Death by language
Today is a momentous day. For the first time in recent history, MOE has done something deemed as staisfactory in many a students' eye. They got rid of the need of having to include ur chinese grade and SAT score in the admission for university.
For people like me, it is a real relief cos of my lousy grades for both.
I'm sorry terence, if you're reading this, but I'm for this movement as I have suffered enough under the tyranny of the chinese language and was all too eager to get out of the system last year. Mind you, I'm against the system per se, not the language, I'm always proud of the fact that I'm chinese and will never forget about it, but whatever love I would have had for the subject was killed by the endless days of mugging the ci yu shou ce. I much rather have the freedom to write what I want when I want, much like I can in english, albeit we have to do that now in a much structured way in GP, which I dislike.
All in all, I think it is a good policy, as this really helps those people like me who hate the fact they are mugging a language. You don't see anyone mugging a dictionary do you? Ok, insane people don't count. A language must be used, written and spoken at length before one can be proficient in it. Proficiency in a langage does not come with just mugging. In fact, I find that notion extremely sad.
So there. To those who retook your 2nd language, well, either you're cursing the fact you wasted your time or not. IN any case, let's hope more sacred cows get slaughtered soon *cough*pw*cough*
Maybe they will review the whole education system next! And make it much more holistic than it is now!
Hey, a guy is entitled to dream you know.
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Seeing things my way
Judging from the inactivity on my tagboard, I can sort of infer that very few people actually visit this place, so i can don't bother with putting up a hit counter, and also reduces the chances of an over-zealous teacher "accidentally" stumbling upon this place and haul my ass to be reformed due to my anti-(insert social norm) views.
Sheesh, the week was marred with incidences that failed to convince me that my views are wrong. I'm starting to think I shouldn't rock the boat too much, just live my life out as a student, get the 4As and 1 distinction, as they say, the nail that stands out gets nailed down. And adults wonder why we "youngsters" always say sorry even if we don't mean it, it saves you the hassle of listening to pep talk after pep talk. A great skill to learn, to say sorry to adults when you don't feel a single bit of remorse and instead indignation rage madly in your heart, yet still you give a face of total regret in order to satisfy the adult. Saying sorry even though you don't mean it and not showing that, is really a skill we all should have.
Been feeling tired over the week, still not sleeping early enough, and with homework and tests piling up it is really frustrating and I'm struggling to keep a cool head inspite of all the stress. Music does help, MayDay's shi guang ji is great, the upbeat tunes keep me up.
I am still upset with the things that happen in my schools, both present and former, myabe it is just 1-sided blinded ideas, with no regard for the admin's standpoint. Let me repeat for another time. I. Don't. Care. The fact is that admins have been screwing us up since the start of time, and I want to be immature enough to think that I am forever right and you self-styled adults, with your high handed ideals of "wanting the best for our students" and "academic utopia" can shove those ideas somewhere else. I must admit, this way of thinking is highly immature, not befitting of an 18-year old on the cusp of "adulthood", but to all who think so, I'm sorry, but there is a limit to which I can tolerate.
At the end of it all, what do i feel? A great sense of underachievement. I now know it is close to impossible to change mindsets so deeply inrooted in people, no matter how hard you try or cajole. It gets frustrating at first, then it melts away to numb jadedness.
Why do I resolve to venting my frustrations online? I don't think I can tell anyone in authority who would actually listen, not destroy arguments with a quick sweep of a "that's immature thinking" statement. They don't want me to go around shattering their idea of an "academic utopia" (a term that is fast gaining notoriety, liek "wardrobe malfunction"), they want to think the students are happy. Maybe some are, but I'm not. That makes me a dissident.
Haiz. I have just wasted 15 minutes ranting and raving for absolutely nothing. If anything, I just want to declare to the world that I'm immature in thinking that the faceless admin have and maybe still is making things very difficult for us.
(To anyone in the admin of aforementioned organisations, give a jaded student a break. He needs to vent his frustrations as well, think of it as a better alternative than asking for referendums. In short, leave me alone, I am entitled to my opinions, immature they may be, and NO I don't want to change them)
So there.
I should get frustrated less. So many things in this world are great. I got my family and friends, those who stuck by me thick and thin, those who endured my many quirks, my classic moments when I shoot my mouth off without thinking.
No use getting frustrated over things I cannot change.
Common test is just 3-4 weeks away.
To all those who got back to their results, those who did great congratulations, those who didn't don't beat yourself over it, I'm sure all of you did your best. O's are done and dusted, now for the A's.
1 last random thought for the day.
I don't believe in any higher being, I believe in you
Judging from the inactivity on my tagboard, I can sort of infer that very few people actually visit this place, so i can don't bother with putting up a hit counter, and also reduces the chances of an over-zealous teacher "accidentally" stumbling upon this place and haul my ass to be reformed due to my anti-(insert social norm) views.
Sheesh, the week was marred with incidences that failed to convince me that my views are wrong. I'm starting to think I shouldn't rock the boat too much, just live my life out as a student, get the 4As and 1 distinction, as they say, the nail that stands out gets nailed down. And adults wonder why we "youngsters" always say sorry even if we don't mean it, it saves you the hassle of listening to pep talk after pep talk. A great skill to learn, to say sorry to adults when you don't feel a single bit of remorse and instead indignation rage madly in your heart, yet still you give a face of total regret in order to satisfy the adult. Saying sorry even though you don't mean it and not showing that, is really a skill we all should have.
Been feeling tired over the week, still not sleeping early enough, and with homework and tests piling up it is really frustrating and I'm struggling to keep a cool head inspite of all the stress. Music does help, MayDay's shi guang ji is great, the upbeat tunes keep me up.
I am still upset with the things that happen in my schools, both present and former, myabe it is just 1-sided blinded ideas, with no regard for the admin's standpoint. Let me repeat for another time. I. Don't. Care. The fact is that admins have been screwing us up since the start of time, and I want to be immature enough to think that I am forever right and you self-styled adults, with your high handed ideals of "wanting the best for our students" and "academic utopia" can shove those ideas somewhere else. I must admit, this way of thinking is highly immature, not befitting of an 18-year old on the cusp of "adulthood", but to all who think so, I'm sorry, but there is a limit to which I can tolerate.
At the end of it all, what do i feel? A great sense of underachievement. I now know it is close to impossible to change mindsets so deeply inrooted in people, no matter how hard you try or cajole. It gets frustrating at first, then it melts away to numb jadedness.
Why do I resolve to venting my frustrations online? I don't think I can tell anyone in authority who would actually listen, not destroy arguments with a quick sweep of a "that's immature thinking" statement. They don't want me to go around shattering their idea of an "academic utopia" (a term that is fast gaining notoriety, liek "wardrobe malfunction"), they want to think the students are happy. Maybe some are, but I'm not. That makes me a dissident.
Haiz. I have just wasted 15 minutes ranting and raving for absolutely nothing. If anything, I just want to declare to the world that I'm immature in thinking that the faceless admin have and maybe still is making things very difficult for us.
(To anyone in the admin of aforementioned organisations, give a jaded student a break. He needs to vent his frustrations as well, think of it as a better alternative than asking for referendums. In short, leave me alone, I am entitled to my opinions, immature they may be, and NO I don't want to change them)
So there.
I should get frustrated less. So many things in this world are great. I got my family and friends, those who stuck by me thick and thin, those who endured my many quirks, my classic moments when I shoot my mouth off without thinking.
No use getting frustrated over things I cannot change.
Common test is just 3-4 weeks away.
To all those who got back to their results, those who did great congratulations, those who didn't don't beat yourself over it, I'm sure all of you did your best. O's are done and dusted, now for the A's.
1 last random thought for the day.
I don't believe in any higher being, I believe in you
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Predacons, merge to become Predaking!
Everytime these bunch of them come out I fear for the Autobots because their combined mode always never fails to kick their asses. Pity we don't see them in combined mode here, but I'm sure we'll get to see that soon.
I always wonder why the decepticons with 5 combiner teams (constructicons, stunticons, combaticons, terrorcons & predacons, combined form namely devastator, menasor, bruticus, abominus, predaking) compared to 3 autobot combiner teams (protectobots, aerialbots & technobots, combined form defensor, superion and computron), despite the numerical advantage they still got wiped in each episode.
Anyways, here's razorclaw, divebomb, tantrum, headstrong and rampage in full technicolour glory.
Everytime these bunch of them come out I fear for the Autobots because their combined mode always never fails to kick their asses. Pity we don't see them in combined mode here, but I'm sure we'll get to see that soon.
I always wonder why the decepticons with 5 combiner teams (constructicons, stunticons, combaticons, terrorcons & predacons, combined form namely devastator, menasor, bruticus, abominus, predaking) compared to 3 autobot combiner teams (protectobots, aerialbots & technobots, combined form defensor, superion and computron), despite the numerical advantage they still got wiped in each episode.
Anyways, here's razorclaw, divebomb, tantrum, headstrong and rampage in full technicolour glory.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Everybody has a story to tell
Everybody has a story to tell, if you would only want to listen.
Put aside those notes or tutorials.
Stop rushing for trainings or practice sessions.
Turn away from the hustle and bustle of the canteen.
The sound of laughter that drowns all others.
Close your ears to the latest gossip.
And listen to their stories.
Some are sad, some are uplifting, some leave you angry.
In our life, there are so many people out there, each with their own story waiting to be told.
The cleaning lady, the bus driver, the taxi driver, the homeless man sleeping at the void deck, the buskers at the buona vista underpass.
They all have their own stories.
What more among friends?
We each have something in our hearts that we would like to share, yet we fear to do so out of ironically, another fear, the fear of being ridiculed.
Do we have time for stories nowadays?
Do you want to hear my story?
No time?
I thought so.
Everybody has a story to tell, if you would only want to listen.
Put aside those notes or tutorials.
Stop rushing for trainings or practice sessions.
Turn away from the hustle and bustle of the canteen.
The sound of laughter that drowns all others.
Close your ears to the latest gossip.
And listen to their stories.
Some are sad, some are uplifting, some leave you angry.
In our life, there are so many people out there, each with their own story waiting to be told.
The cleaning lady, the bus driver, the taxi driver, the homeless man sleeping at the void deck, the buskers at the buona vista underpass.
They all have their own stories.
What more among friends?
We each have something in our hearts that we would like to share, yet we fear to do so out of ironically, another fear, the fear of being ridiculed.
Do we have time for stories nowadays?
Do you want to hear my story?
No time?
I thought so.
I Missed The Last Car To Elysian Fields
I'm sorry nick. Here I am being a selfish bastard again while you are coping with your loss. I feel so stupid, and once again the reason why you were always ahead of me was the fact you could keep your cool at all times and not do stupid things like me.
Shitty day. Feeling so stressed out over the impending chem tests, both lecture and practical that I let the frustration boil over and say a whole bunch of irresponsible things which although made sense in my mind, came out pathetically dumb when I spoke.
I think it is high time I let go of those demons. Even if the same things happen again, I can always smirk and say "here we go again."
To Mr Ho, I never knew you, I never you existed in this school until your untimely demise, but judging from the reaction nick had, I can tell you influenced him a lot and he clearly respected you greatly. I'm sure you can rest easy knowing how well loved you were when you were alive.
Great teachers are never forgotten.
Rest in peace.
I'm sorry nick. Here I am being a selfish bastard again while you are coping with your loss. I feel so stupid, and once again the reason why you were always ahead of me was the fact you could keep your cool at all times and not do stupid things like me.
Shitty day. Feeling so stressed out over the impending chem tests, both lecture and practical that I let the frustration boil over and say a whole bunch of irresponsible things which although made sense in my mind, came out pathetically dumb when I spoke.
I think it is high time I let go of those demons. Even if the same things happen again, I can always smirk and say "here we go again."
To Mr Ho, I never knew you, I never you existed in this school until your untimely demise, but judging from the reaction nick had, I can tell you influenced him a lot and he clearly respected you greatly. I'm sure you can rest easy knowing how well loved you were when you were alive.
Great teachers are never forgotten.
Rest in peace.
Sunday, February 22, 2004
The sting in the tail
Things seem to be going well for me.
Thursday was dramafeste, cps' parody of PW held me for a while, until it sort of lost its focus and it skimmed only the tip of the subject matter, which is rather a pity. And steff was telling me lindy was pushing her head for real. Ouch. Arts, as usual, was pure entertainment, using the kill bill song at the end was a bit off in my opinion, but again, it was just that, people prancing around with cutting punchlines heard frequently on american sitcoms, but no central theme, or at least whatever semblance of it was lost in raucous laughter. Engine, like winston was a cheesecake, but i differ from the conventional description, as it was hard to get through from the start. The accents were grating, the 15 blackouts hurting my retina, and the nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I have seen it before and better. Med, like crystal said, was playing it safe. I just that can be a form of criticism, but i believe we shouldn't get all self important and forget the target audience. I thought smirti acted damm well, I don't want her to be my mother, but the idea of 4 seperate stories connected by another character was done before by someone somewhere, and i felt it caused the play to be disjointed. And the idea that some of the stories were not resolved satisfactorily could have unsettled others, but I was fine with it.
And yes, tardy J1s piss me off to no end, shall not elaborate, but RJ people should learn some EQ to go along with the abundance of IQ.
And yah, friday was all about white slips and high pants. Shall not elaborate further as well, in fear of being found out and punished.
Saturday was a real busy day, went for training, fenced a bit, got "caned" by kenneth, then went home for lunch of roast duck and mud crab. Then, after a quick bath and packing a set of extra clothes, I sent off for clementi again, taking 7 which took 10 mins to arrive, then 40 mins to reach clementi sports hall, thanks to a traffic jam. I arrived there 45 mins after reporting time, and they still haven't started. As usual.
I think the girls were quite tired already, when I got there they were saying that they wanted to go home immediately, and I asked if 1 of them could switch souls for 1 day so I can fence and win because women's foil is so much easier to win then in men's... When steff fenced dione and lost she walked away from the piste smiling as she had another loss under her belt and she was closer to going home while dione was giving a very tired look. I commented that if anyone did not watch the bout and only saw them walking away they would think steff won and dione lost. Amanda ended up fencing ruth, after that bout i left with steff's blade in hand to my OG BBQ.
On the train there met LaU and daniel chiang, who has grown way much more mature already. No more the "lovable idiot", he seems to have lost that irrationality which caused a great amount of entertainment and exasperation for us in sec 4.
Finally reached kitson's house, yang qian tried to get me to open a shaken champagne bottle, the guys dunked yi ming, talked cock with all of them, and finally recieved a ring from there. At that point, I was really touched, lost for words, I couldn;t even give any clever comment. Was envious of julie and yihan who also got rings as gifts from their OG, and well, at least I've done something right for them to treat me this nicely. Hey Apsytus, if you guys are reading this, I must be the most laissie-faire OGL, but it is because I believe that I shouldn't be the one leading the OG, you guys should, as I'm just a facilitator, a person to help you on your feet, not walk the road for you. But, thanks a million, I enjoyed myself as much as I hope all of you did, and I'm proud and privileged to call all of you my friends.
Sunday was competition, went in not expecting much, just for me to try my best. And I think in the end I didn't do myself a disservice, winning 2 out of 5 in the pool, before going down 15-5 to a SJI left hander who charges, a rarity. All the RJC guys improved this time, about 8 of us reached 2nd round and beyond, joshua and adrian held their own against stronger opponents. Came home quite wasted, mucked around before dinner, then watched axess 8-10, before receiving news from nick that his CT mr ho died in an accident.
To everyone who knew him, my condolences. Nick was clearly upset, even through msn I could tell.
This put everything back in prespective. I believe that there is no avoiding death, if your time is up, it's up, no arguing, like what mum says. That's why we should appreciate all we have now, our family, friends, teachers etc. I know it sounds cliched, but I for one don't want to regret.
Live life to the fullest.
Things seem to be going well for me.
Thursday was dramafeste, cps' parody of PW held me for a while, until it sort of lost its focus and it skimmed only the tip of the subject matter, which is rather a pity. And steff was telling me lindy was pushing her head for real. Ouch. Arts, as usual, was pure entertainment, using the kill bill song at the end was a bit off in my opinion, but again, it was just that, people prancing around with cutting punchlines heard frequently on american sitcoms, but no central theme, or at least whatever semblance of it was lost in raucous laughter. Engine, like winston was a cheesecake, but i differ from the conventional description, as it was hard to get through from the start. The accents were grating, the 15 blackouts hurting my retina, and the nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I have seen it before and better. Med, like crystal said, was playing it safe. I just that can be a form of criticism, but i believe we shouldn't get all self important and forget the target audience. I thought smirti acted damm well, I don't want her to be my mother, but the idea of 4 seperate stories connected by another character was done before by someone somewhere, and i felt it caused the play to be disjointed. And the idea that some of the stories were not resolved satisfactorily could have unsettled others, but I was fine with it.
And yes, tardy J1s piss me off to no end, shall not elaborate, but RJ people should learn some EQ to go along with the abundance of IQ.
And yah, friday was all about white slips and high pants. Shall not elaborate further as well, in fear of being found out and punished.
Saturday was a real busy day, went for training, fenced a bit, got "caned" by kenneth, then went home for lunch of roast duck and mud crab. Then, after a quick bath and packing a set of extra clothes, I sent off for clementi again, taking 7 which took 10 mins to arrive, then 40 mins to reach clementi sports hall, thanks to a traffic jam. I arrived there 45 mins after reporting time, and they still haven't started. As usual.
I think the girls were quite tired already, when I got there they were saying that they wanted to go home immediately, and I asked if 1 of them could switch souls for 1 day so I can fence and win because women's foil is so much easier to win then in men's... When steff fenced dione and lost she walked away from the piste smiling as she had another loss under her belt and she was closer to going home while dione was giving a very tired look. I commented that if anyone did not watch the bout and only saw them walking away they would think steff won and dione lost. Amanda ended up fencing ruth, after that bout i left with steff's blade in hand to my OG BBQ.
On the train there met LaU and daniel chiang, who has grown way much more mature already. No more the "lovable idiot", he seems to have lost that irrationality which caused a great amount of entertainment and exasperation for us in sec 4.
Finally reached kitson's house, yang qian tried to get me to open a shaken champagne bottle, the guys dunked yi ming, talked cock with all of them, and finally recieved a ring from there. At that point, I was really touched, lost for words, I couldn;t even give any clever comment. Was envious of julie and yihan who also got rings as gifts from their OG, and well, at least I've done something right for them to treat me this nicely. Hey Apsytus, if you guys are reading this, I must be the most laissie-faire OGL, but it is because I believe that I shouldn't be the one leading the OG, you guys should, as I'm just a facilitator, a person to help you on your feet, not walk the road for you. But, thanks a million, I enjoyed myself as much as I hope all of you did, and I'm proud and privileged to call all of you my friends.
Sunday was competition, went in not expecting much, just for me to try my best. And I think in the end I didn't do myself a disservice, winning 2 out of 5 in the pool, before going down 15-5 to a SJI left hander who charges, a rarity. All the RJC guys improved this time, about 8 of us reached 2nd round and beyond, joshua and adrian held their own against stronger opponents. Came home quite wasted, mucked around before dinner, then watched axess 8-10, before receiving news from nick that his CT mr ho died in an accident.
To everyone who knew him, my condolences. Nick was clearly upset, even through msn I could tell.
This put everything back in prespective. I believe that there is no avoiding death, if your time is up, it's up, no arguing, like what mum says. That's why we should appreciate all we have now, our family, friends, teachers etc. I know it sounds cliched, but I for one don't want to regret.
Live life to the fullest.
Friday, February 20, 2004
Somewhere over the rainbow
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
Old songs are nice, and I'm still working my way to my own rainbow. Like a real rainbow, the closer you get, the further away from you it goes...
Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
Old songs are nice, and I'm still working my way to my own rainbow. Like a real rainbow, the closer you get, the further away from you it goes...
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Of everything else but the most important thing
Guys....
I'm officially becoming a slacker. Over the week I went a record 4 nights of not doing any extra work, meaning I did only what was needed by the next day. Such behaviour is just unacceptable, I must study hard and get those 4 As and 1 distinction to become someone useful and earn lots of $$$ when I grow up!
Sheesh, ok that was to pacify both my parents and the PAP.
In any case, the week passed by rather pleasantly, save for 1 unnecessary outburst, and some other niggly stuff that bothered me but I got over them quickly. All things are well, the thursday shopping trip was harrowing and hilarious, saturday training where I was quite pissed for not noticing a thief, fortunately henry was sharp enough to spot him. The guy had the audacity to argue with him, before finally beating a hasty retreat.
Oh basket, can't think of anything else to write... anyways, i guess this blog is just for a showpiece, for me to stake a place in this cyberworld.
Hope to work on that cock econs essay soon.
Coming to a blog near you.
Btw, the pic below is just sublime. If it was a pic of the autobots, I would have printed it out already.
Guys....
I'm officially becoming a slacker. Over the week I went a record 4 nights of not doing any extra work, meaning I did only what was needed by the next day. Such behaviour is just unacceptable, I must study hard and get those 4 As and 1 distinction to become someone useful and earn lots of $$$ when I grow up!
Sheesh, ok that was to pacify both my parents and the PAP.
In any case, the week passed by rather pleasantly, save for 1 unnecessary outburst, and some other niggly stuff that bothered me but I got over them quickly. All things are well, the thursday shopping trip was harrowing and hilarious, saturday training where I was quite pissed for not noticing a thief, fortunately henry was sharp enough to spot him. The guy had the audacity to argue with him, before finally beating a hasty retreat.
Oh basket, can't think of anything else to write... anyways, i guess this blog is just for a showpiece, for me to stake a place in this cyberworld.
Hope to work on that cock econs essay soon.
Coming to a blog near you.
Btw, the pic below is just sublime. If it was a pic of the autobots, I would have printed it out already.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Melodies of Life
Yesterday was our 01 70th years anniversary group reunion. It's great to be back in RI, the last time I was there was dec last year. 01 was my life for 4 years, and the initial period with no active 01 involvement was a bit weird for me.
Went around, talking cock to some of my juniors, meeting up with the seniors, and especially my shifu ben lee, who was being himself as usual. We had a tug-of-war competition, which I took part, and we caused the python to break, most probably due to some cunning machination of hawk.
Anyways, the real fun was when we had dinner together, as a batch, more or less complete, for the first time for a long long time. Those memories were replayed in front of us by the photojourney screensaver, which showed pictures that I tooked during my sec 3 year, and reminded us of all the fun we had over the years. Then, as usual we took batch photos, (LaU you better send us!) talked cock and sang for the campfire again.
01 is just wonderful. No words come close to the sheer greatness of 01, nothing can replace all those memories we all shared, each camp brings a tear or guffaw, each activity was fun and lessons mixed together, and slowly, we were moulded into who we are now.
I remember Audry telling me that she was very impressed with us scouts in O team, she said that our training seems like a cult to her, the way we live our lives by the 01 way. Well, that is what make us all so special.
70 years reunion is gone now. Looking forward to being 28, and the 80th anniversary.
Yesterday was our 01 70th years anniversary group reunion. It's great to be back in RI, the last time I was there was dec last year. 01 was my life for 4 years, and the initial period with no active 01 involvement was a bit weird for me.
Went around, talking cock to some of my juniors, meeting up with the seniors, and especially my shifu ben lee, who was being himself as usual. We had a tug-of-war competition, which I took part, and we caused the python to break, most probably due to some cunning machination of hawk.
Anyways, the real fun was when we had dinner together, as a batch, more or less complete, for the first time for a long long time. Those memories were replayed in front of us by the photojourney screensaver, which showed pictures that I tooked during my sec 3 year, and reminded us of all the fun we had over the years. Then, as usual we took batch photos, (LaU you better send us!) talked cock and sang for the campfire again.
01 is just wonderful. No words come close to the sheer greatness of 01, nothing can replace all those memories we all shared, each camp brings a tear or guffaw, each activity was fun and lessons mixed together, and slowly, we were moulded into who we are now.
I remember Audry telling me that she was very impressed with us scouts in O team, she said that our training seems like a cult to her, the way we live our lives by the 01 way. Well, that is what make us all so special.
70 years reunion is gone now. Looking forward to being 28, and the 80th anniversary.
Friday, February 06, 2004
Life through a lens
Like I will continue to emphasise, life is getting too predictable and stale. Mug, eat, sleep, repeat with other stuff included once in a while, like training, reading econs text or the rare comic here and there.
Kitson was talking to me about his chance to go overseas to England to study, i wonder if I would ever have the courage to leave here, and everything I know behind, just to "escape" singapore's education system. I'm no big fan of it, but it serves our purpose and no choice I guess. I'm a slave to a society which views paper qualifications as very important (now where have we heard this before?) In any case, when the time comes for me to leave for university overseas, if i make it, I think the feelings I will have on that day will be really screwed up I guess.
Oh, for some excitement.
Reading other people's blogs, some people go clubbing for their excitement. I must first state that I'm no advocate of clubbing, but I'm an advocate for personal freedom so go ahead and satisfy your preferences as that will help reach Pareto optimality. However, I think clubbing is definately not the lifestyle for me, I'm just one of those people who prefers peace and quiet then loud music, plus I can't stand booze, and the negative connotation that clubbing brings is enough to turn me off. Haha, you are most probably thinking "what a sheltered boy he is." but that's who I am. However, I would like to go just once, to see for myself what is it really like, before I get wrong ideas of it and make baseless arguments. But certainly not in the immediate future. Maybe when I am older, much older.
I remember ben lee telling me that, I quoteh "go clubbing on friday night and still come for activity on saturday at 8 am." My shifu, as always. His words of wisdom have always inspired me. I wonder what is he doing now?
So cross that out. Sleep is out of the question as well. The paradox of sleep is that, if I were to go to bed earlier, it means I'm bringing forward school, as I wake up at the same time everyday. But I need sleep, otherwise, it's zzzz in lectures again. Bio lectures are my designated zzzz times, which is really bad as I always walk out of bio lectures with someone else's notes in tow as I need to copy what I had missed.
Reading is another alternative, but I rarely even have time to read the papers, let alone a book. Think of it, in 1 day, I have to read the papers, the week's copies of time and newsweek and an econs book. How much more reading can I squeeze in? Also, the time spent on finding a book also needs to taken into consideration.
So, most of the time I spend it surfing the net, but if there are no new articles to read, I would spend only 15 mins, then it's back to work.
Go out? Like I said, all the Guys TM are all busy with their own lives that I think we will find it hard to meet. But will still try to get a LAN session going. Missed the CS madness that always happens during our maniac fights. Yeah, but going out causes me to have nagging thoughts which go along the lines of "you shouldn't be here, you should be mugging for the A's!!!!" Guilt trip galore.
Writing? Currently lack any inspiration or motivation. My poetry collection remains stagnant ever since i did that one which was a tribute to a graveyard being excavated. Short stories ripped from my 23 chapter epic seems very cheapskate and lacks the "epic" idea I had originally in mine, leading to sloppy and unemotive pieces that I'm ashamed to call them mine. Bad pride, I know, but I don't want to write something just for the sake of doing so, besides writing is so mentally exhausting at times, sourcing for new ideas. Or I should just feed myself with enough infrodel and caffeine and maybe I can do a li bai or coleridge and type out some nonsense which may become the bane of literature students when I'm dead and buried. They shall whine over why I wrote odes to urns and pondered over what I was smoking during my time.
Sighz, which leads me back to the point life is boring. And from the look of things it will stay this way for the 1st 3 months, then downhill all the way. Oh well, life ain't a bed of roses, so if I don't like something, I should get off my butt and do something about it.
Still waiting for War and Peace trade, Armada #3 trade, comics (especially dreamwave's transformers comics) are the real sin in life. Bloody expensive, 36 bucks for something which has less pages than a manga, which only costs $5, but highly satisfying. Oh well, not all the good things in life come free and with a potential lawsuit or police raid.
In conclusion, my life is boring. Bravo. Which means.... time to start downloading anime again... need people to recommned me series, or better still lend me cds.
Like I will continue to emphasise, life is getting too predictable and stale. Mug, eat, sleep, repeat with other stuff included once in a while, like training, reading econs text or the rare comic here and there.
Kitson was talking to me about his chance to go overseas to England to study, i wonder if I would ever have the courage to leave here, and everything I know behind, just to "escape" singapore's education system. I'm no big fan of it, but it serves our purpose and no choice I guess. I'm a slave to a society which views paper qualifications as very important (now where have we heard this before?) In any case, when the time comes for me to leave for university overseas, if i make it, I think the feelings I will have on that day will be really screwed up I guess.
Oh, for some excitement.
Reading other people's blogs, some people go clubbing for their excitement. I must first state that I'm no advocate of clubbing, but I'm an advocate for personal freedom so go ahead and satisfy your preferences as that will help reach Pareto optimality. However, I think clubbing is definately not the lifestyle for me, I'm just one of those people who prefers peace and quiet then loud music, plus I can't stand booze, and the negative connotation that clubbing brings is enough to turn me off. Haha, you are most probably thinking "what a sheltered boy he is." but that's who I am. However, I would like to go just once, to see for myself what is it really like, before I get wrong ideas of it and make baseless arguments. But certainly not in the immediate future. Maybe when I am older, much older.
I remember ben lee telling me that, I quoteh "go clubbing on friday night and still come for activity on saturday at 8 am." My shifu, as always. His words of wisdom have always inspired me. I wonder what is he doing now?
So cross that out. Sleep is out of the question as well. The paradox of sleep is that, if I were to go to bed earlier, it means I'm bringing forward school, as I wake up at the same time everyday. But I need sleep, otherwise, it's zzzz in lectures again. Bio lectures are my designated zzzz times, which is really bad as I always walk out of bio lectures with someone else's notes in tow as I need to copy what I had missed.
Reading is another alternative, but I rarely even have time to read the papers, let alone a book. Think of it, in 1 day, I have to read the papers, the week's copies of time and newsweek and an econs book. How much more reading can I squeeze in? Also, the time spent on finding a book also needs to taken into consideration.
So, most of the time I spend it surfing the net, but if there are no new articles to read, I would spend only 15 mins, then it's back to work.
Go out? Like I said, all the Guys TM are all busy with their own lives that I think we will find it hard to meet. But will still try to get a LAN session going. Missed the CS madness that always happens during our maniac fights. Yeah, but going out causes me to have nagging thoughts which go along the lines of "you shouldn't be here, you should be mugging for the A's!!!!" Guilt trip galore.
Writing? Currently lack any inspiration or motivation. My poetry collection remains stagnant ever since i did that one which was a tribute to a graveyard being excavated. Short stories ripped from my 23 chapter epic seems very cheapskate and lacks the "epic" idea I had originally in mine, leading to sloppy and unemotive pieces that I'm ashamed to call them mine. Bad pride, I know, but I don't want to write something just for the sake of doing so, besides writing is so mentally exhausting at times, sourcing for new ideas. Or I should just feed myself with enough infrodel and caffeine and maybe I can do a li bai or coleridge and type out some nonsense which may become the bane of literature students when I'm dead and buried. They shall whine over why I wrote odes to urns and pondered over what I was smoking during my time.
Sighz, which leads me back to the point life is boring. And from the look of things it will stay this way for the 1st 3 months, then downhill all the way. Oh well, life ain't a bed of roses, so if I don't like something, I should get off my butt and do something about it.
Still waiting for War and Peace trade, Armada #3 trade, comics (especially dreamwave's transformers comics) are the real sin in life. Bloody expensive, 36 bucks for something which has less pages than a manga, which only costs $5, but highly satisfying. Oh well, not all the good things in life come free and with a potential lawsuit or police raid.
In conclusion, my life is boring. Bravo. Which means.... time to start downloading anime again... need people to recommned me series, or better still lend me cds.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Still hanging on
Life is becoming rhythmic, monday has the mind-numbing exercise of looking at microscopic slides, then a deluge of lectures as the monday blues take over, tuesday ends off better but later with econs s, wednesday training causes me to drag a heavy bag home before I just collapse on bed, thursday the slew of lectures which sap my energy, but the prospect of going home earlier brightens up my day. Friday is tutorial day, where the slackers die a horrible death, and where I always have to rush the chem prac, but after that it is a release from academic prison, before saturday comes with training again, and sunday, the day of rest, degenerates to a day of school work.
I really envy the J1s. They are living that care-free life I had last year, where each day was actually fun. Now, I find myself hurrying to finish tutorials, study for tests etc. There is little time to just relax, read a book, a pleasure I really miss, or write a short story. All my energy is spent on doing schoolwork that all I want to do after that is just crash.
Also, the phone seems more silent nowadays. It used to be overloading with smses of stuff that scream for my attention, but now it doesn't. Ironically, it seems I miss the times when we were fretting over a major project. Which leads me to lament that the Guys TM are really too busy with our own lives now to meet up. Apart from the few I meet in training, I rarely meet the rest.
The times are really changing. On my way home today I saw fabian in borders, who was studying. And he told me he was working towards his 4 As. No offence to fabian, but it shows how the winds have changed and we have really become muggers.
Sighz. Enough lamenting. It's time to grow up I guess. I'm 18, old enough to booze etc. I shall post interesting things that happened today.
- sharon and boon seer got tricked by the 30th feb test. Sharon's look on her face when she turned back to ask me "you mean it is not true?" was absolutely priceless.
- 3 discmans were hard at work at the back of LT during maths lecture. KP got out his speakers and attempted to blast SY's music during maths lec.
Stay sane people. All 01 guys see you this saturday.
Life is becoming rhythmic, monday has the mind-numbing exercise of looking at microscopic slides, then a deluge of lectures as the monday blues take over, tuesday ends off better but later with econs s, wednesday training causes me to drag a heavy bag home before I just collapse on bed, thursday the slew of lectures which sap my energy, but the prospect of going home earlier brightens up my day. Friday is tutorial day, where the slackers die a horrible death, and where I always have to rush the chem prac, but after that it is a release from academic prison, before saturday comes with training again, and sunday, the day of rest, degenerates to a day of school work.
I really envy the J1s. They are living that care-free life I had last year, where each day was actually fun. Now, I find myself hurrying to finish tutorials, study for tests etc. There is little time to just relax, read a book, a pleasure I really miss, or write a short story. All my energy is spent on doing schoolwork that all I want to do after that is just crash.
Also, the phone seems more silent nowadays. It used to be overloading with smses of stuff that scream for my attention, but now it doesn't. Ironically, it seems I miss the times when we were fretting over a major project. Which leads me to lament that the Guys TM are really too busy with our own lives now to meet up. Apart from the few I meet in training, I rarely meet the rest.
The times are really changing. On my way home today I saw fabian in borders, who was studying. And he told me he was working towards his 4 As. No offence to fabian, but it shows how the winds have changed and we have really become muggers.
Sighz. Enough lamenting. It's time to grow up I guess. I'm 18, old enough to booze etc. I shall post interesting things that happened today.
- sharon and boon seer got tricked by the 30th feb test. Sharon's look on her face when she turned back to ask me "you mean it is not true?" was absolutely priceless.
- 3 discmans were hard at work at the back of LT during maths lecture. KP got out his speakers and attempted to blast SY's music during maths lec.
Stay sane people. All 01 guys see you this saturday.
Monday, February 02, 2004
Officially unofficial
For the first time this year, I actually finished a lot of work! I nailed a lot of maths! I read econs! I did chem tutorial without a lot of blanks!
Wow!
I wish.
There are just some gaps which cannot be closed.
I'm such a joke. Haha. All I did was wrong.
Game over people, game over.
For the first time this year, I actually finished a lot of work! I nailed a lot of maths! I read econs! I did chem tutorial without a lot of blanks!
Wow!
I wish.
There are just some gaps which cannot be closed.
I'm such a joke. Haha. All I did was wrong.
Game over people, game over.
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Have a laugh
Go 2 great sites for you to visit to destress.
http://williamhung.net
Like the site says, find out more about the man, the myth and the dancing legend, william hung aka hong kong ricky martin. Hey, at least he is gracious in the face of insults and had the courage to perform. On another note, what's the world coming to, where all one needs to do to become famous is sing very badly and flatly and dance like a robot with rubber legs?
http://www3.icered.com/icered/home/forum/threadList.jspa?locationID=3&whereAmI=33&threadID=18280&tstart=0
I love this forum. It has everything, arrogant elitists from RJC (or so he claims), indigant people from neighbourhood schools, and plus all the stupid comments by both sides. I recommend taking a chair and guffaw with great amusement as you read the thread.
I quote, "Go listen to some metal and smoke some pot with your low life friends instead of beating yourself up over your misguided life."
There are many more gems in there, look out for them.
Go 2 great sites for you to visit to destress.
http://williamhung.net
Like the site says, find out more about the man, the myth and the dancing legend, william hung aka hong kong ricky martin. Hey, at least he is gracious in the face of insults and had the courage to perform. On another note, what's the world coming to, where all one needs to do to become famous is sing very badly and flatly and dance like a robot with rubber legs?
http://www3.icered.com/icered/home/forum/threadList.jspa?locationID=3&whereAmI=33&threadID=18280&tstart=0
I love this forum. It has everything, arrogant elitists from RJC (or so he claims), indigant people from neighbourhood schools, and plus all the stupid comments by both sides. I recommend taking a chair and guffaw with great amusement as you read the thread.
I quote, "Go listen to some metal and smoke some pot with your low life friends instead of beating yourself up over your misguided life."
There are many more gems in there, look out for them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)