Friday, April 30, 2004

Inversely proportional

My nose is leaking like a tap. Took some piriton, the effects are kicking in so I shall leave soon. Talk by chilean president ricardo lagos was good, although his thick accent and me nodding off restricted the amount I absorbed. Lost the chance to ask his opinion on the econs s question. Went home after school immediately, and freshened up for the talk. After the talk, crys kp zhongwei and i meandered our way back to school, where zw and I bought snacks, ate dinner, set up the hall, all the while arguing and me being left speechless by zw's anti-social topics. Slowly, the people trickled in, and i noticed that the couples tend to spread themselves out from the main cluster near the centre, much like a nucleated settlement pattern. Halfway through the move had a crisis, the auntie wanted to close the hall, in the end pam mediated the situation as usual. My admiration for her grows everyday, someone who is really worthy of anyone's respect and a real example for anyone. No more incidents after that, a bout of cleaning up after that and I was back on trail home, sweat drenched long sleeved shirt and leather shoes hurting my toes in tow.
Next week will be damm exciting, many class quizs, plus econs s essay and bio group work, here's to another week of good, hard, honest work.

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Icons of self indulgence

I'm getting a little pissed over the fact that people keep on looking down on DInobot's last words. Today mrs toh butchered those immortal words with a rather dramatic way of saying it. I think people should go and watch beast wars, especially the episodes leading to code of hero. Dinobot's ultimate ambition was to die a hero, but he did so many dishonourable things, switching sides, causing the golden disks to be lost, in the end I think he went a bit overboard to die that glorious death he wanted. Whatever the case, those words shall be the way I guide myself in this life.

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

You know the drill

My to do list in my notebook isn't really as bad as I initially thought, as it turns out half of them are dates to remember rather than work to be done. Inf act, I'm rather ahead in terms of work to be done, just that I'm stalling on my revision. Don't really feel like tackling mr chan's haphazard notes on genetics yet.
Med fac movie screening this fri was thrown on my lap just like that on mon, it's surprising that I'm still retaining my sanity. The forms are settled and ready to go, plus we still have a talk on fri, a chance to hobnob with royalty, in a sense.
Just watched icontact. I must say mr raymond lim was more forthcoming with answers and was not as sleep inducing as a certain senior civil servant.
My file is crazily thick, so much so I flipped through it 10 times trying to unload something. It was a rather unnerving thing to do, shows the compulsive side of me where I have this desire to file things properly and worry about a bloated file. Sheesh.
Visited my old fanfics. Not much change on the reviews side. No time to continue any 23 chapter epics, the first fic took up too much of my emotions the other time. Re-reading it once in a while I actually wonder what I was smoking when I wrote the story. I broke every rule of writing that I set for myself now, like dead people stay dead, period, do not go anywhere near romance as I cannot describe it well, and over the top cain and abel antics. Oh well, nice to chart the evolution of my style of writing.
Super link ie energon is fine i guess, but the ideas are rather disjointed, and optimus needs to go on a diet, grand force is quite dumb, megatron needs to destroy more stuff, scorponok needs more screen time. In nay case, the animation is top notch, but i hope to see greater plot depth, not just the decepticons searching for energon to revive unicron. But beast wars started that way as well, and look how it turned out. Defintely room for bigger things.
You know the drill, fall to the abyss, then pick yourself up, all by yourself.

Monday, April 26, 2004

Experience

Fencing camp was fun, to a certain extent. Morning PT was quite sian, afternoon I became the bastard of the camp, shouting into the loudhailer like a crazy person. After my team bonding segment Joanne was cheekily telling the J1s not to take it to heart as I am normally a nice guy. Right, very good damage control. Played a bit of ball games, before getting really sianed and stoned in the hall before going out for dinner. Came back and talked cock with js ed and jay for a while, with gladys and amanda joining in, and aman was making a lot of off remarks. Played bluff, jimmy won, (again!). Eventually went up to the hall again for the quiz, saw the guardian angel, watched the girls mix evil concotions as punishment, then prepared for nightwalk. The Exorcist was very very very hardcore, I got really freaked myself.
I was in charge of dragging people out, some were calm, some were really scared. The two girls (one of them was xiaofang) screamed so much that zepeng came to complain to me and ghim moh residents complained to the police who came and put a premmature end to the nightwalk. In the end, I had to rewatch the ending again at the second LT, abandoned by all the guys who said they would wait for me to go home together. Had an uncomfortable night of sleep on the stage of the hall, woke up and started to remove drain covers. There were a hell lot of them, and then we had to wash the drain of muck and get rid of spiders. Finally we got the drain ready, and the j1s were led blindfolded through it. Either they had ice down their backs, flour on their faces, tickled by a feather duster or grass, stepping on balloons, or just plain splashed by holy water ie water used by kahli to wash her feet. After the drainwalk, I dragged my exhausted self on to a strangely crowded 7 and went home.
More another time.

Friday, April 23, 2004

Of squishing fishballs

Today was a day of altered plans. My notion of a quiet lazy afternoon at home having a nap, mugging a bit and listening to cyndi wang on the radio was turned upside down quite quickly.
It started halfway through mona's lesson, when she was busying herself with answering a question by one of my classmates, I casually remarked to chee keong if his kill bill vol. 2 has finished "ahem". His reply was negative, but crystal pointed out that it opened yesterday and it was rated M-18, both of which was news to me. So I asked around a bit for people who wanted to watch next week, but not many people were keen or underage. After lunch at ghim moh, I was supposed to go home, but decided to stone in delifrance with esther for a while, hoping she could teahc me complex numbers. As it turns out, once she got there, I took out my tutorial and she happily told me she hasn't done it yet. So I took out my biotech tutorial, decided to do some of it then leave after her tutor arrives. Then she suddenly exclaims she wants to watch kill bill before going for dance night. I thought she was jesting, as she ends tuition at 1630 and it was near impossible for us to watch the movie and go for dance night on time. But being herself, she took the free newspaper at delifrance and checked the timings. In the end, she negotiated with her tutor to cut her tuition by half, and we went to lido to catch the 1615 show.
The show was nice, but vol 1 was more exhilarating, (I'm not supposed to have seen vol. 1 though), vol 2 focused more on plot, and Bai Mei guy was a tad hilarious as he kept on brsuhing his beard. The squishing fishball image will stay in my head for some time.
Ok, tommorrow is fencing camp, last hurray. It was good while it lasted.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Not so loud now...

A bunch of quotes from today's "big" event.
"I would ask him, 'With all due respect , personally I don't think the reasons for youth apathy is not whatever you said, but you are!' Let's see him answer that."
"I have just got more material for my essay on youth apathy."
"I was grimacing up there, not smiling."
"The person was constantly dodging questions, which rendered the Q&A session useless."
"I'll get more feedback from talking to a wall!"
Shh..... I don't want to get exiled to sentosa and placed under house arrest forever. All I can say is that I was disgusted, totally disgusted by what transpired today. With such examples, youth apathy is here to stay.

Sunday, April 18, 2004

Wascally Wabbit



70th anniversary campfire! Haha, in the end, as usual we j2s got into a bit of mischief by ourselves, abandoning the main programme. Shepherding birthday boy fabian to the squash court corner, forming a human wall to block inquisitive onlookers, we "settled" him, edwin poking him a few times for good effect. And after that we ribbed edwin over his sleeveless adidas shirt forever, to the point everyone who just merely glanced at us was deemed to be checking out edwin, male or otherwise. And also the incident outside the school gate, js seemed to have grown b***s of titanium haha. And of course, malvin and the 80 dollar bunny suit, who got hugged by guides, protected by LaU, punched by ah beng scouts and what nots. Also, a fight erupted over musical chairs, which led to the finger given in front of the VIP.
NAPFA tommorrow. Shall go and whack it.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

Rain

1) For the want of it. NOW and A LOT of it.
2) The reason for me being labelled endangered.

Which reminds me, for the RJC people who did question 12 on CCAs for GP, yangqi was presenting this question during GP on tuesday, and he said that CCAs are important as they help you expand your social circle and thus when you grow up you have a social network to be tapped. Mrs toh commented that this was "cold and calculating", I say there is some truth in it.
Personally, I think the short 2 years we have in JC are the cause of such a mentality. It is essentially just 1.5 years, when you do some chopping and cutting. As a result, I think it is hard to make very good friends, as the time spent together is very much shorter as compared to secondary schools 4 years. Therefore, we try to make the most of the time spent, but it ends up being too little. Thus we cannot elevate friendships to a higher level above accquaintances at times, thus we are more likely to think of social networking. I'm not the only one who shares such a view, but then it is just my opinion on things and should not be taken as gospel.
Quote of the week: "My preference is that Manchester United loses the rest of their matches. But they are facing Leicester, Portsmouth and Blackburn. For those who do not understand what I am talking about, GO GET A LIFE!" Mr Sowden, while econs s lecture, explaining preference maximisation which consitutes welfare may not be fufilled.

Monday, April 12, 2004

Fate: Life planned out for you

It's monday, a new week, nothing much to talk about.
Let it be that way then.
Settling into a routine of mugging for the A's, in other words accepting the inenvitable.
On a lighter note, I finally broke my RJ duck. Collecting a loose pass, i cut outside a defender and readjusted to flick with my right foot. I sorta scuffed my shot but it eventually bobbled into the goal via the far post. Mr Ortega was screaming shoot shoot SHOOT!!! like a madman...
And Blues becomes a Darkloid...the coolest character becomes the enemy. Maybe we'll get to see a extremely intense Rockman Vs Blues cross fusion battle. Can't wait for BN4.
Going back to sec4 life of anime, gba roms and studying. I guess that is good.

Saturday, April 10, 2004

Sidewinders

Happy easter to all my christian friends!
Dad and mum are currently at margeret river, somewhere in perth, having their 4th honeymoon which they decided to have on impulse, which is very unlike them. In any case, mama and ah kong are temporarily staying with us. It is nice to have them around again. I love bantering with mama in a mixture of broken hokkien and english.
Went for a Guys TM outing on friday, but only fabian nick js mew and don showed up, don't know where the rest disappeared to. Nonetheless, we went to play Battlefield 1942, had a fun time fighting over planes, crashing them, blowing up tank after tank in berlin, and shouting "for zion" while throwing grenades and hitting the ground. Eventually the whole bunch of us cabbed back to my home to watch arsenal vs liverpool, liverpool took a 2-1 lead at halftime, until a certain mr henry turned the game on its head. Sighz.
brimingham vs Man Utd is starting, going to watch now. Keep sane evryone.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

That fine line

This has been a topic that has been nagging me for quite a while. It seems that our lives are governed by this fine line we all have to tread on each day. Reading the papers about service expectations in singapore, it seems people define good service as going the extra mile for the customer, but for those in the serivce industry, is it really worth it? They don't get paid extra time for their extra million miles. And yet people still expect them to accomodate their every whim. I think it is quite unfair to service personel, but having said that, I don't really like the idea of having a sour faced person serve me, but I say there is this fine line we have to tread.
We want to be helpful, like clearing plates for others, but you run the risk of becoming a doormat.
You are honourable and want to do things the right way, not cheat, but you risk lagging behind others who laugh at your stupidity.
Everyday poses us more fine lines to walk on, some thinner than gossamer.
Tread lightly.

(I'm damm sleepy at 9)
Carpe Diem

A letter I wrote to my OG which was supposed to be read out on o-nite but something else cropped out. Reproduced here just for the heck of it and rather than let it rot in my C drive. Besides, I think I wrote what I really felt in it.

Dear Apsytus,

First of all, I must apologise for my absence as I have to be in charge of the campfire, therefore I cannot be with you, much as I really want to but duty comes first. We must be responsible in whatever we do and I hope you understand and forgive me for my absence.
In my place is this letter to all of you great and wonderful individuals, which I’m proud to call my Selffars. Although Day 1 you guys were still awkward and unsure, I sensed in all of you buried potential, and I was not disappointed when the games were played. You guys were committed, determined, hardworking and persistent to the very end, values that are very important in this world.
I hope through the games, amazing race, dancing and other activities like discussing toilet activities and singing songs you guys have bonded as one as an Ja’rox, and made new and good friends, and have started to understand the wonder that is RJC.
Like I have repeated ad naseum, this is not my orientation. I merely facilitated your orientation. Think back over the last few days. Did you really make orientation the orientation you want? Or did you feel it was a big waste of time?
I hope all of you will take at least a few minutes before you sleep at night and reflect over the last week, all the games, activities etc. You will never have a second orientation, so cherish these memories. I’ll always have fond memories of my orientation Zaqaedor, and I hope all of you feel the same of Jaxoras.
This is not the end. This is only the beginning of your wonderful JC life. You will experience the highs and lows of teenage life, of trying out new experiences and being a better person. You guys have a short 2 years, go out and cherish every moment of it.
If you always wanted to try a sport, go do it, and to hell what other people think. My advice to you in RJC is very simple. Carpe Diem. Go out there and seize the day, go out there and live your dream. Not mine, not their, not your parents’ dreams, but yours and yours only. Go out and try new things, pick up a new skill, etc. RJC is a place of opportunity for you to do so. Never forget that.
Last of all, I would thank Yang Qian my co-Ja’Dye, for putting up with an easy-going to a fault me, we may have had our disagreements, but we had them due to our desire for the best for our Ja’rox.
At the end of the day, what really matters is that you take away something positive from this 6 day experience, be it compassion for your fellow man, understanding the other gender better or just simply having more friends, it is good enough for me. I, as a Ja’Dye, have completed my task and I’ll be very happy.
And yeah, if you guys need any help in any way, just buzz me. I’m more than willing to help you out and I’ll keep everything private.
I’ll end off again with my favourite quote. “Tell my tale to those who ask, tell it truly, the ill deeds, along with the good, may I be judged accordingly. The rest… is silence.”
In short, when you finally leave this world, what do you want people to remember you as? By your good deeds, or ill deeds?
Last of all, remember, we are the hope of a better age.
The fire of the Rafflesian Spirit burns in your heart.
Auspicium Melioris Aevi.

Yours sincerely,
Zhao Yang

Monday, April 05, 2004



Need I say more?

Saturday, April 03, 2004

In the face of adversity, stare at it and tackle it head on.

Take that Arsenal, just our way of saying that if you want to be the premier team of England, you have to do it over our dead bodies. Heroes all, from the back, caroll's wonder early save, brown's and silvestre's composure, a far cry from their jittery selves. Fullbacks neville and o'shea didn't attack as much, but were solid. Keane bossed the midfield, fletcher came to the fore when needed greatly. Ronaldo's incisive running and trickery won us a number of free-kicks, plus he was the outlet for counter attacks. Giggs the old head showed he had it in him, setting up scholes' goal, functioning as a support striker well. Scholes all round play was great, won a few tackles, scored a typical goal. Solskjaer cut a lonely figure up front, but he did his best even though he lost many aerial duels. In the end, it was a great team performance, and i can't get any happier.
Now for the resurgence.

Friday, April 02, 2004

Freed from expectation

Never have i felt so liberated in my life. I finally thought it over and sorted out my feelings and thoughts. And because of that, I feel really much better. It is amazing what a little soul searching and a chance encounter can do for a confused person. Anyways, I have really seen the light. No more stupid self torturing with stupid thoughts.
Yeah, I'm really happy. That means I can finally concentrate on what is my first priority, those stellar results. My common tests haven't been all good, so I have to improve.
Like all stories, this one begins with a girl.
Contrary to what you think, i didn't come up with the above line. It was from the spiderman movie.