexy for my A too sexy for my A
Poor teachers poor maths teachers
I'm too sexy for Cambridge too sexy for Cambridge
It's going to fail me

And I'm too sexy for this song.

Disclaimer: The above is by no means representative of reality. Any resemblance to any event, past or present, or person, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

(And I would like to add that I have been extremely good with maths this year.)

One Word Only

2006-12-05T20:31:00.000+08:00

ONEWORDONLY. but who says I follow anything
(A thing which Ling kindly decided to pass to me, resulting in an inevitable blog update.)

1. Yourself: Bored

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend: Nonexistent

3. Your hair: Long

4. Your mother: Out

5. Your Father: Overseas

6. Your Favorite Item: Albums (Music and Photos!)

7. Your dream last night: Dreamless

8. Your Favorite drink: MILO (It's not a kids/breakfast drink...)

9. Your Dream Car: BMW

10. The room you are in: Study

11. Your Ex: Huh

12. Your fear: Boredom

13. What you want to be in 10 years? Alive?

14. Who you hung out with last night? Flourishers + Magicians

15. What You're Not? A Scientist

16. Muffins: Chocolate Chip

17. One of Your Wish List Items: LONDONENGLANDLONDONENGLAND ahhhh

18. Time: 8.37pm

19. The Last Thing You Did: Smsed

20. What You Are Wearing: Spectacles

21. Your Favorite Weather: Snowing

22. Your Favorite Book: Macbeth

23. The Last Thing You Ate: Pizza

24. Your Life: Still here

25. Your Mood: Sian

26. What are you thinking about right now? My lack of dinner

27. Your car: I wish

28. What are you doing at the moment? Doing this stupid thing

29. Your summer: (you mean all year round right...) Thinking of ways to slack

30. Your relationship status: You think?

31. What is on your TV? Either StarWorld or AXN

32. What is the weather like? HOT (Duh, it's Singapore leh)

33. When is the last time you laughed? Probably less than 2 hours ago

Passing this baton of no-lifeness to NOONE HAHAH. I'm not evil.

A Box of Chocolates III

2006-11-05T22:49:00.000+08:00

To quote Tom Hank's character in Forrest Gump,

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

I had a box of chocolates.I opened it. I ate some. It tasted alright. I was going to continue eating it when.. someone decided to give me another box.

I looked at the new box of chocolates.

It was pretty on the outside. It looked promising. I asked some people what they thought about the chocolates inside, and they gave mostly positive reviews. However, I was also aware that there were some bitter ones inside.

So I closed the old box of chocolates and opened the new one.

6 months.

That should be enough time to pass a fair judgement.

And I've passed mine.

I want out. But I can't get out.

I don't open the old box of chocolates too often not because I don't like them, but because it's too painful to see what I left behind. Everytime I do, I am reminded again and again. I shouldn't have.

I made a wrong choice.

I felt it when I first moved. And I thought it'd get better. But it's been the same.

Ask me to choose again, I know my answer for sure.

Why didn't I follow my heart?

Rising Night

2006-10-10T15:46:00.000+08:00

Deviantart link: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34864242/

There's A Hero

2006-09-05T13:18:00.000+08:00

These lyrics rock, and so does the song.
The music video can be found here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=RtjeFlSzGv8

There's A Hero - Billy Gilman

There's a flower
In the smallest garden
Reaching for the light

There's a candle
In the darkest corner
Conquering the night

There is amazing strength
And a willing hand
There are victories
That you've never planned

There's a hero
In everybody's heart

There's a fire
Inside of everybody
Burning clear and bright

There's a power
In the faintest heartbeat
That cannot be denied

Go on and trust yourself
You can ride the wind
Your gonna take your dreams
Where they've never been

There's a hero
In everybody's heart

Go on and trust yourself
You can ride the wind
Your gonna take your dreams
Where they've never been

There's a hero
In everybody's heart

There's a hero
In everybody's heart

Billy Gilman - One Voice

2006-09-03T17:39:00.000+08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1dC4-Z-l4E

You have to watch this if you haven't done so already. He rocks.

A Box of Chocolates II

2006-07-28T20:59:00.000+08:00

To quote Tom Hank's character in Forrest Gump,

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

I had a box of chocolates.

I opened it. I ate some. It tasted alright. I was going to continue eating it when.. someone decided to give me another box.

I looked at the new box of chocolates.

It was pretty on the outside. It looked promising. I asked some people what they thought about the chocolates inside, and they gave mostly positive reviews. However, I was also aware that there were some bitter ones inside.

So I closed the old box of chocolates and opened the new one.

It's been a month since I've opened the new box of chocolates. At first, the chocolates tasted bitter. I missed the sweetness of the previous box. After eating something really sweet, something relatively less sweet tastes a lot less sweeter than it really is. I thought that I would be able to wash down the old taste with water and start to enjoy the new one.

But I was wrong.

The old taste lingers. Every time I eat from the new box, I am reminded of what I left behind.

I really am tempted to go open the old box again. But that's just not logical.

Had I known what the new box really tasted like, I would never have opened it.

But I didn't know.

And now I'm not sure I can open the old one again.

Sixteen going on Seventeen

2006-07-25T23:58:00.000+08:00

With the imminent prospect of turning seventeen looming, I got bored and searched Wikipedia for "sweet sixteen" since I'm apparently going to be leaving that behind in just about 5 days' time.

According to Wikipedia,

A sweet sixteen is a traditional birthday party for girls to have when they turn sixteen years old. In parts of the United States and Canada, sixteen is the age at which one may obtain a driver's license. It is also the age of consent in many states, hence it is viewed by many adolescents as an important milestone. The term can also be derived to mean turning 16 without having been kissed.

Oh. I didn't know that.

A party? Haven't had one for ages (pun not intended).
Kissed? Er.. by who?
And I also think that it isn't fair that I'm not allowed to drive.

But all in all, I think that my sixteenth year has been eventful (to me anyway) and although it wasn't really all that sweet, sometimes it was really bitter actually, I still think that it was a year worth it (other than being able to legally watch NC16 movies).

Sixteen for me was the second half of sec 4 and the first half of Jc1. In that span of time, I've been to 3 other countries, been in 3 different classes, been in 2 schools, and had some of the best times yet. I made some important decisions regarding my future, and I haven't lived long enough to regret them yet. But I don't think I will.

Although Sixteen Going On Seventeen from The Sound of Music doesn't really apply to me in terms of what is said between Lisel and Rolf, as well as the stereotypes, but the title suits, and the sentiments of wondering about the future are relevant too. So I'll leave it as that.

[Rolf:]
You wait, little girl, on an empty stage
For fate to turn the light on
Your life, little girl, is an empty page
That men will want to write on

[Liesl:]
To write on

[Rolf:]
You are sixteen going on seventeen
Baby, it's time to think
Better beware, be canny and careful
Baby, you're on the brink
You are sixteen going on seventeen
Fellows will fall in line
Eager young lads and rogues and cads
Will offer you food and wine
Totally unprepared are you
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared are you
Of things beyond your ken
You need someone older an wiser
Telling you what to do
I am seventeen going on eighteen
I'll take care of you

[Liesl:]
I am sixteen going on seventeen know that I'm naive
Fellows I meet may tell me I'm sweet
And willingly I believe
I am sixteen going on seventeen
Innocent as a rose
Bachelor dandies, drinkers of brandies
What do I know of those
Totally unprepared am I
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared am I
Of things beyond my ken
I need someone older and wiser
Telling me what to do
You are seventeen going on eighteen
I'll depend on you

Act 1 Scene 3

2006-07-16T12:30:00.001+08:00

When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.

- Othello, Act 1, Scene 3

Pokemon

2006-07-09T21:44:00.000+08:00

I was walking past the Toys R Us at United Square just now, when a strangely familiar tune came wafting past my ears. It sounded really familiar. But I couldn't place my finger on it.

Later, it came to my realisation that that tune was the Pokemon theme song. You know, the one that goes,

Pokemon
Oh you're my best friend
In this world we must defend

Or something similar.

Well I always thought that song didn't make sense anyway. What does Pokemon being your best friend have to do with defending the world?

Anyway, before I continue, I need to stress that I did not watch Pokemon. I do not and never did like Pokemon. I only know a lot about it because my primary school bus uncle had a TV in the bus and he always played Pokemon VCDs during the bus journeys.

So that song brought back memories of primary school, which seems to be a really long time ago, although it's 5 years. I remember that in lower primary, I was calculating my school's age, (my school was founded in 1906), and I discovered that I would be JC1 when my school turned 100.

Now, that was a harmless thought at that time.. except that now, I'm really in JC1, and my school really is going to turn 100, and that means I'm really getting on in years (comparatively, because with my life so far, 5 years is a rather high percentage).

Then I wondered whether I'd go back to my primary school and look randomly around at that place which really isn't my primary school anymore. The school I came from had a big gigantic field, and when the teacher made us run around it during PE, it took forever to run one round.

The canteen had a red tiled floor, which was grimy (duh, all canteen floors are grimy), and the lousy school made us squat on the canteen floor after recess (well, actually you could sit, but it was so disgusting), while they lectured us about taking too long, making too much noise.. etc. This made us exceptionally good squatters, and I think the effects of that prolonged squatting can still be seen today.

There was a shed behind the school, and I never actually found out what it was used for, but the walkway leading there must have been built specifically for playing What's the Time, Mr Wolf? It was perfect.

Then sometime in P2 I think, they built another pond. That pond had tadpoles in it. And it also had many children falling in. It wasn't deep though. After recess, some students would go back to the classrooms with shirts turned a muddy brown colour, and you knew that they had fallen in.

Of course there was the food in the canteen. We'll use Wanton Noodles for price comparison purposes here.

Pri 2 (1998): 50 cents
Pri 5 (2000): 70 cents
Sec 1 (2002): $1.20
Sec 3: (2004): $1.50
JC1: (2006): $1.80

So the prices can speak for themselves.

The entire purpose of this entry is for me to ruminate about 'when I was young', and then realise that I'm getting older, and that the world has changed a whole lot too.

I don't quite get why certain completely insignificant incidents are so vivid in my memory. Like the time I was eating ice cream with my classmate just outside the canteen. And I remember that the ice cream dripped to the floor. I can still see it dripping. And the time I remember putting on my blue jacket in class and then going to sit on the floor to listen to some PETS reader story thing.

The one common thread running through it all would be that I was totally and blissfully unaware of what was going on in the world. My world consisted of the classroom, the field, the canteen, the bookshop, the bus with the Pokemon, and I think that was it. No computers. No internet. No game boy. Actually, some think of it, there was so little. But I'm sure I was happy.

Unfortunately, you're only ever young once. Maybe the world should have worked in reverse.

A Box of Chocolates

2006-05-17T22:16:00.000+08:00

To quote Tom Hank's character in Forrest Gump,

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

I had a box of chocolates. I opened it. I ate some. Some tasted good, some tasted bad. I was going to continue eating my box of chocolates when...

Someone gave me another box.

Now I have to choose between the two boxes of chocolate.

The problem is, I'm not allowed to find out for myself what's inside the new box of chocolates. I will only know after I've chosen it and opened it to experience it for myself. All I know about the new box of chocolates is from what other people have told me.

But nothing ever beats experiencing it yourself.

So there lie the two boxes of chocolates.

I have to choose only one real soon. Once I make that choice, I can't go back. It's done. Once the new box of chocolates is opened, the old one will have to be closed. But I can hope that the taste lingers in my mouth. Or I could choose to keep the old box. And never ever find out what's inside the new one.

My head tells me to go,
But my heart says no.

Mind over matter?

Numb

2006-05-13T00:39:00.000+08:00

Numb by Linkin Park

Tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)

I've become so numb
I can't feel you there
I've become so tired
So much more aware
I've become a mess
All I want to do
Is be more like me
And be less like you

Can't you see that you're smothering me
Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control
'Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart right in front of you
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow)
And every second I waste is more than I can take

I've become so numb
I can't feel you there
I've become so tired
So much more aware
I've become a mess
All I want to do
Is be more like me
And be less like you

And I know
That I may end up failing too
But I know
You were just like me
With someone disappointed in you

I've become so numb
I can't feel you there
I've become so tired
So much more aware
I've become a mess
All I want to do
Is be more like me
And be less like you

I've become so numb
I can't feel you there
I'm tired of being what you want me to be
I've become so numb
I can't feel you there
I'm tired of being what you want me to be

The Darkling Thrush

2006-04-09T14:12:00.000+08:00

The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy, 31 December 1900

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land’s sharp features seemed to be
The Century’s corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice rose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

I think this poem's fantastically beautiful, and I like its meaning too.
Published at the turn of the century, it was meant to show the uncertainty at what the next century would bring, after all that Victorian certainty.
And I think the poem reflects what I think very often, of what the future could possibly bring, and whether there is hope or not.
The sun's setting on the old, and dawning on the new, and the past is past and gone forever, and it can't be revived in its old glory again. It's all so true.
Thomas Hardy was standing at the brink of the 19th century, looking into the 20th, and wondering what things would be like. And I'm standing at the brink of adulthood, looking into it and wondering what it might possibly bring.

Maybe I think too much.

Why me?

2006-03-29T22:04:00.000+08:00

The new uniform, which is no longer all that new, (it already has its fair share of stains and nonsense), puts me in weird spots and makes me feel out of place sometimes. Especially when I'm walking home.

Just in case you didn't already know, my house is very near TKSS, which just happens to have an extremely similar uniform. So as a result, people mistake me for a TKSS student.

When that happens, I will kindly let them know that while I do know where the general direction of TKSS is, I really don't know what time the gate closes, how many classes there are, what time school ends, and who is the principal. (Thanks to Wikipedia, I just found out that it's this person named Mrs. Priscillia Chan.)

I don't know why, but apparently somehow I make a very good target for all sorts of questions. There can be 167 other people at the bus stop, and it's always me who gets asked.

taut

2006-03-20T20:37:00.000+08:00

When a piece of rope is taut, there is no slack.

And that is precisely what I need, no slacking.

I have so much on the line now, and I'm already on the edge. Whoever said anything about living life on the edge. I'm about to fall off. And when I do, I don't suppose it'll take anything short of a miracle to somehow inch my way back up again.

I need to ensure myself relatively okay grades for common test after June hols. But I'm going to UK for 3 weeks in June, and that'll screw things up a bit. 3 weeks less to study. 3 weeks more of fun. Enriching, definately. Practical, perhaps not.

So to make up for that, I have to pull my rope tighter. Not so tight till it snaps, because that is just a really bad idea, but tight enough such that letting go a little at the ends would not make a big difference.

I realised how much I like my subject combi. I really do. But it's not the easiest one around. I've said this many times and I'll just say it again. If I wanted the easy As I'd be taking Science. It'll probably get the marks, but it wouldn't get my life. It'll be just another pointless thing done for the results. And what's the results if the process was one you did not enjoy at all, and know that you just simply are not meant for?

So as a result, I guess I have to work like shit.

And in line with the MOE's thing about "teach less, learn more", I shall adopt "slack less, do more".

And of course I absolutely, unquestionably, undoubtedly meant it.

Fizzle

2006-02-11T12:14:00.000+08:00

So I failed. By one grade. All I wanted was a C6, and I didn't get it. So my wonderful results slip says that I have zero subjects which have C6 and above.

And now I'm stuck with Chinese for at least another year, until I find a way to pass it. And even if RJC lets me not take Chinese, it's going to look real bad on my A level results slip, where you'll see okay marks and then suddenly one D7.

When we got back the results yesterday, they gave it back by register order, and I continue to maintain that that is a really bad thing to do because people like me are always among the last to receive it. And it's just not fun, especially if you have to go through that every time. You're kept in suspense because of your surname. And it's not as if I chose to have that surname. I didn't have a choice, did I?

And when the people in front (which is practically everybody) came back with failures, I knew, to quote Eliza from My Fair Lady, I knew I was "done in".

Those people shouldn't have failed. They had passing well in sight, perhaps even a B. And yet they failed too. And I know they worked a lot harder than I did. And still I got the same lousy grade as they did, some people even got worse. In that sense I suppose that it was worse for them than it was for me, because I deserved that lousy grade more than they did.

But it doesn't stop there, because I know that while they studied real herd for it, I know that I did, too. I studied harder for it than I had ever done for any Chinese exam. I definitely studied harder for it than I did for my prelims. And my overall Chinese score from RG is 2.4, which is a C5. Not even a C6.

I thought prelims were supposed to be harder than the O levels. Apparently this was not the case.

After practically everyone had left, there were just a few people left in the hall, and it must have looked really forlorn. Yx said that it'd make a really good photograph, but only if you weren't the ones in the picture. It was a picture of despair, of broken dreams, of hard work gone to waste.

Four years suffering with the subject, to be rewarded with a fail. In my case, it was ten, not just four. I have taken it at that level since I was Primary 1. Who said anything about a good foundation? In that case, I might as well have just taken normal Chinese, and gotten a much more respectable GPA. After all, normal Chinese is a lot easier.

When we finally left school, it was raining, not heavy rain, but just a drizzle, not all that light, but not all that heavy either. I thought it very symbolic. It created the mood of sadness and all, and kind of reflected our own mood at that time. I don't think many people got the mark they actually wanted, except Zhao, who got her expected A1. Then again, had she not gotten A1, it would have been farcial. Lyn said that maybe it was the skies crying for us. I said that it was probably heaven laughing (until they cried) at us for being so stupid and despairing over a stupid grade.

Let's face it, it's really really stupid to cry over a grade, but yet on the other hand, no matter how you deny it, grades are freaking important. And it's just really stupid.

So there is goes, hope fizzles.

Spam

2006-02-07T22:21:00.000+08:00

I was checking my email when I opened the spam folder to retreive a mail which had accidentally managed to squirm its way there. And while I was there, there were all the usual spam mails, usually about penis enlargement, and then there was a particular mail with the subject line: shy to... (wait. If you're below 12 or strongly oppose vulgar and explicit language, please close your eyes now and refrain from reading the next line.)

Anyway, the subject line was: shy to fuck with your short gun?

It is an interesting description. And don't worry. I didn't venture to open the mail. I never open those mails. I just read the subject lines, which tend to be a summary of the entire mail, and usually is the topic sentence. GP is getting into me.

I figured that kids nowadays get their sex education from their email spam boxes. It seriously doesn't leave anything out. It's very comprehensive.

Of Bond

2006-01-22T01:22:00.000+08:00

DON'T THINK OF HANDMAID'S TALE. It is absolutely not related. At all.

I was watching The Kumars at No. 42 just now and one of the guests on the show was Jane Seymour. Jane Seymour happens to have played Solitaire in Live and Let Die.

Just in case you were wondering, NO, she wasn't playing the card game. And anyway, at that time, they didn't have the computer versions.

Solitaire was one of James Bond's many many erm, acquaintances, and I suppose you could say, one of the more intimite kind.

And Live and Let Die is not just the name of the song originally by Paul McCartney and Wings, and then later redone by Guns n Roses. It's also the title of the eighth Bond film, and the first one with Roger Moore.

But, it doesn't really matter whether the above made sense. All that matters now is that you know that Jane Seymour played a Bond girl some time in the past, and that Pierce Brosnan has played Bond before.

So what happened according to Jane Seymour was that her twin sons had a play date with Pierce Brosnan's son, Dylan, and that Dylan had said that "my daddy is James Bond", to which, her twins replied, "our mum's his girlfriend". And that just sounds so wrong.

Guys?

2006-01-13T19:20:00.000+08:00

A lot of people say that in JC, your hormones will be raging.

Well, maybe that is the case for some people, but it definitely isn't the case for me.

I am convinced that my body has a defect of sorts, because it is failing to produce the hormones which are supposed to set my brain to start getting attracted to guys.

Or perhaps, it has already produced those hormones, but its effects have not been felt by me anyway.

JC so far has been an amusing time, with entertainment available at almost all times. This entertainment involves watching people who are watching guys/girls, then sometimes they fall for them, and after which, results may vary.

Even though the entertainment largely comes only in one genre, it is still quite interesting at times. And then I wonder when I will start taking part in their game, or whether I even want to take part in that real-life reality show, available for all to see and comment on. And it's telecast live all the time everywhere.

I highly suspect that the teachers are the ones really enjoying the show.

Random musings

2006-01-12T17:04:00.000+08:00

Attended the second maths lecture today, and I actually managed to pay attention throughout the entire thing, which is probably a record. Considering that the topic was functions, it definitely is worth mentioning. I knew that domain and range existed, but I never really figured out which was which until today.

I spent a whole lot of time in the library, reading random books I pick up. And, as unbelievable as it sounds, I almost finished going through (and understanding) chapter zero. I'm quite happy about that. I shall not slack for maths. I know Mrs Chew is probably gonna laugh.

I spent a whole lot of time in the library this week, and I noticed several people pouring over chemistry-looking notes. However, upon a closer look, I discovered to my horror that it was not supposed to be chemistry, it was biology. The whole thing looked so complicated and cheem and I was suddenly extremely glad to have dropped all the sciences except for maths.

As the title states, this is random, and I just happened to remember an incident which took place a week or so ago.

I was in the MRT with my OG, and there was this little boy who couldn't have been more than 6 years old. He was climbing up the metal poles and hanging on the hand holds. It was quite amusing, because he somehow managed to climb up the poles surprisingly fast, and he was definitely very agile. Considering that he was probably about 1 metre in height, it was quite a feat for him. So he provided entertainment until we got off the train.

That incident reminded me of primary school oral exams, where you have to read a passage and describe a picture.

One of the classic pictures was one where they depict the inside of an MRT carriage. There would be some kids eating, and then there would be a "no eating" sign. You were supposed to say that they shouldn't eat in the train because it could dirty the train and the other passengers... blah blah blah.

And there would also sometimes be a couple of kids sitting on the floor at the doors and blocking the way, and if you wanted to get any marks, you had to say that they shouldn't block the way, and also occasionally there would be an elderly person standing up, and we were supposed to say that one of the kids were supposed to give up the seat to the elderly person.

The one thing that they never failed to leave out would be to picture at least one kid hanging from the hand holds or climbing up the metal poles.

The thing was, until that day with my OG, I had never actually seen anyone even attempt to climb up the metal poles. So that little boy reminded me of the oral examination pictures, and then it also occurred to me that in all those pictures, only boys were ever pictured climbing. Never girls. I don't know why. I'm just glad that I don't have to describe anymore pictures.

Catch up

2006-01-09T16:28:00.000+08:00

My past is catching up with me. Not in the bad sense of that phrase. But in a good sense, if you can picture that.

The past is catching up with me in the sense that people who were once in my life, and then disappeared from it for 4 years, are suddenly turning up and coming back into my life. And it's happening rather fast and all at the same time.

It starts with RJC, where I see people I never even remembered existed. But when I see them, somehow my mind dislodges a small bit of information reminding me that I do know them from somewhere.

Then today at Parkway, for some reason, I met at least 10 people whom I knew from primary school. It was very amusing for me.

I still haven't faced the one thing I don't want to face, and hopefully I won't ever have to. But that's just a stupid and empty hope, because I know that that thing will come back to haunt me from time to time.

As for school, I had my first 2 lectures of my life, but they didn't really teach anything, it was just a sort of introduction.

I must say that now RJC is turning out slightly better than I imagined. And I hope that doesn't change.

Orientation

2006-01-07T12:57:00.000+08:00

At long last it's over. I couldn't wait.

On the first day, someone said something about orientation being to get you out of your comfort zone. Well, it did. I didn't just get pushed out of my comfort zone, I got shot out of it like a rocket. And I took it for 1.5 days, after which I just snapped.

It was the dance that triggered it off. I think it was stupid, cheesy and pointless.

And after that I was damn sian.

But, it's finally over, and I shan't think anymore about it. However, still, screw orientation.

First entry of 2006

2006-01-02T12:39:00.000+08:00

The new year is here, whether I like it or not. And tomorrow we start school again, another 10 weeks of waking up at ungodly hours.

I'd better make the most of today.

And since today's the second day of the new year, I'd better just list down my resolutions so that I won't forget them anytime soon, and so that you people can remind me of them.

1. I will not slack.

I slacked the whole of primary school and 3/4 of secondary school, so it's time I get my act together and get the marks where it counts. And besides, I would never have got into RJ had it not been for the Raffles Programme, so I also better make good use of the fact that I'm in RJ.

2. I will make attempts to take flourishing seriously.

3. I will try not to do things which I regret immediately afterwards.

Only 3 things. And I hope I can keep them.

Happy New Year

2005-12-31T10:11:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year everyone who is reading this.

The new year starts tomorrow and that is just really, really bad. Because it's going to bring with it 2 years of JC with guys and lectures and tutorials and staying in school until 4pm everyday.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... *dead*

Ack

2005-12-28T13:02:00.000+08:00

Ack. The past 3 posts have been nonsense. And this one isn't.

School starts in less than a week, and I don't know what to think, or not to think.

In a sense, I'm a little happy that school's starting again, because my brain has been rotting for the past 2 months and it's about to enter the final stages of decomposition.

Then again, once school starts and orientation is over, I'm going to start wishing that it was holidays again. It happens every year.

This year, like the year 2001, is a year of no end-of-year holiday homework. But I suppose on retrospect, I could have made slightly better use of my time instead of sitting at the computer and making myself a self-proclaimed expert on minesweeper and solitaire. I think I've probably played those 2 games more in the past 2 months than I have ever played in my life.

And then, I read newspaper, spending inordinate amounts of time reading it everyday, and also digging out year-old newspaper, pouring over it, and cutting it to ribbons.

So that's been my holiday, and I also watched a couple of movies, went to Taiwan for a few days, and made (largely unsuccessful) attempts at reading Pride and Prejudice.

I hope next year's better.

Why am I even doing this?

2005-12-28T11:00:00.000+08:00

Another present. This time from Ling.

Rules:
1. Post the top 20 OR 30 OR 50 most frequently played songs in your player for the past one year.
2. Name five victims to pass the game on.

In no particular order:

1. Angels - Robbie Williams
2. Beautiful Soul - Jesse McCartney
3. Numb - Linkin Park
4. Les Choristes - Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc
5. Shiver - Maroon 5
6. Say It Isn't So - Gareth Gates
7. I Believe I Can Fly - R Kelly
8. Eternity - Robbie Williams
9. Words - Ronan Keating
10.Make Me Pure - Robbie Williams
11. Don't Tell Me - Avril Lavigne
12. Tangled - Maroon 5
13. Because You Live - Jesse McCartney
14. Come Undone - Robbie Williams
15. Where Is The Love - Black Eye Peas
16. A View To Kill - Duran Duran
17.Better Man - Robbie Williams
18. Feel - Robbie Williams
19. The Sun - Maroon 5
20. Caresse sur l'Ocean - Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc
21. Tripping - Robbie Williams
22. When You Say Nothing At All - Ronan Keating
23. Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings
24. Summer Sunshine - The Corrs
25. Lost For Words - Ronan Keating
26. Mandy - Westlife
27. Strong - Robbie Williams
28. La Nuit - Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc
29. Tears In Heaven - Eric Clapton
30. The Road To Mandalay - Robbie Williams

The 5 victims:

1. Yimei
2. yx (again)
3. Hamsie
4. Neeti
5. Gerald

The Game Which I'm Obliged to Play

2005-12-27T17:58:00.000+08:00

Present from Yimei.

Read the rules and play the game.

Rules of the game:

Post 5 weird and random facts about yourself and list down 5 victims at the end of your list who has to play this game. Please leave a tag at the blog of the 5 victims that goes: " You have been tagged! Read my blog and Play the game!"

Five weird and random facts about myself:

1. I HATE pink. (but I bet you already knew that)

2. I have scored super high for physics before.

3. I dislike phone ring tones which are bought from those services selling ring tones.

4. I get food cravings at weird times.

5. Nike shoes don't fit my feet at all.

The 5 victims:

1. Ling
2. yx
3. M
4. J10
5. Yi Qing

:)

2005-12-18T00:42:00.000+08:00

I just realised that Pierce Brosnan was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best actor in a comedy.

And, yx, we are so gonna watch Seraphim Falls when it comes out in the distant future. Finally, a show we can watch together for similar reasons.

Another of these things

2005-12-13T01:31:00.000+08:00

Got this from Hamsie's blog who got it from Daph who...... blah.

1. Start time?
1.32am

2. Were you named after anyone?
No.

3. Do you wish on stars?
No.

4. When did you last cry?
Don't remember.

5. What is your favourite meat?
Don't know. Depends how it's cooked...

6. What is your most embarrassing CD on your shelf?
Britney Spears.

7. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
I'd like to think so.

8. Are you a daredevil?
Depends on the situation. Sometimes when I'm in the correct mood I'll do anything.

9. How do you release anger?
Pillow, bolster, blanket, mattress has got to absorb the initial shock. After that, if it's still there, then probably the floor kena.

10. Where is your second home?
School, when it's not holidays...

11. Do you trust others easily?
No. I will think and think and think before I make up my mind about trust.

12. What was your favourite toy as a child?
HAMLEY!! I still like him a lot.

13. What class in school do you think is totally useless?
Morning assembly. Is that counted as a class?

14. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
It depends on my mood, and I tend to like using it on MSN, and it's bound to fail, because you can't really see sarcasm.

15. Have you ever been in a mosh pit?
No. I'm a sad case person. I got close to being in one once, then I decided not to.

16. What do you look for in a guy/girl?
Personality? Character? Anything?

17. Would you bungee jump?
I won't pay to do it. You have to pay me.

18. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
No. Just kick off and squeeze my feet in the next time. Laces can stay tied for months. Hehe.

19. What's your favourite ice cream flavour?
Mint Chocolate Chip. Yes. I love it.

20. What is your favourite colour(S)?
Usually black, but I can be persuaded.

21. What is your least favourite thing?
Hamsie said cigarettes. But I think I dislike drugs more.

22. What do you miss most right now?
411. And also Paris. And Switzerland.

23. What are you listening to right now?
Numb by Linkin Park. Are you surprised it's not Les Choristes or Robbie Williams? Hey, I do have a 2000+ playlist.

24. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
WHITE! Ahhahahhaha.

25. What is the weather like right now?
Normal Singapore weather at night. About 30 degrees Celcius, humidity at about 80 something percent.

26. Last person you talked to on the phone?
I usually talk to yx and Manori. But both of them are overseas. So the last person I talked to on the phone was.. my mummy.

27. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
I don't care.

28. Do you like the person who sent you this?
I stole it. From Hamsie's blog. And Hamsie stole it from Daphane's blog. And yeah, you could say I like her.

29. How are you today?
Fine. (Usual answer everyone gives, so I should give it too!)

30. Favourite drink?
Got lots. For one, it would be Fanta Orange. FANTA only. F&N and all the rest are not as nice. Too bad they don't have it here.
And I like MILO!

31. Favourite alcoholic drink?
I should just totally disregard the fact that I am only legally allowed to drink a sad excuse of an alcoholic drink called shandy, which contains something like 1% alcohol.
So, just for the heck of it, I shall say, a vodlka martini, shaken, not stirred.

32. Natural hair colour?
Black. Like you didn't know.

33. Eye colour?
It differs in different light, ranging from this to this.

34. Wear contacts?
Yes.

35. Siblings?
Yes. 1 younger brother.

36. Favourite month?
July. I WONDER WHY. Hmmmm....

37. Favourite food?
A lot.

38. Last movie you watched?
Last entire movie I watched? Because I watched Amilie and Die Another Day partially today, and I was about to do the same to To Kill A Mockingbird, but bro won't let me switch off Amilie.
Last entire movie? Probably Encrypt.

39. Favourite day of the year?
My birthday. And all holidays.

40. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out?
Never ask before. Never thought of asking before. So I can't tell you whether I was shy a not.

41. Scary movies or happy endings?
Can a scary movie have a happy ending?

42. Summer or winter?
WINTER. Obviously. SNOW!!!

43. Hugs or kisses?
Do you really want to know?

44. Do you want your friends to write back?
Uh-huh.

45. Who is most likely to respond?
No one.

46. Who is least likely to respond?
Someone.

47. What book/magazine are you reading?
A lot. I always start reading several at the same time.
So right now the books would be:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
The Great Escape Screenplay
Phantoms of the Card Table
Magazines:
The current issue of LIME

48. What's on your mouse pad?
Don't use a mouse pad.

49. What did you watch on TV last night?
Whose Line Is It Anyway?

50. Favourite smell?
Don't ask can?

51. Do you regret ever breaking up with someone?
Never. Because I've never had someone.

52. Time of finishing?
2.01am

Am I bored?

Go figure.

Cold

2005-12-13T01:07:00.000+08:00

Last week I came back from Taiwan, and it was colder than expected.

I think the whole world is experiencing a cold spell. Everywhere is snowing earlier than it should, and temperatures are dropping really low and really fast.

I guess it might be fun for people like me who live in places like Singapore where it is just hot and humid and nothing else the whole year round.

Snow thrills me, and I love it.

I suppose that I love it only because it is a rarity, a novelty of sorts, and as a result I find it special.

However, I think that this year might just be a bad year for an early and colder winter. Because 2005 has been a year of natural disasters, and there are lots of people out there who are suffering because of the early onset of winter. I think that in their case they'd rather be in Singapore feeling hot than freezing to death.

Snow is fun, when it's light and fluffy and there's not too much of it. It's fun when it first snows, when the flakes first hit the grass. The snow is fresh. After that the snow gets stale. And overnight it turns to ice and frost and it isn't fun anymore.

But of course, snow is only fun when you have warm, waterproof clothes on, good sturdy shoes which keep the cold and the damp out, and it's only fun if you have the knowledge that there will be a warm meal and a warm bed to look forward to at the end of the day.

Maybe one day if I have the chance to experience snow again, I should try camping outside in the cold and miss dinner. I don't think it'll be a nice feeling and I'll probably give up halfway through the night and retire to the heated room.

But what about those who don't have a choice? They have to do that every night in the cold and the worst of winter hasn't even hit yet. I don't want to think about it further.

Singapore Touring

2005-12-01T10:53:00.000+08:00

Eeeek. It's been a week since I actually went for that tour, and since I came back, I've been too sian to type anything out. Oh no, the window is behaving weirdly and I shall take that as a hint that this window is going to crash anytime. I'd better open Word and type it there instead.

Okay, I’m in Word now.

The thing about the tour was that it was better than I had expected. I had expected something terrible, and I suppose that that bolstered by expectations and as a result most things would have seemed to be better than I thought they would be. (Did that make any sense? I don’t think so, but who cares)

I bought the $33 thing which had a 2 day pass, and there were 6 possible tours and I outdid myself and emulated the kiasu Singaporean by successfully taking 7. That means that I took one of them twice.

On Thursday last week I woke up late, and thereby missed taking the 10am first tour, and ended up with the 10.30 one instead. Just as well, because by doing so I met this Hungarian girl by the name of Angie. Maybe she should not be called ‘girl’ because she said that she was 30, but I swear that she looked like she was in her (early) twenties. Good genes. Damn.
And I should say, good genes in more ways than one. Besides the age thing, there was the looks thing. She has blond hair, and bluish-green eyes. She is by all means pretty. As for a photo of her… it’s with her. In her camera. She said she’s send it to me (I gave her my email) but she can only do so after she gets home. Which will be about Christmas or New Year, so I’ll just have to wait. I have some photos she wants too, so I guess that’s a bargaining factor.

She’s here for a property show at the Singapore Expo with her husband, who is still in Bangkok. I think the show is like touring the world or something.

Yeah, and normally she lives in Kent, England, and that is like super cool already. And she mentioned that she goes to Paris very often, as it is ‘very nearby’. Lucky! I also want. And not to mention I’m also particularly jealous of a junior named Ada who is already in Switzerland and will be there for 1 week followed by a trip to Paris. Just the 2 places I’m dying to revisit.

I took the Heritage Tour (that’s what they called it) first. And I expected it to be a la an NE tour in primary school. Which was pretty accurate, but I must admit that I did learn something.

You know in primary school for SS when you lean about all the different races and religions, you concentrate on the Chinese, the Indians, and the Malays, with a bit of Eurasians? They never ever mention anyone else, they just call them ‘minority races’. And so I have always wondered where they stayed, since Raffles’ Town Plan didn’t exactly take them into consideration.

So during that tour I found out where the former Jewish quarters was, and it was particularly surprising to me, as I actually pass that place everyday on the way to school, but I have never noticed it before. The tour guide, Gareth, pointed out the Star of David emblazoned at the top, and I was amused. With 4 years of passing that junction and those buildings, I had never once looked up and saw anything.

The rest of the tour was quite expected, the usual stuff. The only other thing which shocked me was Istana Kampong Glam’s transformation. Me, being ancient by now, first saw the Istana at Kampong Glam when I was in either P3 or P4. And at that time, it was falling down, old, lousy, and I wondered who in the right sense of mind would stay there. But when I passed it, it had changed completely, they had obviously repaired it and repainted it, and it actually looked livable. But it looked fake too.

It just didn’t look the way it used to, the aura, the atmosphere, was gone, and it had become ‘just another building’ in the landscape. There was no longer a contrast. I wonder if this change, in the name of progress, was really progress at all, or a step backward. What’s lost can’t be easily replaced and recreated, and they successfully managed to rid the place of what was important. Whether they realise what they did or not, I do not know, but I do know that I feel the place was better previously.

The next tour I took was the city tour, and I got off lots of times.

The first time was for the Singapore River Boat Cruise. I got off at Liang Court, and waited for the boat. I got on, discovered that the Singapore River was pretty bad and just not a sight, it would probably be more accurately described as a longkang than a river. Because that is what it looks like, albeit it was a rather large drain.

The river boat cruise was totally un-spectacular. It was just a boat cruising, no, actually, floating, down a river or rather large drain. And there were these commentaries playing, recorded, of course, with an European-accented guy telling about the places, and putting them in a better light than they were, obviously, an obvious example being the Esplanade. None of its shortcomings, naturally, after all, it was supposed to be a great arts centre, and emulate the Sydney Opera House, (which I think is sadly not the case). And the amount of money spent was ‘for a good cause’.

But how much good it actually did I don’t know. Because this is my point of view: If I am interested in the arts (and in my case, I actually am), I would have bugged my parents years and years ago to bring me to performances at the Indoor Stadium, Kallang Theatre, etc. Which I did.

The arts scene was there, just not as noticed by the government who was more interested in nation building. Which was probably a good thing too. Maybe it was less eventful, but vibrant, it definitely was. Right now, it looks manufactured and, again, fake. It’s forced, it’s no longer natural.

But of course there are the good bits too, because with the government taking note now and all, there is more money, and once you have money, you can have practically anything. This sad invention has become one of the most important ones, and that’s just too bad.

So after the floating down the longkang on this bumboat which reeked of tourism, I boarded the bus with Angie again and carried on the tour, this time getting off at the Botanical Gardens.

The place has sure changed a lot since the last time I was there, which was probably sometime in P3 or 4 while I had to do this Young Botanist thing. I have still yet to see the point of such a thing, because the entire objective seems to be getting 20 stars and getting a small metal badge. I don’t see the point, because I’m not dying to get that badge.

And Young Botanist, Young Environmentalist, Young Whatever, they just don’t show what real life entails. It is just a task, and it’s sometimes not even related to what the card claims to be. If I was less guai in primary school, I would have simply been a defiant kid who refused to do a lot of stuff because it was just so pointless. But unfortunately, I was very, very guai and good and listened to the teacher. So I did the pointless stuff.

To me, most of the stuff I did in primary school was easy and as a result I never actually spent time or effort. I just kind of bo liao-ed my way through PSLE and got to where I am.

Back to the Botanical Gardens.

There has been a major facelift, and there were water features and all sorts of things which made the garden look super well-maintained. Which it was.

Hung around there a while and went to the Orchid Garden for the first time, and just as well because admission was free for students for that day. I wouldn’t have paid.

Following that went to Raffles Hotel, and walked inside for the first time in my life. I had expected more, because I’ve heard the musings of many a tourist, who claim that it is fantastic. It was rather, ordinary. And I have to say that the Christmas decorations made the hotel look worse than it already did on the outside.

Went back to Suntec, went to the Esplanade, and waited for a while for the night tour.

It was supposed to go to Sentosa for the musical fountain show and dinner and then go to places like Chinatown and Orchard Road.

At Sentosa, the guide told us to seat a long time before the show. And when we first seated, there were not many people, but within the next few minutes, the entire place really filled up. I didn’t know that Singapore hotels were capable of accommodating that many tourists. It was at least 3 times the size of RGS.

And finally at long last, the show started. It started with the fountain, but quickly morphed into a laser show, not a water show. It should have been called the Sentosa Laser Fountain show. That would have been more accurate, as more than half the time was spent on the lasers.

The rest of the night was rather uneventful, and I went home and slept soundly. Being a tourist is tiring.

The following day I timed my waking up to be rather late as I only wanted to take a few tours. I took 2 and then got bored, so I got off at Orchard MRT (which they kindly called Marriott) and decided to meet Ling at Sengkang instead.

That evening I took the other night tour to, guess where? Parkway Parade. Now, that place is somewhere I go practically everyday, and I am already pretty sick of it. So of course I had no problems navigating my way around, and I even bought breakfast and other stuff.

Went to Geylang, and after walking around for a while, I decided that it wasn’t exactly the best idea so I went back to the bus and drank Milo with Gareth and the captain.

After that, saw the Christmas light-up for the second night in a row, and was officially sick of it.

And since then, I’ve been bored as usual, except that I went to the Botanical Gardens again yesterday, which is a clear indicator of the extent of my boredom.

You have just read 1824 words.

Singapore tour

2005-11-23T18:18:00.000+08:00

I think I should be going on a tour of Singapore tomorrow and Friday. It's a totally bo liao thing to do, done by bo liao people like me who have nothing better to do anyway.

The purpose of going is to see what tourists see of Singapore, because I suspect that there is a rather different viewpoint.

It is going to be pretty weird for me, since one of the tours brings me to Parkway Parade, and I think I go there at least once a week. I'd just like to know what they say about the place.

Then afterwards, if I'm not happy with the tour, I'll go shoot some long letter somewhere.

At least it'll give me something to do for a few days. I hope.

FAM

2005-11-18T22:43:00.000+08:00

FAM was a once in a lifetime thing, because I don’t suppose I’ll ever be 16 again, I’ll ever be in RGS as a student again, and I don’t suppose an all-girl environment is that easy to come by again. So this event deserves a supremely long entry.

I warned you.

Now that I think of it, FAM was highly amusing. And as much as I was dreading all the extra trouble that came with it, it was still relatively interesting.

What I found especially amusing was at Simei, Neeti came in, for some reason or other stared at me, and had this “OMG WTH” look on her face. What she was thinking I really don’t know.

I went to find Sheena at 4 plus at the hotel, and we bo liao-ed together for about 30 min I think. That is, of course after she finished laughing at me, and I finished laughing at her.

Sheena had this wonderfully short black thing which she said was her dress. There were 2 possibilities to me, either it was just damn short (which it turned out to be), or it was just because Sheena was erm, rather vertically challenged. I think it turned out to be a combination of both.

Then yx called and said that she was coming and so we went down. And then we realised that she wasn’t actually there yet. Yeah, and when yx saw us, she had a good laugh. But we laughed at her shoes also.

We got hungry and called Zhao and company to buy food for us because we were not about to go down orchard road in that state. Yeah, state is a good description. Zhao and company were doing their hair at Far East.

Then they came back with food, and interesting hair. Especially Lou’s. Because it’s already naturally messy, and after that it turned out to be, well, messier. So we had further laughs, all around. Rather fair in that sense.

So people changed into their dresses one by one and I was amused. But I suppose everyone else was amused by me too.

Zhao’s dress amused me because of it’s price.

Lou’s dress’ price didn’t really amuse me, but the price of her shawl shocked me. It cost more than my dress.

Xin Miao’s dress didn’t really make me gasp.

Sheena’s dress was, short. There was very little cloth. And it turns out that the less cloth there is, the more the item costs! It’s absolutely not value for money.

Yx’s dress.. I didn’t really expect her to buy it but she liked it and so she did in the end. She spent her time sitting in a rather not-ladylike-way, and pulling it up.

Juliet’s dress was okay I suppose.

Later when Lyn came in, the back and the butterflies made me laugh. Then I discovered that it wasn’t even a dress. But it did look like one.

M’s dress later was what I had expected, but you see, she had been going on about her arms being fat (and I didn’t exactly agree with her) but she insisted they were. So she brought this shawl thing.

Hamsie’s dress was the cheapest of the lot! And her $2 shawl put Lou to shame. After all, a shawl is indeed just a piece of cloth with a little trimming.

On a random note, heels suck.

Zhao successfully got makeup on yx. Everyone was amused. I suppose yx was having weird resisting thoughts, expressed through the guttural sounds she kept spewing.

Sorry yx, but I think there’s no way you can get out of that sort of thing unless you’re a guy (who is not a S.N.A.G or a metrosexual), or you live in the Stone Age or something.

Prom itself was an affair which I didn’t really expect to be the way it was.

I hardly recognised people, and I had to look twice to remember who they were. I suppose it probably was the same the other way round with me.

We registered and got this bag thing which was filled with various things. I didn’t actually realise that the bag was filled with things until later, but that’s just me. There were 2 mentos sweets, and yx asked if that was a hint. Then there was this cute animal clip thing, and I got a white rabbit. Yx got a black rabbit. M got a cat. It suited her perfectly. xm and zm got Dalmatians. So much for all that.

Zhao, Xin Miao, Jia Ying and me sat down at Table 31, because we were assigned to sit there. I think it’s quite stupid to go for prom and sit with people other than your classmates. Thankfully the rest of them were nearby and we moved around a lot.

I had a look at the prospective menu (which shouldn’t really be called a menu because that implies choice, which I don’t supposed we had), and the menu (or list) reminds me of a Chinese wedding dinner. The choice of stuff was roughly around there.

I hardly ate and I spent most of my time drinking F&N orange drink (which was diluted and I didn’t really like it but I drank it anyway).

In between eating (or in my case, drinking diluted F&N), I moved around to the other tables and said hi to people and the camera came in rather handy.

I do suppose I did shock several people, including Mrs Chew. She commented that it was probably the most feminine state in which she had seen me in, ever, or something to that effect.

I think that she’s probably right, because it was most likely the most feminine state I have ever been in the last 8 years.

After watching performances and speeches and all the rest of it, as well as taking over 100 photos, we decided to go back and crash Ju, Lyn, zm, xm, cna’s hotel room. Hung around there for a while, and I couldn’t stand the heels and the dress anymore. So I got rid of both.

In due course, we decided to take a walk to Cine to try book tickets for HP the midnight show. But we were not successful at all. They said that HP was fully booked for 3 days straight. Oh well.

Walked to Lido and Lyn’s heels were understandably killing her. We reached and discovered that it was closed. So we decided to take a really short cab ride to the Swensens at Crown Prince to eat ice cream and make ourselves happier. As luck would have it, the usually 24/7 Swensens happened to be closed just that night. Great timing. I think they planned it. So we ended up in the Cheers at Cine instead.

In cheers, we bought ice cream, chips, drinks.. and we discovered cheap thrill ice cream. It’s this cheap ice cream which comes in 2 flavours, strawberry and chocolate. Juliet started it. She bought a tube of cheap thrill ice cream for $1.50 and she proceeded to carry out the cheap thrill.

The cheap thrill is basically this structure with a lever and you stick the tube of ice cream into this slot and pull the lever down. Of course you’ve got to place a cup below the opening of the slot where you put the ice cream and collect the ice cream which basically has just been pressed and nothing spectacular has happened to it. Had you eaten it out of the tube, it would have tasted exactly the same. However, the proceedings of transferring the ice cream from one container to another is rather amusing and fun. Hence the name “cheap thrill”. Of course that is not the real name. Please don’t sue me.

After Juliet proclaimed that the cheap thrill ice cream actually tasted nice above the cheap thrill itself, I decided to follow suit and was subsequently joined by yx. So we had 3 people eating cheap thrill ice cream and everyone laughing at us as we carried out the transfer-the-ice-cream-from-one-container-to-another operation (which of course was absolutely pointless).

I just have to mention that walking down Orchard Road at past midnight is an experience in itself. It’s empty, for one, and there are weird characters around. Four girls in makeup and interesting hair are sure to attract attention, though, so I’m not sure if the weird characters show up otherwise.

Upon reaching the hotel, we first had a problem with the lift. The card wouldn’t read and therefore the floor couldn’t be pressed. So after a trip to the reception, the problem was solved. And we went up. But as usual, one bad thing will be followed by another, and the next thing we knew was that the card couldn’t open the door to the room.

So while Ju and Hams went down again, we just sat there and camped outside the hotel room. It must have been quite a sight, and I think we looked like overdressed refugees.

After 2 trips and a bit of luck, the door decided to open. So we happily went in.

Ate and watched TV, then I enlisted the help of Ju and M to get all the 30-odd pins out of my hair. I counted them afterwards, that’s how I know.

After all the pins were out, everything still pretty much stayed in place, because, everything was hard as rock. I tried combing it and gave up so I went and washed it all out and was a whole lot happier. Everyone started undoing everything and all the makeup came off. Most of it anyway.

Then time to go home.

At home watched a French show, and I fell asleep somewhere into the second disk.

I regained consciousness around 9 the next morning and decided that I should just go back to sleep. Yx woke up at around 10 and I decided to wake up too, followed by M. Then we watched another show. M went home. Yx and I watched the first disk of yet another show. Yx went home. I went upstairs. I used the computer. I got really bored. Then it was dinner time. And I watched another different show. And I came back to the computer and decided to type this hideously long thing out.

If you’ve read until here, I admire your stamina. Really.

Anyway the photos can be found here: http://rh.gfoto.com. Go to “detailed list” and it’s under the FAM folder. Yeah.

(If you had to know, it was 1747 words, not including these last 3 sentences. I typed it out in Microsoft Word for fear of losing the entry had I used Blogger instead. It does have a nasty habit of making entries disappear.)

2005-11-10T23:29:00.000+08:00

For some reason, I've been reading song lyrics, and I think that some of them make quite a lot of sense. Right now I'm still dwelling over this particular one:

"At what point did you realise
That everybody loves your life but you"

I think I told yx about it the day before yesterday, when I first noticed it.

Well, maybe the grass is always greener on the other side.

I know for me that it's definately quite the case, because the whole year people have been telling me how lucky I was to skip the O levels and stuff, and I was thinking, yeah right, options aren't much more fun anyway, especially since I got certain stuff which I don't particularly like. And I much rather study for Chinese than stay back until 6.30 for options. I think it's only recently that I've started thanking RP. I would never be going to RJC otherwise. And how I got into RGS is still a great mystery to myself anyway, so I guess I am quite lucky.

I was also thinking about what I should with my future. I read Yimei's blog right here, I haven't taken the time to link it properly yet, but she was talking about getting old. Tell me about it. I know I'm younger, but I still feel rather old. But I think I've already blabbered about getting old just before my birthday earlier this year.

Reminds me of the quote which I stuffed somewhere in some other entry in this blog some time ago.

"Youth is wasted on the young
Before you know it's come and gone
Too soon"

Yeah, too soon, indeed. (Actually I think those were my exact words in the other entry, if I remember correctly.)

When I'm 30, will I think about being 16? I wonder what I'll be doing then.

This is seriously going to turn philosophical soon.

Oh, one last thing.

Cirucmstance. How do you prounce that?

The question here is in the stance.

Do you say it like you say 'for instance' or like 'take a stance'?

I hope you understand me.

Circum-st-en-ce
or
Circum-st-an-ce?

I don't know if there's a British/American thing here.

And Cynthia, if you're reading this, my list of words has grown. So I'm going to read them to you the next time I see you, and you're going to have to listen to it.

4/11/2005 Photos in school

2005-11-06T01:09:00.000+08:00

I got irritated with blogger's photo uploading system, because it took forever and still failed to upload a lot of picts. So I compiled them together into one nice thing, which you can go click on, save, and zoom in to read the captions and appreciate the photos properly. This are only the ones taken in school, I think the class dinner one will have to come tomorrow. It's a little late now.

4/11/2005

2005-11-06T00:00:00.000+08:00

I know this is a little late, but I really didn’t feel like writing yesterday or earlier today.

A lot of things have happened, I guess, and I don’t really know what to think.

As the title says, 4 November 2005. The last day of secondary school for my life. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I can’t do anything about it whether I want to or not.

So basically we went to school, went through the usual things which we had to do because the school said we had to, and then went out, met people, and later had dinner at Suntec Swensens, where Mr Chia came, and later Mrs Chew came too, with her 2 kids in tow. The conclusion was something around the fact that cuteness runs in the family.

I have nothing to say anymore, and since pictures speak more than words, I guess I’ll let them do the talking.

Come Undone

2005-11-05T23:05:00.000+08:00

A song I was just listening to and thinking about the mess in my life right now, some of you know what I'm thinking and what's bothering me, and I think the lyrics make lots and lots of sense. There are a few bad words, but if you take it in the right mood, it should be okay.

Come Undone (Robbie Williams)

So unimpressed, but so in awe
Such a saint, but such a whore
So self aware, so full of shit
So indecisive, so adamant
I'm contemplating thinking about thinking
It's overrated, just get another drink in
Watch me come undone

They're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
Pray that when I'm coming down you'll be asleep
If I ever hurt you your revenge will be so sweet
Because I'm scum
And I'm your son
I come undone
I come undone

So rock and roll, so corporate suit
So damn ugly, so damn cute
So well trained, so animal
So need your love, so fuck you all
I'm not scared of dying I just don't want to
If I stopped lying I'd just disappoint you
I come undone
They're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
I pray that when I'm coming down you'll be asleep
If I ever hurt you your revenge will be so sweet
Because I'm scum
And I'm your son
I've come undone

So write another ballad
Mix it on a wednesday
Sell it on a thursday
Buy a yacht by saturday
It's a love song
A love song
Do another interview
Sing a bunch of lies
Tell about celebrities that I despise
And sing love songs
We sing love songs
So sincere

They're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
Pray that when I'm coming down you'll be asleep
If I ever hurt you your revenge will be so sweet
Because I'm scum
I'm your son
I've come undone
I've come undone

Cycling

2005-11-01T15:12:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I hope I took the last ever Chinese exam of my life. Of course, it's only a hope, but it's still a hope and it's always there for me to hope for. I really hope I pass.

Anyway, today at the nice time of 9 in the morning, I was supposed to meet Manori at Parkway Macs to go cycling with XM at East Coast. And yx, being the lazy pok she is, refused to come in favour of her bed, her air con, and her computer(s).

Anyway after lots of blah which I am way too lazy to write here, we finally rented a bike at 10.15. The bike actually cost $5/hour but the guy was willing to give us the bike for 3 hours if we paid $10. So we took it, since it was the same for 2 or 3 hours. Just as well, because we later took over 2 hours.

Cycling towards the Bedok side of East Coast was relatively fun, although there was, as usual, the usual influx of (incompetent and competent) cyclists. I only began to think about what I'd do if I was in charge of National Parks when we were going in the Fort Road direction. And while I was formulating the various ideas, I spent my time dodging little kids, trying to predict when they would stop and when they would veer left or right, and also wondering where their parents were.

So basically, if I had my way, I'd ban all vehicles with anything more than 2 wheels from riding on the cycling trail. The exception would be roller blades, but then, I don't really think those are considered vehicles. This means that tricycles and erm, quadcycles (those with 2 extra wheels at the back for balance) will not be allowed. Actually, my original idea included anything with a wheel rim size of below 16" to be banned from the trail, but then I thought better of it.

The advantage of doing such a thing would be that the track would be filled with more competent cyclists. This would make cycling a much more enjoyable matter, and also reduce the risk of accidents.

Children are generally very unpredictable, and they have this annoying habit of stopping in the middle of nowhere with no warning whatsoever, causing you to brake in order to avoid crashing into them, and risking the person behind you crashing into you instead. Either that, or they think there are virtual cones (or for that matter, mines) on the road which they just have to avoid, and this results in them cycling in a manner which increases their risk of falling off the bike, and also causes the people behind them to ring their bells or shout more than necessary.

I blame the parents for letting the children become a hazard to themselves and others. If the child somehow hurts himself/herself, if there is another (older) cyclist involved, I really pity that cyclist. I say that because it's happened to me before.

I was cycling happily and there was this kid who must have been something like 5, in front of me, and I was still happily behind him, and out of the blue he decided to stop for whatever good or bad reason(s). Oh, and the parents happened to be walking on the cycling track, talking among themselves, you know, the usual auntie talk. They were not paying attention to the welfare of their child at all.

Needless to say, when the kid stopped, I braked to try to avoid hitting him, and I succeeded, stopping probably a couple of centimetres away from his bike. I was going to go around him when the person behind me crashed into me, obviously unable to stop in time.

This resulted in a chain reaction which resulted in my bike hitting into the kid's bike, abeit not really hard, because I did try to stop it hitting. I didn't fall off my bike because my legs were on the floor, keeping the bike steady. And crash, my bike nudges the kid's bike, (which had 4 wheels, btw), and the kid has a really bad sense of balance or something, so he falls off the bike. The bike didn't fall, he did.

So then the person behind me apologises, disappears, and leaves me with those irate parents. Smart guy. I should have just run (I mean, cycled) off. Go use your imagination to figure out what happened afterwards.

But children and their parents are not the only culprits. Another big culprit would be couples, whether they are in love or not. For some weird reason, they seem to enjoy walking hand in hand down the sides, or sometimes, the middle of the cycling path. The footpath is less than 2 metres away, but they are so madly in love that it has made them blind, and therefore they do not see the footpath, or the cyclists and bladers.

I think that couples, or sometimes groups are bigger obstructions than, say, a tree in the middle of the path. This is because the tree is there, you can see it, you can avoid it. Whereas when it comes to people, you can see it, you try to avoid it, but they don't see you, and they smartly walk right into your path. After which, the aftermath depends a lot on luck.

And finally, there are those people who come to East Coast park to learn to cycle / rollerblade / hold hands / whatever. What I really have yet to figure out is why there are people willing to teach you to roller blade, but not to cycle.

To me at least, cycling is harder than roller blading. This is because, roller blades are worn on your feet, and you can keep your balance quite easily even the first time round. Although there are usually 8 wheels in total, they are lined up and this creates a nice thing for you to balance on. Whereas in cycling, you have to balance on 2 wheels, and pedal, and use the brakes at the same time. I know I took longer to cycle than to roller blade.

I suggest to the National Parks Board to please, please, come up with learn-to-cycle tracks, specially for this purpose. This will create a conducive environment for the learners, as well as the more seasoned cyclists, as they do not have to constantly avoid them while trying to cycle on the main track.

I specifically avoided mentioning bladers above, as although I believe that they too, need a place to learn, they can learn at any place with a sufficent amount of flat surface. I think there is one such place near Marine Cove.

In case you were wondering, I learnt to cycle and blade outside my house. It's quite a good place.

So, well, cycling today was relatively fun, except for the abovementioned things. Other than that, the slopes were nice, except that there usually were people stuck trying to get up, or coming down too slowly.

Still, with the size of Singapore and the possiblities available, I think I'll still be going back there pretty soon.

The End, and The Beginning.

2005-10-25T16:32:00.000+08:00

It's the end of options. It ended today with 2 tests. And I suppose that also means that it's the end of all my possible excuses for not studying Chinese. While still on that topic, I'm screwed for it. Totally.

What will possibly happen to me if I fail Chinese? I will feel miserable and then get over it and probably fail it again. However, if I pass it, then I will be happy, forget every word I ever learnt, and get on with life.

Feeling relatively bored and unmotivated. It rained heavily today after English, and Manori was pissed because it rained (very heavily) on the day she forgot to bring her umbrella and didn't bring her jacket either! It is indeed a rather rare sight to see Manori without her jacket and in pinafoe.

And, when I can still think about pinafoes, it occured to me that I saw several RJ girls at the PS bus stop on the way home. I was highly amused by the way they wore the uniform, and then I remembered that I'm going there next year too. That is, if I go there.

Today in the library before English, we talked a bit about IB, and it's benefits over A Levels. I really don't know what I'll do if I do badly in my A Levels, because I have absolutely nothing to fall back on. But it will be the same way with IB. Except that I have the potential of doing slightly better there because they take CIP into consideration. And anyway IB is more widely recognised, whereas A Level is recognised in England, Australia, Singapore, and other more British-leaning countries which generally drive on the left side of the road.

But as with everything and anything, I suppose it has its drawbacks as well.

Still, because of that conversation, I've been presented with yet another dilemma, to top off my subject combination one.

That one is yet another stupid thing.

You see, this time round, my GPA has improved tremendously, and I got 3.6 for 4 subjects. English, SS, Chem and Bio. But, the thing is, I don't intend to take science at JC because I don't like science, and I don't see myself doing science in the future. It's just not... me. And then, the practical side comes in. I score better in science. Face it. I know I do. And I also know that I could have gotten GPA 4.0 for Chem had I not started studying the night before.

But if I do science, I will have a combination something like Chem, Maths, Econs, History/Lit. It's kind of weird and half-half, if you know what I mean. It's neither here nor there. And, what can I possibly study in uni if I do that? Business, probably. Which is currently my backup plan, because I'm not really interested.

I don't know. I submitted my form already. And I sure as hell hope I don't regret.

One more week, and I reach the end, and another beginning. But maybe I don't want to go.

Bond

2005-10-17T18:21:00.000+08:00

Well, there are actually more blond Bond jokes, and now they've expanded to include, erm, John Robinson and Glorfindel. And all blond guys in general. I'm still thinking how to incorporate Britney Spears into one though. But I don't suppose you'll want to know about them.

Anyway, in today's TODAY newspaper, page 36, you'll discover a double page spread on Bond. Written by Neil Humphreys! I like that guy's writing.

Anyway there were several pictures at the bottom, and I actually gave them captions in school. But then I came back, attempted to search them up on the internet, and failed to come up with similar ones. So you'll just have to make do.

Here goes.

Sean Connery

"Hmm.. I'm looking to my left but my gun is pointed to my right. Oh heck, nevermind, I'm real confident of shooting you anyway."

George Lazenby

"This is a seriously weird perspective shot! And guess what? It even has my autograph on it. Oh yeah, I was supposed to shoot you."

Roger Moore

"What on earth is that thing, I wonder? Eh, I'm confused, and a little scared too.. I think I'll just put that gun in front of me just in case."

Timothy Dalton

"I have this really smug look on my face, and yx says that I look Chinese. Maybe I do, but watch out. I can and will shoot you."

Pierce Brosnan

"Hmm.. I think I should just shoot you. Yeah, I should. Bang."

Daniel Craig

"I love smiling! And, I'm not sure if I can shoot anyone if I wanted to, I'd probably feel guilty."

bLond

2005-10-14T22:09:00.000+08:00

I heard from yx that the new Bond had been chosen. And upon hearing that, I hastily searched it out using the trusty google search.

Of course, since yx even took note of such a thing, it must mean that it was of some interest to her. In this case, it was because the new Bond is blond, or blonde, depending on how you like to put it.

And it turns out that this new Bond's name is Daniel Craig, which isn't such a bad name, but it gets worse. If you have to know why, just click on this link right here: http://www.raremovieimages.com/dailyimages/danielcraig2.jpg

Ewwwww.

Yx and I finally agree on something. That that guy is not good looking at all. Even though he's blond, and has highly influenced yx's thinking.

And anyway, yx and I were on MSN, feeling bored, and I decided that I might as well start coming up with blond Bond jokes. And following in the tradition of blond jokes, they are really quite bad. I'm sorry.

Blond Bond and a random girl at the back of a car.
They suddenly become consumed with passion etc, etc, etc.
You get the idea. And you know whats going to happen.
Random girl: James, can we play it safe?
Blond Bond: Okay.
*blond Bond locks the car door*

Random girl: James, why are you standing out there in this terrible weather? (it's a thunderstorm)
Blond Bond: Someone's taking my photo! I have to wait for them to finish..

Blond Bond gets hungry. He calls (insert random phone number here) to order pizza.
Operator: So, sir, would you like your pizza cut into 12 slices or 6 slices?
Blond Bond: 6, please. I could never eat 12 slices.

Blond Bond meets a brunette girl.
She makes lots of blond jokes about him.
He asks: Why are blond jokes usually so short?
Brunette girl: Because otherwise men wont understand them.

Random girl: James, why are you holding your hands over your ears?
Blond Bond: I'm trying to hold a thought.

The day has come when I of all people make up blond Bond jokes.

Interesting signs

2005-10-09T21:07:00.000+08:00

Was at Golden Landmark, and came across several interesting signs.

Spine Manipulative Therapy! Ouch. Seriously ouch.

Okay, this one, the shop name is pretty okay. It's just that, if you take a closer look at the shop sign, you'll notice that it's printed, using an inkjet printer.

Another case of classic Singaporean-ness. Everything is never where their name suggests. Punggol Nasi Lemak is on Tanjong Katong Road. Siglap Secondary is in Pasir Ris. And Katong Laksa is everywhere. Golden Landmark building is in Bugis, fyi.

Wholistic? Maybe they meant holistic.

hi there hello hello!

2005-10-06T13:51:00.000+08:00

hihi !! im not renhui im just someone irritating the hell outta her and forcing her to let me guest blog for no particular reason other than the fact that i dont feel like reading my english handouts!!

so as you can tell, this post is gonna be about nothing. and when i say nothing, i mean nothing as in:

like this. nothing.
and now renhui is giving this incredulous "im not killing you only coz your sis is my classmate" look and clutching her pack of cards like she wishes it was/were a dagger that she could use to get me off this.
and now she's denying this and saying that i think too much.
YEAH RIGHT.
do i think too much?
i actually think i dont even think at all.

ooh wow look at the time. oh crunch is here. i shall go bother her then.

byebye!!
thx renhui!!
^_^^_^^_^

ok i really should bug off now.
;) -slimy grin-

Some random thoughts

2005-09-29T11:08:00.000+08:00

HCL O levels are in a month. ONE MONTH!

I am so dead.

Anyway, on a slightly more interesting note, my life has been rather boring recently. I write, but not online. Because what I write about really shouldn't really be seen by anyone and everyone who has access to a computer and the internet.

Recently, my bus rides have been boring. Very boring. Which is quite a disappointment to me because I live for interesting bus rides. No interesting characters. No funny incidents. Just perfectly normal happenings and other unimportant, uninteresting events, such as the sound made by the EZ link card when tapped on the reader. I am that bored.

And on yet another note, (although I know yx is going to kill me for this one, but yx, don't worry, erm, I didn't manage to finish watching the whole thing as I had to leave for SS and therefore I'll be watching it again sometime probably with Cynthia and you can very well join us and be less sore about it).

Yeah, it's about that option.

We watched My Fair Lady.

And I think that it should be complusory watching for everyone who learns English, (which should be a significant enough number).

I just searched IMDb.com and I decided that the tagline for the movie is absolutely appropraite.

"The most loverly motion picture event of all!"

That song is still stuck in my head, no thanks to Manori, and I suspect that together, me and Manori have managed to stick it into Cynthia's head as well, uh, I meant, 'ead.

Juliet just said, "I thought you were my role model. Now you're doing homework."

It was obviously not to me of all people.

And do you rub the whiteboard or do you erase the whiteboard or do you clean the whiteboard?

But, the thing you use to clean the whiteboard with is called a duster. You don't dust the whiteboard do you?

That was just some weird stuff and my own weird thoughts that pop up randomly when I eavesdrop on other people, although those people weren't exactly talking softly.

I get the feeling that both yx and Louise want the usage of this computer, so I think I'll just leave them to fight over it.

An update

2005-09-16T13:27:00.000+08:00

Ah, I see that I have failed to update for a rather long period of time.

Those of you who see me around constantly, whether you like it or not, will most probably know why.

Anyway right now I'm in school in the library, and I got real bored so I borrowed a laptop and decided to log on.

The following picts are of complete irrelevance and I think (and hope) that you are able to discern my extent of boredom.

Right. The one on the top is one of my many card towers which I've been building in the classroom and various other locations around school.

The one on the bottom is from ACES day, and I discovered that I failed to put it up so I might as well do so for the sake of the people in the photo.

And Yinx's yearbook design is rather nice, although there are some bits which would be nice to change but unfortunately that can't be done as it's due.

I think my life has been rather boring, come to school, finish lessons at like 10am, stone until options, which are constantly at extremely late parts of the afternoon, and wish that I could go to Orchard to eat some nice(r) food, but I can't because the school says that we can't leave school until 1.30pm. Why, I have yet to find out.

I don't think it makes sense at all, because keeping us around until 1.30pm especially if we have no options after that or if our options are extremely late simply does not make sense. If it's meant to keep us out of trouble and mischeif, I don't think it's very helpful because we can easily come up with all that after school and in school as well. It's just purely boring hanging around school waiting for time to be up. And I personally study better at home, and as a result of this, I can't even study properly.

Also, if they mean to do this to us because the other levels might be jealous, well, then, it's just too bad. They, too, will get their turn when they're in Sec 4. It's just a matter of time. I really hope they review this fast because if they take their time, then it would be completely useless as we would still have to wait and wait and wait.

My options, for those who are interested/kaypoh/whatever, would be Leadership in Citizenship, Are You Speaking English, Saying What You Mean and Know Your Body, the latter two being in the second half. It seems that even without my name being last, I still have the fate of being put as the last.

Recently I borrowed a tiny little book from the school library, entitled, The Guide to Speaking Better Singlish. And it was apparently written by class 307 of 1996, which is close to 10 years ago. That was when I was in P1. Wow. And I suppose that also explains the condition and layout of the 'book', and the quality of the images, which looks really pixellated. But then again, it was 1996, who can blame them? I really think it's rather funny, even though it's a bit outdated and I don't get some parts of it.

I don't think I should talk too much about Are You Speaking English, as yx is still rather sore about it.

Meanwhile, nothing that funny around here has been happening. Not quite what I expected but I guess it has to be.

Parkway Foodcourt

2005-09-09T17:31:00.000+08:00

So, I spent yet another dinnertime at the Parkway foodcourt again, and this time, I had the chance to witness 2 seperate incidents which set me thinking.

The first one was when my bro and I were looking for a seat.

There was one, an empty-looking one, and my bro went there. Then he came back, saying that the seat had already been tissue-paper-choped.

Now, if there is one thing I simply cannot stand in foodcourts, it would be tissue-paper-choping.

This method of reserving seats is utterly and completely ridiculous. It makes no sense at all. Using a packet of tissue paper to reserve a seat!!?! Since when did tissue paper take over a living human being? If there is someone there who tells me that the seat's occupied, I'll be fine with it. It's just that using a packet of tissue paper is just not justifiable. If you put your handphone there I might just forgive you. But of course no one would do that, would they? Because handphones are expensive. And tissue paper is not. Right. I guess that makes sense. But still, it's just purely inconsiderate.

So after the tissue-paper-choping incident, found a seat which did not have any tissue paper packet on it. It's quite a rarity.

And then shortly after we sat down, a family comprising a mother and 3 young children sat down at the table next to ours. And the mothers' use of English was the cause of much of my amusement.

"Sit down.. sit down.. I'll go call some fries for you."

How, may I ask, does one call fries?

According to me, there are 2 possible ways to call fries. If you have more ways, feel free to comment at the comments system down there somewhere at the end of this entry and tell me about it.

First way.
"Fries! Fries! Come here! Where are you!?!"
There you go. Calling for fries.

Second way.
-Picks up handphone-
"Uh.. hello? Can I speak to Fries please?"
And this would be calling Fries.

Yes, I do know that the mother actually intended to say that she was going to order some fries for her children, but it's just that the usage of English was just a little, wrong? And with amusing connotations.

But well, I guess I spend too much of my time thinking about things that aren't that important, or are they?

Teachers' Day

2005-08-31T17:00:00.000+08:00

This was the sunrise today on my way to school. It's beautiful, isn't it? And why did so many people ask me if it was taken in Singapore?! Well, for the record, it was.

I somehow reached school on time, and upon entering the classroom, I was greeted by the sight of people doing the usual last-minute thing, this time with teachers' day presents.

Then unfortunately it was time to go down to the field and do the ACES day thing.
(Note to people who haven't actually seen the thing itself, it's just this one particular movement which can be likened to exercises to erm, improve certain assets.)
I seriously fail to see the point, for a start, boob enhancement services can be found at any plastic surgery clinic, and it's less torturous for the eye and results are more obvious.
Oh, and I think I perspired more before ACES then during ACES.

Hah, fellow photo-taker, Karimah.

Sheena tried to block me from taking her photo, but she failed, because her hands were too small.

Oh, halfway through the thing, we noticed people at the condo blocks overlooking our school looking at us from their balcony. Yeah, we know, it's your annual free show.

I have no idea what yx is trying to do here, but well, do take note that no one else is doing it. Except her.

Yx and Zhao behaving crazy. Actually it was quite, no, make that very amusing to watch.

Oh, then it was concert time.

CA, my other fellow photo-taker, seated on my right.

..and the phototaking gang is not complete without Juliet, the photog member.

One item: SL dance. I didn't even know there were that many SLs. Well, now I know. I think I should refrain from comment on the dance, except that I think some older members of the staff might think that the Black Eyed Peas' don't phunk with my heart song was don't fuck with my heart. Well, it certainly did sound that way.

Ah, this one. This was the best. Mr Joseph Toh totally rocked the school. The 2 female teachers.. well, we'll just see about that shall we?

Seated on my left is Cheng Ying Xi, showing off her leg hair.

Anna behaving crazy.

Nivi and Cynthia feeling hyper.

Well, so after that I didn't stay around to watch the annual crowding of the staffroom. And I didn't go back to my primary school either. So oh well.

(the space below is not intentional, stupid formatting.)

(Another) bus ride

2005-08-19T22:54:00.000+08:00

So, I took yet another bus ride home, and although I haven't gotten enough sleep for the past 5 days straight, I somehow managed to stay awake in an attempt not to miss my stop.

I enlisted the help of my mp3 player and TV Mobile.

When I mention TV Mobile, it really means that I was desperate.

Oh, and the guy who was sitting in front of me, he had hair which was until the middle of his back. Which is longer than most girls' hair. And that is kinda scary in itself. But in this case, what made it even scarier, is that this guy went and had it done into dreadlocks.

If you don't know what dreadlocks are, well, according to me, they look dreadful. Basically its hair twisted together into strands about 5mm - 1cm thick, and then these dreads of twisted hair have wax (yes you heard me right) put on them so that they keep in place, because any idiot will let you know that hair isn't naturally twisty. If you don't believe me, twist some of your own hair and see if it stays twisted. If it does, then either you cheated, or you're just seriously weird.

Anyway the guy's entire head had these black snake like things snaking everywhere, and I thought they just looked bad. And not to mention, I was also wondering, what was he going to do when hair started growing out again, then the roots won't be twisty but the rest will be, and that's going to look seriously out-of-place and even weirder than it already is.

But I guess they guy did try to do something about it, from the result on his hair that I saw. He put more wax. But I would say that whoever put the wax, be it him, his mother, his sister, his girlfriend, or his hairstylist (in which case everyone out there take note: bad hairstylist.) did a particularly botched job.

The amount of wax there was probably enough to keep a candle burning for a long long time. And, not to mention, the texture was uneven, because you have this long twisted length of hair, and then this big bulky bit of wax at the roots. It made it look even worse.

Also, I wondered how the guy ever washed his hair properly. Imagine, you go for PE and then you get all sweaty. You take a bath, but then since your hair's like all twisted up, the sweat which has somehow managed to find its way into the twisted hair can't be washed out. How the sweat found its way there is not for me to answer. But trust me. Sneaky things like sweat droplets know their way around.

Generally, I'm trying to say that his hair is probably dirtier than the average toilet bowl.

And, I was wondering how he would ever be able to comb his hair. His comb must have teeth at least 1.5 cm apart in order for him to finish combing his hair and leave his scalp intact. Or maybe he just doesn't comb his hair in the first place (like Louise).

How does he sleep? With all that wax in his hair, he can't possibly sleep normaly. I mean, you lie down and you get these waxy things poking at your head, how to sleep properly? Oh, he looked like he was suffering from chronic lack of sleep. Maybe that's why.

Then I wondered what he would have to do if he wanted to change his hairstyle. He can't very well undo the dreadlocks, I mean, they're quite permanent. So I figured that the only way out was to shave his head botak. What a drastic change. From hair length middle of the back to bald. And I can't imagine that he spent all that time waiting for his hair to grow long just to dreadlock it and then shave it off. Or perhaps he did hair extensions, in which case, I'd say he has a lot of money, patience, and a relatively high tolerence for pain.

Finally I wondered why he would even do such a thing in the first place. Sure, it attracts attention, in fact, a whole lot of it. Example: No one wanted to sit next to him probably because they thought that sitting next to this weird guy would cause them to catch the weird disease and then have hair like that too. But seriously, it's just simply impractical. Especially in Singapore.

Okay, I've written a whole lot about one single person's hairstyle, mostly because I spent my entire bus journey staring at his head and figuring those things out. You get really bored on buses. But you also get to observe some wonderfully interesting personalities (and hairstyles). See YX, taking buses is relatively fun, and sometimes even beats taking a car. But well, just don't take a bus at rush hour.

Oh, today during maths, which was the first block, Mrs Chew gave us a quiz. I couldn't do the second question at all, and for the first question, I got the answer 1:3999. The real answer is supposed to be 1:49. My answer is way off. Oh well. As for the second question, it was on kinematics. I really didn't know how to do it, so I spent the time I was supposed to spend on the question writing a poem about my dislike of kinematics instead. Here it is for your reading pleasure (or displeasure, whichever it is). That is, if you weren't one of those who read the poem on-the-spot.

Kinematics by me.

I don't like kinematics.
I just don't see why,
Acceleration, t and velocity,
Hey, I'd rather die.

I really don't know
Why whatever equals zero,
And if you could explain it to me,
Then you'd be my hero.

How fast, how long,
Does it really matter?
As long as I get there in the end,
I'd rather take the latter.

So, Kinematics,
Why do you exist?
You bring misery to my life,
Shrouding it in mist.

Why am I even writing this?
I'm just wasting my time,
And you know what else?
This was not even supposed to rhyme.

Yes, lame, whatever.

Bus

2005-08-11T16:44:00.000+08:00

Earlier today when I was walking to the bus stop from The Adelphi after my dental appointment (which hurts, both monetarily and physically), I met this group of blonde (yx! read this!) German people who asked me, "To youz now ware Funan centere ish?"

Okay, I'm not here to criticise their English, because my German probably isn't any better.

But anyway what amused me was what they were doing before one of them came up and asked me. They were huddled around the street light, staring collectively at a map which one of them were holding, and basically doing the typical tourist pose.

I am aware that tourists all around the world have this favourite pose which consists of one or a group of people, usually wearing hats/caps if the temperature is anything above 15 degrees Celsius, huddled together around a map.

This typical tourist pose is rather amusing to observe from a distance. The distance bit is very important.

Anyway, this is why it is very important, when you are in another country, you should do all your map reading away from prying eyes. The minute you do that, you're practically shouting to all the locals: TOURIST! And that isn't always a good idea. Of course, if you can't even find a map in the first place, then.. I guess that doesn't apply.

I continued my walk to the bus stop, and when I reached there I noticed a large proportion of Japanese. The ratio of Japanese to Singaporean was something like 15: 1, the one being me. I have never felt so out of place in Singapore!

The bus finally came, and when I climbed to the top deck, I was greeted by students sprawled all over every single seat. By saying that, I mean that it was one student per seat which is meant for two people. And they were sprawled because the sleep-deprived Singaporean youngsters find it most convinient to sleep on the bus on the way to wherever.

I saw that the one place left for me to sit was right at the last row, so I kind of gingerly made my way there.

Sat down, and was faced with a big mop of curly brown hair. The person on the seat in front of my was an ang moh, and at first because the hair was so long and so curly, I thought it was a girl. But it wasn't. It was a boy, about my age. He was sprawled, asleep, with his hair all over the back of the seat.

I decided to amuse myself via sms and mp3 player, and got home.

Then right now I just thought of something, involving people's pronounciation. But I'm not here to poke fun at foreigners. This time it's Singaporeans.

I was at Parkway foodcourt some time ago, (yes, I know I'm always at that place), and I was in the queue for a particularly popular stall. Behind me were an ang moh couple, who were obviously not residents of Singapore or its surroundings. They ordered their food, and then the auntie at the cashier said, "Ate lollars plis," and the two ang mohs went, "huh?"

I don't blame them.

In the light of the Singaporean government having campagins to speak Chinese and the likes, why not have one to speak English properly? It'll make a lot more sense, and possibly help all the hapless and clueless ang mohs have some amount of clue.

Chocolate Factory

2005-08-08T23:18:00.000+08:00

Just now I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and surprisingly enough, I've got more to say about the audience than the movie.

Basically I took advantage of the offer the school presented us, and I got 3 tickets. I watched it at Tampines Mall, and boy, was it swarming with people. Anyway, I think most of us here has read the book at some point or another of our (be it sad or not) lives, and therefore we pretty much know what's going to happen. It tends to be like that with movie adaptations of books. (Oh no, RS is back to haunt me.)

And speaking of movies which are adapted from books, another thing is that the movie kinda destroys your little dream fantasy world which you imagined after reading the book. I know for one that my imaginary chocolate factory world was way cooler than that presented in the movie.

And Willy Wonka so did not look the way he did in the movie. That haircut! The sunglasses! Argh!

Okay, fine, I know that in my little dream world things don't cost money and anything's possible, but I really think that with a movie budget of millions and millions of (American) dollars, they could have at least done slightly better with the set.

Oh yeah, I still haven't gotten over Johnny Depp not looking like Johnny Depp. Seriously, I wouldn't have guessed it was him unless I knew in advance. And anyway when I did know in advance, I had to stare at the picture for a long time and slowly convince myself that it was indeed Johnny Depp.

Basically I think the show goes beyond just its surface of a lucky boy, a slightly eccentric chocolate genius and a chocolate factory. It's about childhood innocence which is lost, and I guess that doesn't really qualify it as a kids movie. Kids are kids. They aren't old enough to understand lost innocence. Because they are most probably innocent themselves. Sheesh, here I go again feeling old.

Okay, now to the point about the audience.

Firstly, if I ever have children of my own, I am not going to bring them to a movie theatre until they are old enough to learn that a movie is meant to be watched in peace without irritating questions and running commentaries.

Why I say this is because today in the theatre it was something like this. on the left there is a young couple out on a date. On the right there is my bro and my mum. On the row above me is a dad, and a couple of kids. Seated on the row below me is another family with another bunch of (slightly older, maybe 9 or 10) kids. In general, the kids spell disaster.

The girl sitting behind me was probably about 6 or 7. She spent the whole movie asking questions like:

Why is that man so sad?
How come she cannot eat that?
What did he say? Charlie what?
I don't understand (insert anything).

I think I can still forgive her. She's like 7.

But the kid in front, cannot be forgiven. That boy was at least 10. And, he probably thought that he was smarter than Mike Teevee. That smart-aleck had Mike's attitude. Yes, I know you read the book when you were 7, I know you know every last detail....

In a nutshell, the boy in front gave a running commentary on the movie. And, he would say things like oh, there's no golden ticket. Oh, this and this is going to happen. I know that because I read the book blah blah blah.

I mean, okay, you read the book. Guess what? At least half the cinema has read the book too! Wow! Even if you have read the book and you are a self-proclaimed expert on it, you don't have to let the whole cinema know by telling everyone what's going to happen next. It so totally spoils the movie. It's not fun anymore.

As the movie was an adaptation, not a straight direct copy of the book, there were minor changes here and there. Those were some sort of saving grace. Mr Smart Aleck would shoot off that blah blah blah is going to happen, and then, blah blah blah wouldn't happen! Because it's a movie, for goodness sake. You can't follow the book word for word. If you did, you'd be in the cinema until Wednesday.

When Mr Smart Aleck's prediction turned out wrong you could almost hear people go "see you idiot, you aren't that smart after all". But then Mr Smart Aleck would then go on into a monologue in defence, and it was just bad.

I think if I wasn't with my family I would have seriously told the boy to shut up.

After the movie, I went to eat ice cream. While waiting, there were these two girls, whose favourite words were evidently OH MY GOD!

Their conversation while pasing the ice cream stall went something like:

Girl 1: Oh my god! Look at the ice cream!
Girl 2: Oh my god! The amount of cream!
Girl 1: Yeah, oh my god, the scoop is like, so big!
Girl 2: Hey, look at this flavour. Oh my god! It's strawberry cheescake yoghurt! That's like......
Girl 1: Yeah! Oh my god, I can't believe people want to eat this.
Girl 2: Look at the price! Oh my god!

They seemed unable to puncuate their sentences with normal puncuation marks like full stop and commas. Instead, they used exclamation marks and OH MY GOD!

Oh my god, were they irritating. And, as a sidenote, they weren't exactly the most petite people I've seen around.

I think I should elaborate more on National Day celebrations in school now.

So, there were celebrations in school, which were held in the hall because it rained! Thankfully also, because otherwise we would have been soaked (in the merciless rays of the sun).

But there was one small trade off. The lack of air. The hall officially has no ventilation.

And if the National Day committee wants to do anything to change National Day besides changing the hall (which is next to impossible, I know), they could also possibly look at not letting the Sec 1s do any more skits. In fact, if they didn't do any at Racial Harmony Day and the likes, we might just enjoy it better.

I'm Sec 4 already, and I'll be leaving the school soon. Just imagining that we're leaving the school in the hands of such people like the Sec 1s, sends shudders down to our socks, no matter how low they may be. The school is going to fall into disarray and become a sad, sad place.

Then again, maybe they're Sec 1s, so we should give them a bit of chance and room to move. But too much room isn't good either, is it?

Oh, right now looking at the title, it reminds me that zup's father-in-law has a chocolate factory! How cool is that?

Sick

2005-08-03T16:01:00.000+08:00

I've been down with fever and I'm sniffing and my throat feels swollen. Bleh.

I didn't go to school today, and I left early yesterday.

Anyway, tagboard was finally back up after being down for I-don't-know-how-long.

And judging from Joo's comments, she has yet to realise that we went to France and England and made it back alive. And all that happened like 2 months ago.

Oh no, 2 months? It's been a real long time but it doesn't feel like it.

I think a lot of us are still suffering withdrawal symptoms. Including me.

I want to go back to France now. England also, just that it's a trifle impossible to go there after the bombings. I'll see what I can do to get myself there again in December.

Oh, and if you were feeling rather bored, you could check out this site: http://rh.gfoto.com. I uploaded a few new picts. But only a few.

My headache's back. So I'm going.

Happy Birthday

2005-07-30T09:58:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to me.

I have a slight problem though, that I don't want to be 16.

Last night I was so totally sleepy that I fell asleep without doing anything at all and I'm in quite a bad state now. Bleh

A quiz (of sorts).

2005-07-27T18:49:00.000+08:00

Wah, I have nothing to say so here goes. Yx bugged me to do this some time ago.

Ripped it off from Juliet's site who ripped it off from Lou (I think) who ripped it off from someone else and the list goes on.

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Ren Hui
2. rh
3. Uh, Ren? (according to Zhao anyway)

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. rh89
2. Ehz.. rh.seven?
3. Erm, yrh89?
(Yes I am very unimaginative.)

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
(Do I have to answer that? Argh, okay, whatever. Do note that whatever I write here is utter crap though. And, do not ask me why I chose whatever I chose.)
1. Eyes.
2. Erm, toes!
3. My flexible finger.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
(I don't wanna answer this either!)
1. My pimples. Cause they hurt.
2. I have no idea.
3. I don't know.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Define heritage.
2. Ok fine. Chinese.
3. Ethincally Hiananese. (I. cannot. cook. chicken. rice. Understand?)

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Maths tests.
2. Chinese tests.
3. Certain people.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Water.
2. Food.
3. Sleep.

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. Spectacles.
2. Watch.
3. Clothes.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:
1. Robbie Williams.
2. Jesse McCartney.
3. The choir who sang the Les Choristes soundtrack.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS: (no particular order)
1. Eternity by Robbie Williams
2. Because You Live by Jesse McCartney
3. Vois Sur Ton Chemin by Les Choristes

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
(Define relationship. Lol.)
1. Trust.
2. Loyalty.
3. Honesty.

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (in no particular order):
1. I love the cold.
2. I have a soft toy named Hamley.
3. I like Maths.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE PREFERRED SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
(Err.. I don't think about such things! So the following is inclined to be nonsense.)
1. Eyes.
2. Hair.
3. Erm, refer to the above 2.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Sleeping.
2. Talking crap.
3. Magic!

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Conk out on my bed completely and not care about what I haven't done.
2. Stop doing this quiz thing.
3. Fall into deep sleep. (It's the same thing, I know.)

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING/YOU'VE CONSIDERED:
1. Lawyer.
2. Psychologist.
3. Photographer.

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. France.
2. Los Angeles.
3. England.

THREE KID'S NAMES YOU LIKE:
(How am I supposed to know?!)
1. Jake.
2. Jamie. ( I copy Ju)
3. Something starting with 'H'.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Go to the following places: England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Finland, Los Angeles, San Francisco.
2. Watch it snowing.
3. Visit a glacier.

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
1. I don't own a skirt.
2. I don't like pink girly stuff!
3. Those people out there who know me. Don't you already know the answers!

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL:
1. I go to a girls' school.
2. I have long hair.
3. I just am one.

THREE CELEB CRUSHES:
1. Pierce Brosnan.
2. Steve McQueen.
3. Jean-Baptiste Maunier.

THREE PEOPLE THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW:
1. All the idiots who are reading this and haven't taken it themselves.
2. See number 1.
3. See number 2.

HAH.

(Great, this is like the stupidest post I've made.)

Aunties and Uncles and Me

2005-07-25T18:27:00.000+08:00

- I wrote this today during English lesson. Of course as usual, I like randomly adding extra things in, and as a result, this ends up being filled with (a lot of) crap. -

It's English class now and the teacher is talking. Meanwhile, I'm reading this article titled 'Aunties and Uncles and Me'. Well, technically I'm not reading, because I'm writing this, but I suppose that is just a mere technicality.

At the present moment, the converstation in class is centring around roti prata. Or roti paratha as the other article which I am supposed to be reading says. I have to admit that the other article is rather interesting, I am more entertained by 'Aunties and Uncles and Me' by this person named Neil Humphreys.

According to couple of lines of fine print on the handout, Mr Humphreys is a sub editior/writer at The Straits Times, and although he was raised in East London, he came to this small, no, actually, minute island represented by a single red dot on the world map. For some reason, Westerners tend to think that this tiny place without a capital (because it's too small to have one anyway) is in China. Sheesh, China is like how far away from Singapore? Okay, maybe their geography is just really bad.

Nevermind their geography skills (or the lack of it). I suppose this little small red dot does have its charms and quirks which I believe tend to manifest themselves even more so in the eyes of foreigners, such as Mr Humphreys.

The reason I find Mr Humphreys' writing so darned amusing is because what he writes about is so common in Singapore, yet locals like myself never seem to notice. I suppose familarity does breed understanding, and I also suppose that these things are considered norms and therefore no one actually takes notice.

An example, on the term ‘auntie’ and ‘uncle’:

Initially, the terminology itself was somewhat bewildering. I came to Singapore to stay with my good friend David, whom I had met at an English university. I was struck by the size of his family. I’d heard of an extended family and the government’s attempts to increase the population, but this was ridiculous. Toa Payoh, it seemed, was built in the 1960s with the sole purpose of housing David’s family. On my first morning in Singapore, one of David’s relatives served us some bee hoon in a coffee shop. In the same shop, his ‘uncle’ brought us some Chinese tea. Being the conservative Englishman, I didn’t want to say anything to my genial host, so I let it pass. But by the end of the day, David’s family seemed bigger and more influential than the American Kennedys. He had more living relatives than the Queen.

Of course I suppose Singaporeans would find this rather amusing, as ‘aunties’ and ‘uncles’ are relatively common terms used for addressing practically everyone.

According to me, one ‘officially’ becomes an ‘auntie’ or ‘uncle’ when your children enter primary One. This is when all their friends will start calling you that.

Meanwhile, something else which I found amusing would be the following. (At least I think it’s amusing. And I believe that anyone who has been to England for a period of time would understand.)

A Chinese uncle, on returning from a trip to England memorably asked me, “What do you people eat in England? It’s all chips and bloody sandwiches.”

I believe I’ve made some amount of a comment on English food in the entry Olympics 2010 which can be found here.

I also read the following somewhere before, but I can’t quite remember where. I suspect it was a hotel in Switzerland but perhaps not.

Anyway it went something like this:

The perfect European should:
Cook like the British
Drive like the French
Be as sober as the Irish
As generous as the Dutch
And have a German sense of humour.

Of course the above was all based on stereotypes (if you haven’t already realised, I’m informing you, you blur person).

Meanwhile on the topic of stereotypes, although they aren’t completely true, they are fantastically amusing. Oh yeah, if you happen to be of that particular nationality, or have an affinity with them, then please just take it as a joke and try not to be offended.

Have a look at this:

Top 10 reasons for being ENGLISH

1 Two World Wars and One World Cup
2 Warm beer
3 You get to confuse everyone with the rules of cricket
4 You get to accept defeat graciously in major sporting events
5 Union jack underpants
6 Water shortages guaranteed every single summer
7 You can live in the past and imagine you are still a world power
8 Bathing once a week - whether you need to or not
9 Ditto changing underwear
10 Beats being Welsh, Irish or Scottish

They forgot one thing I think. That in England, to be able to make money, you only need to know how to cook fish and chips. And you don’t even have to cook it well.

Top 10 reasons for being SCOTTISH

1 You ain't English!
2 You ain't English!
3 You ain't English!
4 You ain't English!
5 You ain't English!
6 You ain't English!
7 You ain't English!
8 You ain't English!
9 You ain't English!
10 You ain't English!

I love this.

Top 10 reasons for being IRISH

1 Guinness
2 18 children because you can't use contraceptives
3 You can get into a fight just by marching down someone's road
4 Pubs never close
5 Can use Papal edicts on contraception passed in second Vatican Council of 1968 to persuade your girlfriend that you can't have sex with a condom on
6 Call an English breakfast an Irish breakfast
7 Kill people you don't agree with
8 Stew
9 Calling Celtic music your music, even when the Scottish, English and welsh music all sound the same
10 Eating stew and drinking Guinness in an Irish pub at 3 in the morning after a bout of sectarian violence

Hmm, quite true. Just that they kinda forgot about the Irish who aren’t Catholics. After all that’s how they got into their conflict isn’t it?

More stereotypes just for the heck of it:

Top 10 reasons for being FRENCH

1 When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay
2 Experience the joy of winning the World Cup for the first time
3 You get to eat insect food like snails and frog's legs
4 If there's a war you can surrender really early
5 You don't have to read the subtitles on those late night films on Channel 4
6 You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people's countries
7 You can be ugly and still become a famous film star
8 Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street humiliating your sense of national pride
9 You don't have to bother with toilets, just shit in the street
10 People think you're a great lover even when you smell and you're not

Well, I don’t think a frog is an insect.. but then again, is a snail an insect?

Top 10 reasons for being BELGIAN

1 You get to speak three languages, but none of them intelligibly
2 If other countries want to fight a war, they will do it in your country
3 You can brew drinks out of fruit, and still call it beer
4 You are either
a) Like the Dutch, just less efficient
b) Like the French, just less romantic
c) Like the Germans, just less intelligent
5 Decent fries. Real mayonnaise. Great chocolate. The best beer.
6 No one knows anything about you, except for the Dutch and the French and they make fun of you
7 More scandals in a week than any other country in a decade
8 You can drive like a maniac on the road and nobody cares
10 Face it. It's not really a country, is it?

Top 10 reasons for being NORWEGIAN

1 You get to pay the highest taxes in the world
2 You can kill baby seals and eat Rudolf the Reindeer
3 You live in total freezing darkness half the year and get 24 hours ozone-hole radiation the other half
4 You can get capital punishment for smoking dope
5 You can go skiing in your knickers
6 You get to hate the Swedes and beat the Brazilians in football
7 You have to be a woman to get anywhere
8 You don't need to worry about land prices rocketing - its fairly spacious
9 When abroad you can impress people you meet with stories about killing polar bears and shagging penguins - and they believe you
10 You can actually get bored with blondes

Top 10 reasons for being ITALIAN

1 In-depth knowledge of bizarre pasta shapes
2 Unembarrassed to wear fur
3 No need to worry about tax returns
4 Glorious military history prior to 400BC
5 Can wear sunglasses inside
6 Political stability
7 Flexible working hours
8 Live near the Pope
9 Can spend hours braiding girlfriend's armpit hair
10 Country run by Sicilian murderers

Top 10 reasons for being SPANISH

1 Glorious history of killing South American tribes
2 The rest of Europe thinks Africa begins at the Pyrenees
3 You get your beaches invaded by Germans, Danes, Brits, etc
4 The rest of your country is already invaded by Moroccans
5 Everybody else makes crap paella and claims it's the real thing
6 Honesty
7 Only sure way of bedding a woman is to dress up in stupid, tight clothes and risk your life in front of bulls
8 You get to eat bull's testicles
9 You cry for Gibraltar
10 Supported Argentina in Falklands War

Top 10 reasons for being GREEK

1. You get to shout about your culture although the only real culture most Greeks have is what is growing between their toes.
2. The police is even more corrupt than the criminals they are supposed to be chasing.
3. You can blow your nose in the street by pinching it between the thumb and forefinger and trumpeting forth without everyone around retching their stomach contents up at the sight.
4. Old women can sport moustaches.
5. Young women can sport moustaches.
6. Men can be hairier than the average grizzly bear and not get put in a zoo.
7. You get to call the bouzouki a musical instrument when the rest of the world sees it as an instrument of torture.
8. You are the only nation to have lost its marbles and still wants to let everyone else around the world know about it.
9. Ridiculous bureaucracy.
10. Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos.

Ah, they forgot one more thing. Men can wear skirts and not be considered transsexuals. In fact they are considered positively manly. (Seriously, just look at Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom in Troy, they are proof that that still holds true.)

Top 10 reasons for being GERMAN

1 Oktoberfest
2 Oktoberfest-beer
3 BMW
4 Volkswagen
5 Audi
6 Mercedes
7 On a highway you can travel at a speed that would bring you to jail in any other country of the world
8 You do not have to learn German as a foreign language
9 You think Sauerkraut is delicious
10 Contrary to common belief laughing is not forbidden by law (yet)

Top 10 reasons for being WELSH

You've got to be having a laugh, haven't you?

Top 10 reasons for being AMERICAN

1 You can have a woman president without electing her.
2 You can spell colour wrong and get away with it.
3 You can call Budweiser beer.
4 You can be a crook/adulterer and still be president.
5 If you've got enough money you can get elected to do anything.
6 If you can breathe you can get a gun.
7 You can invent a new public holiday every year.
8 You can play golf in the most hideous clothes ever made and nobody seems to care.
9 You get to call everyone you've never met "buddy".
10 You can think you're the greatest nation on earth when you're not at all.

Top 10 reasons for being CANADIAN

1 It beats being an American.
2 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.
3 You can play hockey 12 months a year, outdoors.
4 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.
5 Where else can you travel 1000 miles over fresh water in a canoe?.
6 A political leader can admit to smoking pot and his/her popularity ratings will rise.
7 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.
8 Kill Grizzly bears with huge shotguns and cover your house in their skins.
9 Own-an-eskimo scheme.
10 Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.

Top 10 reasons for being AUSTRALIAN

1 Know your great-grand-dad was a murdering bastard that no civilised nation on earth wanted (ie: You get to live in what was Britain's largest "open prison". )
2 Fosters Lager.
3 Dispossess Aborigines who have lived in your country for 40,000 years because you think it belongs to you.
4 Annihilate England every time you play them at cricket.
5 Tact and sensitivity.
6 Bondi Beach.
7 Other beaches.
8 Liberated attitude to homosexuals.
9 Drinking cold lager on the beach.
10 Having a bit of a swim and then drink some cold lager on the beach.

Top 10 reasons for being a KIWI

1 Get to shag chics that resemble Jonah Lomu in a frock.
2 Beer.
3 Rugby.
4 See above.
5 See above.
6 See above.
7 See above.
8 See above.
9 See above.
10 Hate everyone else ......unless it's their round.

Top 11 reasons for being DUTCH

1 You can get arrested for growing plants, but not for smoking them
2 You can make jokes about the Belgians and still drink their beer
3 You can
a). legally kill yourself
b). legally be killed
c). have sex with a prostitute leagally
d). be a prostitute legally
5 You think you are a world power, but everyone else thinks Copenhagen is your capital.
6 You get to insult people and defend yourself by saying it's a national tradition
7 You can put your finger in a dyke and it will save your country
8 You live in the most densely populated country in Europe, and still you've never seen your neighbours
9 If the economy is bad, blame the Germans. If a war is started, blame the Germans. If you lose your keys, blame the Germans
10 You have automatic immunity from any law while riding a bicycle, including most laws of physics and logic.
11 You can go abroad and take the piss out of everyone else in Dutch and they won't understand you, except in Belgium where they're too stupid to understand you.

Well, I think I’ve deviated from my original topic. But does it matter?

Random picts

2005-07-24T18:42:00.000+08:00

Here are some random pictures which I randomly decided to post.

(above) My bejeweled high score from MSN games

(left) I don't quite know what I was doing, but this is the end result.

(left, from left) Me and Lyn at the coal mine in Lille, France. I'm not quite sure what Lyn is doing.

(below, from left) Courage and Hamley sitting on my pouch which was on top of my jacket which was on my lap in the bus passing the 1998 World Cup Stadium on the outskirts of Paris on the way to Paris city centre from Paris Airport. (Whew, that was one long sentence.)

Racial Harmony Day

2005-07-23T10:29:00.000+08:00

I think as Mrs Tan (not the principal) aptly put it just now, this isn't really Racial Harmony Day. It's slacker day. And quite right she is.

In RGS, Racial Harmony Day is a no-lesson day, whereby you generally have fun and eat lots of junk and take even more photos. I heard that someone took 100 plus shots today.

We were actually supposed to wear ethnic costumes to school today. Seriously, how many people actually did it? Most people either:

1. Didn't care at all

2. Wore school uniform

3. Wore normal street clothes

4. Wore normal clothes and gave a sad excuse of a shawl for it to pass of as ethnic

5. Came up with something really weird

I believe that pretty much defeats the purpose. But then again, I myself do not wish to do anything so I guess things are okay as they are right now.

We were supposed to complete some activities and I finished them all before recess even finished. And so I walked (aimlessly) around school, and now have decided to reside in the classroom until further notice. The temperature out there is real high. I want it to rain so bad. The classroom aircon isn't working, as usual, but at least it's better than outside. I'll be going out after school so I might post another entry later.

-Okay, what really happened is that I reached home and made an attempt at posting a picture up but again blogger doesn't want to let me so I gave up. Meanwhile I opened this entry to edit a spelling mistake and decided to just continue updating here.-

After school ended I actually was supposed to go out with Avonne, Sara and some other person from some other class. Her name's Hannah if I'm not wrong. On the (very) crowded bus, I met Lyn, XM and Hamsie. So I decided to go with them instead, because I heard that Hamsie was going to erm, buy, eyelash curlers. I thought that the events regarding that purchase might be rather amusing, and besides, I was hungry and they were going to eat first, whereas Avon, Sara and company weren't. So I went with Hamsie and company instead.

Actually right now I could go on and on about what happens when people board the buses, but I think I'll save it for later. Continuity. That's supposed to be important.

At Plaza Singapura, XM, Hamsie, Lyn and me met Hamsie's mum and her aunt and Hamsie's little cousin who proudly told me that she's going to be 6 soon. Her definition of soon is December.

We ate lunch at Mos Burger and I became under pressure to perform a trick for Hamsie's little cousin. Well, obviously no one said anything, but I could like feel it so I decided to do one, just one and end the matter there.

For general info, I did the disappearing deck, with the deck reappearing in my back pocket.

Good enough. She's too young to understand (relatively) complicated card tricks anyway I think.

After lunch we went to buy the eyelash curler. I felt totally out of place at the shop, and everyone who knows me offline will realise why. That sort of shop is absolutely not my type of place. Anyway I spent most of my time in there smsing.

Then I went off to meet Clement and ZL and WY at the MRT.

On the subject of the MRT, I could again go on about the second round of the London Blasts which I read on the headlines this morning, but again, that has to be saved for later, for pretty much the same reasons.

We went to the arcade.

Being deprived of such fun when I was younger, I have never been inside an arcade. I've only watched from the outside. Therefore I do not know how anything in there works at all. And I just watched them do stuff. There was a drum thing, and there was one boy who was just so freaking good at it. He seemed to be able to comprehend 5 different columns saying 5 different things at the same time, and hit all the right places at the perfect times! For first-time arcade go-ers like me, that is just totally impossible. And there was also this guy on the dance machine, and he was so damn fast. Sheesh.

On ZL's request, we took a neoprint. Then we smartly chose the fast option, and the stupid thing took a picture every 2 seconds. So we ended up with relatively crap pictures. And then we did stupid things to the pictures when we were editing them, and there was one which turned out with flowers everywhere! And the pictures were so pink. Because the backdrop was pink.

If you had to know, I hardly ever take neoprints. So it was an event worth mentioning.

We had the usual problems with who takes what and what size etc. outside the arcade, and we were about to turn into an illegal gathering (but then Clement said that illegal gatherings must have at least 5 people). When cards come out people tend to think we're gambling or something. Their imaginations are just not very stretched and therefore they tend to think like that. But seriously, if we wanted to gamble, we wouldn't do it in such an obvious location like directly outside the arcade.

ZL had to go and WY said that she would only go to Chinatown with me and Clement if ZL came along. So that means she didn't go either.

At Chinatown, the shop was closed. Again. Everytime we go there it's closed. We hung around the other shop where there are lots of decks on display, and surprisingly the guy somewhat remembered us. We were looking at decks and Aragorn figurines when we suddenly spotted a 3 volume VCD. The contents of the VCD is rather interesting, and I never expected it to be there. Neither did Clement, I suppose. I bought that thing after that. In case the next time I went back there was no more. There were only 2 copies.

We went over to the other side and saw this shop dealing in corporate gifts, and struck gold on an idea which has to do with HoM. I think I had better develop the idea further before saying anymore.

I took bus back from Chinatown and fell asleep to the voice of Jean-Baptiste Maunier. I'm not saying that his voice is boring, it's just that I'm sleepy and he happened to be the track that I was playing at that time.

I got home and I switched on the computer and typed out this entry.

HINT

2005-07-22T06:59:00.000+08:00

Hmm. Recently certain people have been bugging me to update. So here goes. Meanwhile I shall glance sideways at certain people.

Okay. The purpose of the above title is obvious. A hint.

What is going to happen in 9 days' time?

What? You don't know? (or as the random auntie along the street will say, 'how can?!?!!')

Anyway to enlighten all those blur souls out there, it's my birthday.

Yeah I know it isn't very important or anything, but hey, a little (shamless) self-promotion on this site won't hurt right?

So just take it as a hint. BIG hint. To quote a certain English worksheet: hint hint nudge nudge wink wink (as if that made any sense).

Ok I shall talk about something more interesting now.

Today the sun didn't rise properly. I think it's because there were too many clouds. So even at 6.45 the sky was still rather dark. And it was quite unspectacular. A bit of a disappointment.

I don't know why, but I've been watching sunrises from the back of the bus window ever since Term 3 started. It's real nice. Sunsets on the other hand, are something I usually miss, because I'm usually more interested in the computer when they occur. Besides, the sun rises in the east, and I live around that area, so the sunrise is nicer than the sunset.

I wanted to put a picture here but the thing doesn't want to let me. I don't know what's wrong. So nevermind. Too lazy to find out.

I had lunch with Neeti at BK today after school. Since we're following Friday's timetable today, school ended relatively early. And I realised that we have no PE the entire week. Yes, I know I'm a bit slow and blur, but I really didn't expect it.

Tomorrow there is Racial Harmony Day celebrations, and I hope the sun doesn't come out. In fact I want it to rain. RAIN!!

Sorry I feel positively hyper, and I think it has to do with the song playing now. As Neeti put it just now, it has something to do with the after-exam feeling, and although we only took one test today it still feels like after-exams because tomorrow we don't have lessons. Just that I have HCL mock exam on 6 August. And I haven't started studying. I am in trouble.

I have a feeling that you all are sick of me by now. Well, sorry..

Potter Mania (again)

2005-07-19T09:45:00.000+08:00

Yes, the case of the Potter Fever has hit Singapore shores yet again.

For those people who don't already know, I have never read a single Harry Potter book, and do not intend to do so, ever. There is one exception to that though, which is if the school decides to make Harry Potter a Literature book, then in that case it's another matter. But I think the chances of that happening is positively low, (or should that be negatively low), and therefore I do not have much to worry about.

But I do know all the spoilers to the new book. I don't quite understand them, but I can shoot them at you anyway if I want to.

People queued up for how long to get the book? People even booked hotel rooms just to be nearer to getting the book. I have seriously better things to do with the money. How about helping Cancer patients? (I would usually have said kidney patients but in the light of the recent events.. nevermind.) Even buying a Livestrong band at an exorbitant price is better than spending 50 dollars on a book. We all know that the price is going to come down. Just look at Order of the Phoenix. The price when the book was first launched was close to 50 bucks too. Just that now, it's going for a mere $7.95!

So, the moral of the story is, either you wait patiently for the price of the book to go down, or you stalk the library in the hope of getting your hands on a copy (warning: this method wastes a considerable amount of time, and might also get physical), or maybe you could join the mile-long waiting list for the book your friend has, or perhaps download it off the internet, or even better, simply not read it in the first place.

If you had to know, I do not regret not reading the book at all. I always have the spoilers, and not to mention, several (crazy) friends who will willingly summarize the entire thing into 2 minutes. In the end I always end up knowing the story, but I still haven't quite figured out the details, but I'm not interested anyway.

Someone who is a hardcore Harry Potter fan, care to enlighten me on the attractive force of this fictional character some British author dreamt up?

Actually to tell the truth, if there had been way less hype about Harry Potter and all, I might actually have picked up a random copy and randomly read it. But with the current situation, I doubt that will happen.

Open House

2005-07-18T06:45:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was open house at school, and well, it was interesting (to a certain extent).

Basically I somehow dragged myself to school at 8am and I did shifts for almost seven hours straight.

Then I went through this huge traffic jam and got myself to tuition, after which I came home and went out faster than a light. Got woken up to go and eat dinner, and I practically stoned my way through it and then came back, and went to sleep. So it was a relatively sad day.

But during open house, I got to see scores of P6ers and I started thinking 'they are so immature!' which is kind of not the right thing to think, considering the fact that I myself was an immature, short little P6er not too long ago.

Ada was with me for the first shift, and I must commend her on a good job. As for me, I got quite bored of performing after 3 hours or so. Ada knows why. And then second shift I was alone. That was quite sad. And sometime through third shift Wen Yi decided to turn up. And I decided it was time for lunch. Soon after that Ling smsed that she was here, so I went to find her, and I was surprised when Justin was with her. But I suppose someone else was even more surprised.

Anyway besides Ada, there was also Wenyu and Jessica. However I did not really get to see them performing so I can't really comment on that.

Oh, and the maths video.. I just have to note that the editing was kinda bad.

More comments on the P6ers:

1. They were generally... shy. But then again, this huge school with lots of people.. maybe they were shy for a good reason?

2. There was no one from my primary school. But then again, that was not unexpected, because my primary school is super cheena, and most students choose to go to Dunman High despite being able to go to RGS or RI. Also, those that don't go to Dunman High go to Chinese High, uh, I meant, Hwa Chong Insitution, and also Anglican High.

3. There was a large proportion of hecklers. For whoever who doesn't understand what I just said, well, don't try to. But for those who understand, seriously, there was. Which is kind of bad. And some of them randomly started revealing stuff. WY and ZL take note: those hecklers which weren't P6ers were mostly from your SMASH programme. Thankfully they didn't know DLs though.

4. They kind of didn't realise that there was stuff on the second floor! Most of them seemed to be stuck downstairs..

5. They kept thinking that HoM was a CCA.

6. They were short.

...seriously.

Bio Class

2005-07-16T03:22:00.000+08:00

It's bio class now and I am obviously not doing anything.

Today's sunrise was nice. It was blue! But yesterday's one was orange and pink. But I think today's sky is nicer, because it was a colour I like, blue.

I was considering between being loyal to this online crapping post or the offline, outdated and old fashioned diary. The online version is fun and you can do things like update it in school, but then it can also be hacked into easily and erm, certain teachers are able to read it.

Whereas offline noone is ever able to read it :)

Neeti says that she loves reading her own diary. She's still thinking about someone.

Don't worry, Neeti, cos I'm thinking about someone else too. Just that you don't know who so nevermind. And please think properly and take into consideration the fact that the person who is writing this is ME and therefore you should understand my taste. NEETI IS THINKING WRONG AGAIN...

Ok that doesn't make sense unless you're watching me typing this now..

I saw my primary school autograph book, and it's super childish. So I'm embarrassed. Because it was so totally unrealistic, and everything about friends forever and whatnot is certainly not true. I know that because the only person from my primary school (who didnt even write in my book) whom I keep in contact with is Lynette. And she was never even in my class. We only saw each other once a week doing stupid things like randomly dancing around the erm, foyer in the new block. I mean, the real new block.

Tell me to stop thinking about this sort of thing now.

Neeti and Nivi are talking about Primary school toilets now for some reason, and I'd like to add that in primary school the favourite pastime was getting loads of toilet paper, and then wetting it with water and then throwing them on the ceiling. The boys did it in the girl's toilet.

[Neeti: NOOO. These things never happened in my school! As in, the boys did it in the boys' toilets. Sheesh. Obviously, your school was weirder. xP]

One more thing to add, that the boys also had a habit of going into a cubicle, locking the door and then climbing out with the door still locked. So the entire toilet had locked cubicles with nobody inside.

[Nivi. How immature was that... And the best part they used to blame it on pontianak (ignore the wrong spelling) gee sooo scary... haha]

Yeah, and in case any little innocent kids are reading this (ie, you're not a teenager yet) please don't go and follow all the stuff written here because I'm definately not responsible if your parents have to see the principal or something.

Hmmmmmm

2005-07-12T11:24:00.000+08:00

Well, I was lying on the bed eating ice cream, (yes, I seriously was doing that..) and at the same time while staring at the fan go round and round I was thinking about the travel and adventure programme I had just seen on Discovery Channel.

Anyway, if you had to know, I wasn't lying on my bed. I was lying on my parent's bed. That's because it's king sized, and it provides ample room for me to stretch out without the unpleasant experience of hitting the edge of the bed and creating more blue-blacks for myself.

My parent's room has a ceiling not unlike that of a Swiss chalet. Why it looks like that I'm afraid I can't explain. I know this seems like complete randomness on my part, but believe me, it makes sense.

The programme on Discovery was one of those Globe Trekker things, to San Francisco this time. I've been to San Francisco before. Just that somehow I don't remember it as it was in the programme. The programme showed the true vibrancy and character of the city, whereas when I went there it really didn't seem like much. I suppose that was because I was younger then, and I may not have understood stuff.

Then again, I don't remember doing much there except having the wind cut across my face like a knife (literaly) while I was on the deck of a speed boat rushing around in the San Francisco Bay in the deep of winter.

Why I was stupid enough to stay on the deck when I could have sought refuge somewhere else is beyond me. But I did stay on the deck. That I know because I got really really cold. Basically, I've been to a lot of places, but I don't think I've really experienced them. Now I want to go back, and experience what I've missed out.

The relation to the Swiss chalet has to do with my trip to Switzerland in December 2003. That was a long time ago, in my terms, because 2 years of my life is like 1/8th of it. Switzerland was a really cool place (pun intended).

Me being the sad deprived person I was (I know you all are thinking "yeah right") had never seen snow before. By that I mean, real snow, not the sad excuse of ice they pass off as snow to innocent young kids and not-so-innocent parents who pay a bomb just to go in there and play with ice shavings.

Seriously, even the ice kachang ice is more fun than that. And the ice kachang ice has colour. And it tastes nice. And also it smells better. Maybe it's just me, because how many people have had the experience of actually taking a walk inside the penguin enclosure in the Bird Park? I did, when I was in primary school. It was part of some holiday programme. To put it simply, the penguin enclosure stanked. It was absolutely not cold, and the 'ice' was like, styrofoam. It was a great disappointment.

So, Snow City, smells like a watered-down version of a penguin enclosure, has the same sad excuses of 'ice', aka, styrofoam, and has like this mountain of... ice shavings! Even the temperature cannot be trusted. Because I say that I can survive in there for like 2 hours wearing jeans and T shirt, and the temperature chart says minus 7 degrees.

Maybe the temperature is real, but they forgot a seriously important factor. The wind factor. Have you ever been to a mountain or something which can faintly pass off as a mountain (or a hill) and there is absolutely no wind?

In all, I miss those places. And I desperately want to go back to experience what I didn't get a chance to experience, or maybe I did, but I kind of don't remember. The trip to France gave me a great introduction to that country. And I do want to go back again. England, however, was more of a disappointment to me, possibly because I've been there more than once before, and somehow it just doesn't feel so nice.

But I do want to go to Ironbridge again. I want to go to the Victorian Town at Blists Hill. I don't care if the admission charge is 10 pounds. I'm going.

Western influx

2005-07-11T04:13:00.000+08:00

Have you noticed that there has been a rather large influx of westerners in Singapore in the past week or so?

I suspect that it has something to do with the IOC thing and also because of the fact that it's the summer holidays over there in all those western countries.

But if I were them, I seriously wouldn't come to a small island one miserable degree above the equator in summer. Because over there in my homeland it's already hot enough at 20something degrees, and over here in Singapore, it's 30something everyday, day and night.

Maybe they don't appreciate nice cool weather.

Point is that I've been noticing them at food courts in particular, and I must say that they do not understand the typically Singapore dynamics of table stalking and the likes. Yesterday I was at the Parkway foodcourt carrying out the table stalking exercise. Yes, I did it again.. I'm guilty myself.

There was a bunch of nice people there who offered us their seat and even tried to finish up their food faster so that we could have their seat. Well, I don't know their names but thank you whoever you are, if you ever read this.

Meanwhile while the table stalking was being carried out, there was a certain lady with an American accent who came and asked me what was the most famous Malay dish. I thought for a while, simultaneously staring at the mee goreng and nasi goreng stalls for inspiration. I finally concluded with nasi lemak. She seemed pleased enough so I left it as that. After I got my seat, I went to buy yong tau foo.

I realised that anyone not acquainted with Singaporean habits would not find it easy to buy food in a food court or hawker centre, especially at the so called rush hour.

Ah wells, the perils and advantages of living in a multi-cultural, multi-racial city, whereby everyone lives harmoniously together and we have such a rojak of cultures and customs, not to mention food, that we become Uniquely Singapore.

Sheesh. That just sounded like a propaganda advertisment from the Singapore Tourism Board or something. But then again, I suppose there is a certain amount of truth in it.

Wasted youth?

2005-07-09T14:44:00.000+08:00

Youth is wasted on the young
Before you know it's come and gone
Too soon
- Robbie Williams in Eternity

I know I'm 15. I have 22 days left to my 16th birthday. Anyway, take that as a hint. BIG hint.

But the point here is that I think the quote above makes a lot of sense. Although I somewhat get the idea that I'm the youth and I shouldn't be thinking like that, I don't really feel that way.

I feel old. And I mean it. If me feels old, and me can't even watch an NC-16 movie, I really wonder what I'll think when I'm 30 or 40.

Putting my age aside, I totally agree with the quote. You don't ever treasure something until you lose it. And youth is supposedly the best time of your life, although I've probably lived too short a life to pass a judgement on that. I really don't want to grow up.

If I could freeze time I'd freeze it just after I turned 15 last year. That would be perfect, because last year we had the nice teachers, and we had a nice time, and we didn't have to worry about O level Chinese. I didn't appreciate it last year, but I do now. Just that it's too late.

Guess you never really know just what you've got
Till you finally realise it could be gone
- Jesse McCartney in That Was Then.

Sigh.

There are lots and lots of things that I want to do right now. Just that I can't do them for practial reasons. Time flies. It doesn't seem too long ago when I was in P1, just that P1 was a good 10 years ago. Before I realise it, everything here would have come and gone, too soon indeed.

Why is it that good things are ephemeral? And everything else just kind of comes along. I suppose we do live for the good times, and take the rest of the time as a side effect.

If I had lived maybe 30 years ago, I suppose things then would have been different. Because they didn't put such a big emphasis on grades, and everyone was pretty much happy-go-lucky.

Right now, we are spending our time doing performance tasks and CCAs and the likes, the of course while there are those outstanding people who are able to do everything and at the same time get top marks like GPA 3.9something, the rest of us mere mortals are unable to achieve that. And the thing is some of those people actually have a life.

I don't think anything will change just yet. So meanwhile I suppose I'll just have to try to realise what could be gone and to try and hold on before it goes.

-the above was actually written 2 days ago in school, but I didn't get round to putting it up-

Trouble in London

2005-07-08T09:49:00.000+08:00

I just watched the news just now, and there have been explosions on the London Underground System, the Tube. There were also 3 buses which blew up, all within a little more than an hour. I suppose that means the attacks were pretty much coordinated, it takes a hell lot of conincidence for all that to happen at around the same time.

Tony Blair will be issuing a statement regarding this matter in 10 minutes time, so I'll go catch it.

Anyway, I was thinking what would happen if this had happened before the trip, or even worse, during the trip. It would be absolutely disastrous. Thank goodness we're all back safely right now. I'll update this later.

-update an entire day later-

It occured to me that in primary school we were supposed to go to Beijing, but then there was September 11, so we couldn't go and everyone pulled out. To think that we were there at Edgeware (or around there at least), and that was a month ago. Oh wait, an entire month has passed since I went. That sucks.

I don't know what to say already.

Olympics 2012

2005-07-07T12:34:00.000+08:00

Ah yes. The Olympic bids. The thing which has been keeping me away from Raffles City and it's surroundings. The thing which has caused the Singapore police force to come up with great big concrete blocks painted neon yellow and black. It's a really bad combination, in my opinion, but hey, it catches the eye. Even if it's because the colour combination is just that bad.

For those people who haven't realised it yet, London won the bid. It was really a fight between Paris and London, and although I believe a lot of people thought that Paris should have won, I think that I'm glad London won instead of Paris.

The reason behind that thinking is that Paris is a really beautiful and quaint city, with all the old-world charms. The architecture is definately not what you would considered modern, and the entire city is made up of styles from roughly the same period. Of course there are exceptions, but so few that it hardly makes a difference. The atmosphere just isn't quite modern, it's stuck somewhere in the past, and that makes it special, almost magical.

Wherever the Olympic games are held, the city has to undergo transformation for the games, and I don't ever want Paris to change. It's perfect as it is right now, and had they won the bid, I would really be sad for the part of Paris which just had to go to make way for the Olympics. It sounds a little selfish, I know, it's just that I really don't want Paris to be 'spoilt'.

London on the other hand, already has the elements of a city which has undergone transformation, or what I would like to call the 'architectural revolution'. As a result, although I still believe that some part of London would be spoilt, the damage done would not be as great as the damage done to Paris.

And besides, I just have the feeling that if the atheletes were to go to Paris, they would guzzle and stuff themselves silly and end up not being able to run/swim/whatever properly. Whereas in London... there's really nothing much to eat is there?

I know I'm going to be criticized upside down. I can feel it coming.. right around the corner at me.

Car Stalking.

2005-07-03T05:30:00.000+08:00

If you haven't read my previous post on table stalking, I strongly advice you to go and read it now. It can be found here. You really should read it right now before continuing reading.

Anyway, yesterday I was at Suntec carpark after watching The War of the Worlds. More on the movie later, because I do have to get to the point on 'car stalking'.

Car stalking. It is very simliar to table stalking, just that it takes place in a carpark, and involves cars (what else). It only happens when there is a severe shortage of car park lots, or it could also be caused by simply kiasu Singaporean drivers.

It happens like this:

Person who has parked his/her car in carpark comes out of building, and goes into carpark.

Almost immediately, a car which has been hovering around the building exit area goes into full red alert.

I bet the car driver at that point is thinking something along the lines of this: "Target located. Closing in at the speed of x km/h. Target headed towards the red zone of the carpark, carrying shopping bags and children."

Yes. Shopping bags and children are extremely important factors in this delicate operation.

You see, if the target is carrying shopping bags, and chances of the target being ready to leave the carpark is 50-50. This is because the target could be putting everything into the car ready to leave, or, simply putting the shopping bags in the car because he/she/family members/gf/bf/whoever bought too many things, and the number of shopping bags has started to become a hinderance towards the intended shopping spree.

As for the target being with children, the chances of the target leaving is higher, with a 75% chance that the target is leaving and 25% that the target isn't. This can be explained because (usually) people don't bring their children to the carpark just to get something from the car and then go back. They probably would leave their children in the shopping mall, because children, being the noisy, pestering creatures they are, will probably kick up a big fuss if brought all the way from xxx location to the carpark and then back to xxx location. Their brains are just unable to comprehend why that item from the car is important enough to warrant a trip back to the car. And they seem to think this way whether a not the item is for them or otherwise.

As for the target carrying shopping bags and at the same time with children in tow, the chances of the target leaving is very high. Just about 99%. The reasons are the same as explained above. The 1% chance of the target not leaving even though he/she is carrying both shopping bags and children, is to take into consideration the several weirdos who just have to do that and not leave. In general, these weirdos who do that and still not leave, are prone to receiving several glares from drivers who have just car stalked them to their parking lots.

So, in conclusion of this matter, the best way out of these sticky carpark situations is to simply take public transport. After all, with COE prices hitting the roof, and all that trouble with driving tests and theory tests to pass (with flying colours), why bother, and then land yourself in this sort of situation?

-I came up with 'car stalking' because I noticed several drivers carrying out this operation yesterday as I walked to the car at the Suntec carpark, after watching The War of the Worlds.-

As for the movie, it was well, relatively nice. Because while the storyline was obvious (to me at least), the special effects really really rocked. And the director did manage to create a nice sense of suspense with certain scenes involving the aliens.

I don't really have much to say about the movie, and anyway I don't think I should say it. That is the job of the Straits Times' critics, not mine. Leave it to them to do it, why should I help?

Today today today.

2005-07-02T07:20:00.000+08:00

Today is Friday.

It's the last day of the first week of school, and that means we have just 9 more weeks to go.

Yesterday was Yinx's birthday, and as I forgot to wish her Happy Birthday on my blog yesterday I shall do so today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YINX!!!!!!!!!!

Ya.

Yesterday after school I went to Suntec to buy movie tickets (or rather, redeem my free tickets.. hehehehehehehehehe). Bought for tonight's War of the Worlds at 7.10pm. You can come watch too, if you buy your own tickets, (for a freaking $9.50).

Neeti just stuck her tongue out at me. She did it again. My tongue is too short to stick back out at her but I shall do it anyway.

When I finally at long last got home yesterday, I was greeted by a great pool of water. The water was leaking from the ceiling. I thought it was a roof leek, but then my dad said that it was probably the water tank in the roof which was leaking. He turned out to be right when the plumber came.

The stupid water tank is like 30 years old or something. It was installed by the previous owner of the house, and since my dad bought the house when I was born that must have been a good...... at least 16 years ago. So I guess it's normal for an old tank to start behaving weird. Anyway there's going to be a new tank installed up there, but meanwhile me and my bro can't use the toilet. And the shower. And the sink.

Anyway, up to the last paragraph was written in school on the class com.

Now I'm home and I just showered because the Singapore weather is just real real real hot.

Geog people, please tell me that it's possible for tectonic plate movements to move Singapore to approximately around the arctic circle. That would be rather nice. But if the arctic circle is too far, then I guess I'll settle for somewhere around north China. Yeah, that would at least make it bearable.

I had lunch with Juliet, Nivi, Neeti and Crunch, at BK. They were selling star potatoes for 20 cents. That is real cheap. You can't even get that amount of stuff in school for 20 cents. So it was wonderful. Just that there was one small catch. Their food is practically swimming (or rather, drowning) in oil. Eeeeeeek.

I abandoned the rest of them to take the bus home instead, because the bus is a much nicer place to sleep, and the aircon rocks more, and also you are pretty much guarunteed a seat. And besides, if I were to take the MRT, I would still have to take another bus and then walk even longer than if I get off at the other bus stop. Yes, complicated. Don't try to understand.

In school today Mrs Tan didn't come. She was sick, and that is relatively.... especially since I need to film for class video! The only 2 people who haven't got any air time are Mrs Tan and Mr Redmund. Mr Redmund wouldn't let us film him, so I filmed his pencil box instead. As for Mrs Tan.. I guess her fern would have to do. Or maybe a picture or something.

My little collection of photos is set to grow bigger as I have intentions to put my printer to work again. I regret not taking photos at a higher resolution in Switzerland, because now the photos from there are kinda blured. I don't like that, I love sharp, defined images. But I guess it would have to do. At least for now..

Just another day

2005-06-29T12:10:00.000+08:00

Geez. Why must they arrange our timetable in such a way whereby it is the most efficient in inducing sleep? Today Maths was... normal. Which means I somewhat understood what Mrs Chew said, but then again, I've heard the lesson before. Then PE, which should have been fun but wasn't, because it's putting. I like making full swings. With preferably the iron, but wood's relatively okay too. And then recess, during which I ate 'renhui-ish food', in the words of Juliet.

For the record, I had milo shake (I told you I liked that thing), egg sandwich, and cookie!! I would also like to say while those are my favourite food in the canteen and it's what I eat like half the time, I ate it today because I couldn't find anything else to that I wanted to eat (as usual... shh.. don't tell anyone).

After recess there was Chem, which is definately sleep-inducing. However, I have decided that I will allow myself some rest during Chem, provided I do my Chem properly at home. If I do, then it'll be okay. During History I woke up. And listened. We did stuff about child labour today. (See?? I did hear it..) And then there was Lit, whereby I couldn't have fallen asleep. Mrs Tan was sitting on my table (Mr Chia's influence).

I think that while it is rather interesting that The Handmaid's Tale draws so many parallels with actual historic events in the world, I still feel that it is a book which is not really something I would read or study if given a choice. It's generally just not my type of book. Surprisingly enough, I badly wanted to study Shakespeare this year, but then they didn't include any of his works. If anyone said that they prefered Shakespeare over other writers in Sec 1, I would have laughed. But I'm not laughing now, because that's the truth.

After school had lunch at Subway (again), this time with Juliet, Lou (or.. loo..) and Jie Ying. We talked about random stuff and everything under the sun, including:

a. the length a girl's skirt must be in order for stuff to be seen or exposed while she walks past Subway. For those who don't know, Subway at Far East is below ground level, an there is a sheet of glass running from groud level up about 1.5 metres. As a result of this particular construction quirk, unsuspecting girls who are wearing short skirts and who walk too close to the glass are inclined to exposing themselves to Subway customers. Actually, KFC and BK have this problem too, just that we eat at Subway more often so we know Subway better.

b. the behaviour of ang mohs in Europe, largely based on my experiences in France and England as a result of the Hist Lit trip. You really really do not need to know the details.

c. other random crap, and knowing us, conversation topics can centre around whether the Subway bread is burnt a not. Yes, it is actually possible, in fact, it did happen.

Went back to school for CCA, and Ms Tong told me that we were going to do candle making today. It was rather irritating when I discovered that, no, we were going to draw on wooden spoons/forks/whatever and help the Sec 3s fulfill their orders. I went to the back and searched up my long-lost sculpture thingy which broke, and decided to respray it and bring it home.

Then I came upstairs, updated my new blog (I'll tell you when it's finished), and stared down the pile of differentiation worksheets on my table. They're still there, and they have this rather, repulsive air about them. For the life of me, I really just can't figure out why.

First day of Term 3

2005-06-28T12:44:00.000+08:00

Today.. there was a red sky in the morning. Yes. A really nice red sky which Yinx was going crazy about. Although it did look rather nice from our forth floor lookout post (aka the corridor outside the classroom), I have to admit that it looked nicer from the back window of the school bus (or van, rather). The sky was a darker shade of blue and it was just a tinge lighter than navy blue, and the red streaks stood out so nicely against the dark backdrop. I really should stop this thing about the sky because it's going to become an English descriptive essay soon, and I don't think I need to be reminded about the English PT in school today.

As you can probably infer from the above sentence, we had English PT on the very first day back in school. We had it on the second block, before recess! Now, that's a real disaster, because our brains weren't really working just yet. All the gears were rusting and we needed some food to like lubricate it so that at least it would run relatively smoothly. Actually, I think I left my brain in London or Paris or somewhere over there.

Then recess, and I drank my milo shake again. I love milo shake. And then there was the dreaded PHILO. Damn. I just had to have this surname which starts with 'Y', and therefore permantly banishing me to the second half of the class, without hope of respite. And it just happens all the time. They should really start thinking about putting things from back to front just for a change in feng shui. Anyway philo was, more boring than a free block.

Chinese teacher didn't come because she's apparently down with dengue fever, and she set us this nice and hard worksheet which we didn't know how to do (evidently). If we did anyway, that would have been amazing. The relief teacher, stood like a statue at the front of the class for like 10 minutes in the beginning of the lesson, without moving, and the class was quieter than a mouse (mice do make noise you know). I was just beginning to think she was going to stand there for the next 1 hour when she decided to announce her departure. So just as well, because after she was out, we started complaining and asking each other how to write this and that.

SS was as usual, and after class Mr Azahar was wearing a tie. Which is an unusal sight which was the cause of many comments from students as he walked along the corridor towards the CLC where there were some visitors from Malaysia.

Went out for lunch with Neeti, Lyn and Nivi. We ate at Subway (where else, espcially after one entire month of withdrawl). While waiting for the bus at the bus stop opposite school, Lyn, Nivi and I conspired to buy this super-sweet, calorie-filled, instant-diabetes-causing thing known as fried mars chocolate bars with chocolate ice cream and genuine hersheys chocolate hot fudge sauce.

As you can infer from the rather long title (of course it was made up), it contains extraordinary amounts of chocolate, sugar, and in general, sweet stuff. Neeti isn't exactly the world's greatest fan of sweet stuff, and getting her to eat that should have been a tinge more difficult than it really was.

Anyway she ate half of it (only) and Lyn and Nivi finished up the rest of the fried mars bars, and Lyn made the remainder of the ice cream into, erm, melted ice cream.

During the course of lunch at Subway, Lyn somehow came to the conclusion that Neeti was pregnant, which is untrue (of course), unless you think she is that....... yeah. I'll leave it to you to decide. The conversation proceeded to rather amusing heights, with new scandals about Neeti and Mr G, Neeti and Mr Chandra, Neeti and Jackass, Neeti and..... a certain guy who shall not be named (no, he's not voldemort).

Yes. In Mr Chia's classically classic words, it was amusingly.. amusing.

And then life got back to it's boring, monotonous mode again..

Table Stalking.

2005-06-27T09:09:00.000+08:00

Yes. Table stalking. It's a new phrase which I think suits this particular phenomenon you see in food courts and hawker centres island-wide.

It goes like this:

Person in need of table hangs around another table which has empty plates and bowls, or look like they are almost finishing.

Person in need of table makes himself or herself as conspicuous to the people at the table as possible, hinting 'faster get outta here man.. I want the seat!' People seated at table could possibly do the following:

a. ignore

b. get the hint and leave

c. take even longer on purpose, and buy desserts, additional drinks.. snacks.. etc.

So, anyway, after the table stalker has finally managed to secure the table, he/she sits down, or does the following:

Puts a packet of tissue paper or some other inexpensive item on the table/seat, and then proceeds to walk off to queue for food. Seriously, have you ever seen anyone put their handphone/wallet/watch/other expensive item on the table or chair to 'chope' the seat?

I don't want to be biased here, but the person who does the above is usually a female. Please don't ask why.

Anyway, after the 'rightful sitter' of the table returns, he/she will then proceed to eat his/her meal (usually) slowly, ignoring the next generation of table stalkers hanging around..

-This was observed at a hawker centre in Bishan yesterday-

To another topic. A more depressing, but nonetheless it's something a lot of (mostly young, but some older.. like.. teachers) people will have to experience in just about 12 hours' time.

Tomorrow morning at around 6am, there will be the sudden, desperate ringing of alarm clocks, either analog, digital, or more likely, the alarm clock will take the shape of the handphone. I know that because I read the Straits Times today, and also because I do it myself. (hey, I can't help it if my 'real' alarm clock just has to stop working in the middle of the night.. and it can't even be charged!)

Following the massive, widespread awakening of everyone, a half-asleep trip to the bathroom is made, where some daily essential occurrences take place. At around 7plus, the schools, which have been nice, quiet places for the past month, suddenly become noisy ones.

And this cycle of things repeats itself over and over and over and over (I think you get the point) again.

I don't really feel like doing what I'm supposed to be doing, which explains this post.

back

2005-06-23T12:50:00.000+08:00

Yes. I'm back. For the next 10 weeks. ARGH.

I don't want to be here in PT land. Europe rocks. Bangkok doesn't rock as much, but hey, I'd rather be there than here.

All my PTs are so dead. And everything sucks.

Tomorrow I shall go for maths.

Btw, picts from the Hist Lit Trip are up at http://rh.gfoto.com. It is not the school official thingy. It's my own. Therefore it contains mostly crap. Yeah. If you really need to see the school one, it's at http://rgs.gfoto.com. That's right.

Comment.

Back.. for now at least.

2005-06-18T21:31:00.000+08:00

Ok, I'm back, for now at least.

I'll blog about the hist lit trip when I get back from Bangkok. I'm leaving tomorrow morning. Heh.

I am so gonna melt totally into a pool of zup.

Oh, and wish me luck with hw man..

hi from oxford

2005-06-13T15:32:00.000+08:00

yeah i'm in oxford now.

and anyway the keyboard here rocks a bit more than the last time, just that it still doesnt rock that much.

anyway we're leaving oxford today.. after spending like less than 24 hours here. its damn sad lah..

ok, the internet is as ex as usual, and its SLOW. yuck.

i dont know what to say liao.

oh, i want to eat yong tao foo.

hi from paris

2005-06-08T14:09:00.000+08:00

i'm lazy to use capital letters because the keyboard sucks. lyn says so kill me. so hamsie kills her.

lyn says hi. so does hamsie.

ok ok enough from you two.. use the internet later!!

paris last night was fun, and the two people next to me so smartly didnt go up the eiffel tower. it was not that cold ok.. hamsie didnt even bother going cos she was sleepy. hrumph.

ok, internet down to 3 minutes. oh did i mention that the toilet rocks totally? it has absolutely NO hooks whatsoever. wonderful. and no door handle either.

ok gtg

I'm off..

2005-06-05T13:04:00.000+08:00

Well, tonight I'm leaving Singapore on SQ 334. Who wants to come see us off?

Anyway, will be gone until the 18th, and meanwhile, don't call me on my hp. You can sms, but please please please don't call. It's just a really bad idea.

So France and England.. here I come. :P

2005-06-03T22:49:00.000+08:00

From left: Sruthi, Kevin Spencer, Me, Clement, Wenyi, Corey

Kevin Spencer

2005-06-03T22:27:00.000+08:00

First I met Bernard to collect some stuff I said I'd buy from him ages ago, and then I went to NUH for HoM.

During HoM, attempted to take some photos for use in whatever uses we could think of, and well, we managed to get some. David was warded today, and we visited him. While visiting David, suddenly got this weird 'private number' call, and it turned out to be Kevin Spencer. He decided to change the venue and time from Swensens at 8.30 to Starbucks at 8.

After HoM, went with Clement to Suntec where we attempted to find Starbucks to no avail. We gave up and went to eat at KFC first. And then after that we continued our search, and we still found nothing. Then Sruthi saved us by telling us where it was, and we rushed there from the other end of Suntec. Just in time. We were so blur, because it was right there and we didn't see it. And it also wasn't listed on the directory.

Anyway met Kevin Spencer, who came with this other guy named Corey. He (Spencer) proceeded to show us his 'TV' (in his words), which was actually a laptop with the largest screen I have ever seen.

He talked about HoM, and I must say that he does have some real good ideas. He also seems to have a whole lot of connections. At the end, we took a photo, and I got his autograph on a blank card :)

Holidays.. or so it's called.

2005-05-28T12:19:00.000+08:00

Yeah. First day of the holidays but I don't feel like it's the hols. We have to go back to school.. etc, and there are so many PTs that we can't possibly have a nice holiday. Ah well.

The only silver lining I can see would be the UK/France trip. I really want to go.

Anyway, last night I spent some time transferring the class video footage into the com.. And yes, it's quite amusing. Just that I unfortunately had to cut quite a bit because there was simply no space and time.

I sent some clips to some people.. ask me on msn if you want any.

I am super sleepy. But there's tuition later.. argh. I don't like.

after exam. before hols.

2005-05-25T22:51:00.000+08:00

I don't know. This seems like a pretty.. boring period of time. Whereby the exams are over but the hols haven't started. The disgusting exam results have exploded, causing permanant brain damage, but the healing effects of the hols have yet to take over, leaving a rather numb feeling right now.
Anyway. I'm just glad that I did not have to take the Chinese Os one year ago. I would be so totally dead if I did. Because I know that my Chinese sucks, and I just simply CANNOT do. I am already dead taking just ONE O level, and not to mention taking ALL of them. I would just melt and die and dissolve in Hydrochloric Acid or something.
I'm glad for RP. In a sense. But I also know it's flaws and stuff. Just that I should say that I'm lucky. Luckier than I deserve anyway. Cos a lot of things that have come my way aren't supposed to have come, but they came anyway. And they include me even getting into RGS in the first place. Because for those who know me, my PSLE score is like, LOW.
Since this stuffs have come, I should just like take the opportunity.. but the thing is I am not taking it. And I am instead wasting it. And that is BAD. So. I need to start taking note.
Hist Lit trip is coming up. And I hope I can go..

GPA

2005-05-19T17:15:00.000+08:00

Yep, we got back our wonderful results slips today, and they are just as erm, wonderful as they have ever been. My GPA is so freaking low, and I don't think it can go any lower without me having to repeat sec 4.

Sheesh.

RH!! WAKE UP!!

Cyn, we seriously need to study.

ORA day

2005-05-14T23:48:00.000+08:00

Oops.

Only when I checked my blog's main page to see whether the entry came out fine that I saw Juliet's tag and I remembered that there was actually ORA today as well.

I have been thinking of today as 'magic show day' rather than 'ora day', because I don't really care about ORA. I mean, doesn't having only one donation of $2 on your ORA card, which was actually made by none other than yourself, tell you something about me?

So, anyway, woke up super early today.. and went to RI. And ORA was actually fun this year, because I got an activity without doing anything, because it rained just before we left the RI gates to go for the run, uh, I mean, jog. Oh wait, I meant walk, or stroll.. or.. crawl..

And then went to the canteen, which was a bad move, because half the world was there. Then went up to the hall because there was less people there and there was more air to breathe.

Met Nivi upstairs wearing the 311 anti-physics shirt!! Yay. She tried to persuade me to do henna but she didn't succeed. It was only later when Crunch and Nithiya came that they successfully 'saboed' me into doing it.

And then I hung around doing nothing.

How fun.

And then towards the end I went over to the Buckle store.. and yeah, Juliet can explain the rest.

Heh.

HOM Magic Show

2005-05-14T23:31:00.000+08:00

Left the house at like 3.55pm to go to RGS to prepare for the HOM fund raising show.. yeah, wy, that explains why I was late.. although I didn't tell you that.

Went there and Edwin, Mac, zl and wy were already there, arranging chairs. We set up everything and then did stupid things like play with Mac's bubble solution.

Then ordered Canadian pizza, and it came, so we ate and then before we knew it, it was 6.30 already, and Mac and Justin hadn't rehersed properly yet.

And not too long later, my Chinese teacher decided to show up with her 2 kids. But at 7pm, there was a miserable number of audience members, although we sold more tickets for 7 than 8.15.. I think a lot of people forgot to come or didn't want to come. Because I remember that Ms Ong bought tickets for 7 but she wasn't there.

Started the show and everything went relatively well, the video I took for the first show is like crap, because I just left the camera there and let it take, so there are a lot of weird shots. Oh, and there were quite a lot of kids in the first show, because there were Mrs Chew's kids (Manori, are you reading this?) and my Chinese teacher's kids. The show was geared more towards children.

The second show's attendence was better, and the camera recording was also better. It also had Edwin doing something other than linking rings. Heh.

I think Mac, Justin and Edwin all did a really good job, and thanks to them for taking the time and trouble to come.. and thanks to Zilin and Wenyi for coming, and Zilin for emceeing. And also everyone who came or bought tickets or donated to us. I just counted the total, and it's $330.

:)

results

2005-05-13T23:49:00.000+08:00

The beautiful (yeah right) EOI results have arrived. And although only a few of them have touched down at D445, they have already caused enough damage to cost the insurance companies a bomb.

I. Don't. Like. My. Marks.

I think I might have mentioned that more than once before, but who cares, I can always mention it again. That's because I practically screwed up ALL my EOIs. Argh.

Some people understand my state. Some don't.

But that doesn't matter. Because my state is my state (like that made any sense) and I just feel shit.

I am typing crap and thinking at the same time why can't we use computers to do exams, because I can type and think faster than I can write. And it's less painful on my poor fingers too. And it doesn't waste pen ink!!

Okay, ignore me, and yeah, have a good night, and enjoy the remaining.. 11 minutes of a sucky Friday the Thirteenth. It's just really appropriate for today to be the first of the doomsdays, yeah.

The End.

2005-05-07T15:38:00.000+08:00

It's the end of EOIs. End of mugging and cramming.

BUT.

The worst is yet to be.

The real disaster lies in the results.

Les Choristes

2005-04-26T19:01:00.000+08:00

I officially conclude that I am freaking addicted to Les Choristes.

Yes. Totally addicted.

And whoever wants the clip(s) <- note that I said clip, which means it's like 1 minute long thingys, gmail me. If you don't know my gmail.. you're.. sad.

I am going to buy the soundtrack. And yes, I support the originals! I shall be nice and support all the copyright laws. So, you people out there, I am (strongly) encouraging you to go buy the VCD instead of copying it off me. Because that way the people who made this wonderful film get some money. It's only fair that they do.

And anyway, EOIs are seriously near now, and I am surprised at my calm state. Had maths in the afternoon, and I didn't go for CCA. Manori, yes, I did tell Mr Mah. And yes, my maths does suck more than yours. Definately.

Anyway, I think I should get off. Now.

ARGH

2005-04-24T12:26:00.000+08:00

Goodness. I am so depressed. And irritated. And why? Because of school stuff.

The teacher does make the student. And even though the teacher only opens the door for the student, different teachers open the door differently. Some open it wider, some open it just a small crack. And some help you get through the door. But some just leave you there.

EOIs are in like, a week. And some people aren't even the slightest bit stressed about it. And unfortunately or fortunately for me, I'm not really one to get stressed. So, I seriously NEED to be stressed. Because that way, I will feel like actually doing something, rather than just sitting here wasting time, like I'm doing now. I need that sense of urgency. Argh. I should have gone for Mrs Chew's lesson on Saturday. I need more maths practice because my maths seriously sucks. And my chinese is getting nowhere. My chem does not exist. My bio is just a blur, sorry Mr Chia. And SS. I know I would normally have done more than I'm doing now. It's just that I am totally not motivated. And I'm also slightly depressed by the lack of a certain teacher. I never thought I'd even miss that teacher a little bit. But no, I am so wrong. I really need to go and do something useful. I've been trying to study bio for the last 4 days and it hasn't been working. I don't know what a gamete is. I don't even think I know how to spell it.

Confused

2005-04-22T12:18:00.000+08:00

Lately somehow my studies don't play as big a part in my life as they used to.

I don't know, but there are like 3 million other things which are really important too. And I am kinda pissed and confused because there are so many things which simply don't have answers.

I miss pri school. And I miss lower sec. That's because I never wondered about those things. And the answers were so much more straightforward and easy. And there were answers to everything.

I really don't know what I want to do with my life. I have no clue what subject combination I want to take in JC, not to mention the couse in University, which one to go to, where it will be, because I simply don't know my life's direction.

Argh.

Day

2005-04-21T18:30:00.000+08:00

Went to school as per normal today, and the cat decided to shit in class instead. How very smart of it. We were having PE and then when we came back up, it was discovered that it had shit-ed. (however you spell that).

Anyway thankfully it was easier to clean up than yesterday's mess. I really really think they shoud stop bringing the cat to school. Had Maths and Chem and then afterwards I was wishing that the chinese teacher wasn't here and true enough she wasn't! Then stoned my way through CLE and the sexuality education thing, and then went with Juliet to eat Subway, while the rest of the school had their beautiful long day and we didn't

Succumbed

2005-04-21T14:38:00.000+08:00

I have finally succumbed to the temptation of a blog which actually uses a non-html blogging system. I kinda want something easier, because I'm getting lazy.

Why now? Why not last time, a long long time ago?

Because, recently, I've noticed a number of people *glances at Edwin and Mac* who started blogs here too, and I've decided to be unoriginal and jump onto the bandwagon. Then what about my old site? Well, it's still there, and I'll update as and when I feel like, but otherwise, it makes a relatively good host.

Sorry Yahoo, but gmail has overtaken you. And unfortunately your messanger is not as widely used as msn, so I prefer msn even though I do have Yahoo. On the topic of gmail, yes, I do have too many invites for my own good. So if anyone wants any drop me a mail.

Today in school was generally boring, and nothing much happened. Except that the cat, named Ocean, (yes, that thing has a name), because it's eyes are blue, although I don't think so, but others apparently do. It's supposed to be something like Ocean's Eleven. Whatever lah. So the point is that during Maths, the cat decided to pee on Lyn. Poor lyn. Her clothes were soaked with cat pee. And according to her account to be afterwards during History, the cat looked innocent when it was peeing? And then after that it went to sleep. So Lyn obviously had to change her clothes, because the thing soaked right through. Yuck. And not to mention that the classroom stank. We stayed in class for History, and amazingly Mr Redmund didn't smell anything. He said that the smell of the deoderant someone decided to spray to mask the smell was too strong. Anyway after school we had to move all the tables and chairs.. because someone smart decided that they wanted to use our classroom for something. I don't really know what. Anyway the point is that we had to move stuff. Although I think the smell of the classroom would put them off. But then again they are not to know right? I just hope that the class would seriously reconsider the cat. It's kinda.. unhygenic. Especially if people play with the cat and then eat food in class. That is like, disgusting. And the cat definately has to pee and not to mention shit. So wouldn't that be worse when it happens? In my opinion, a cat shouldn't be kept in a classroom. Especially not in a classroom cupboard.