Maybe it's the champagne talking, but I'll still say it.

Oh man, bio prac is macham. Lilian wong invilgilated my prac. Plus the fact we were counting grains of rice on this lousy sheet of graph paper it felt like RI all over again. The second question was the worst of all, with powerful mark allocationa like 9 freaking marks, plus the controvesy over the axis for the graph. And kidneys are the worst thing to draw. Add the fact I almost had a heart attack when I saw that I had left the report form empty, it was a harrowing prac for me. Don't know whether I expressed what I tried to say properly or not. And I flouted the rule about not using correction fluid.
And to round off the machamness, a bird shit fell into my claypot chicken during lunch. For all the 4D enthusiats, buy 0224, my index number.
Had a comforting rest of the day chatting, playing games, watching OC, snippets of champion and singapore idol. Watching the champion reminds me of the times when I actually enjoyed swimming competively. Still have those medals from cat high times to remind myself of them. Oh well, can't do that anymore, I think my speed is quite hopeless now.
He catches her at the security gate and tells her he knows she loves him and he never meant to hurt her. Anna says she does love him, as a friend, but she knows they don’t have any chemistry. He doesn’t want her to go, but she tearfully tells him she has to, she couldn’t make Newport a home. Then she says maybe one day they’ll be perfect for each other. She hugs him goodbye and walks through security. Seth wants to know what he’ll do without her. Who will play Jenga with him? What will he do without her sage wisdom? A tearful Anna says, “Confidence, Cohen.” As she walks down the terminal Seth bangs on the plastic partition, yelling her name. She turns around, her cheeks wet, her gaze pained. Neither speaks. She simply gives him a small tearful smile and leaves.
And she's gone.
"I'm leaving because I have to."

Exodus '04

Oh man, this is Utada Hikaru at her sultry best. Fans of her previous works will either find her 180 degree change refreshing or get turned off by it. I fall under the former category. This album departs from her usual J-pop fare, plus it's all in English, her first. I must say some of the songs are very sensual, with the lyrics painting various imageries, making some people hot under the collar, or horny to use a more direct term. I highly recommend it, as it is not your usual radio fare, it's a mix of R&B with strong synthesizers in the background. What makes it stand out is of course her voice which is distinctive. Some people may still prefer her previous pop offerings, but I'm fine with the change as I felt she was getting a bit formulaic. This album will appeal to some people only, so I don't expect a mainstream release anytime soon. Anyway, the song below, Exodus '04, is ironically the most popish song of the album, it could even be an English version of "deep river", with the strong Indian beats in the background.

Exodus '04

With you these streets are heaven
Now home feels so foreign
They told me I was mistaken; infatuated
And I was afraid to trust my hunches
Now I am ready

Daddy don't be mad that I'm leaving
Please let me worry about me
Mama don't you worry about me
This is my story

Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean through the desert snow
We'll say goodbye to the friend we know
This is our exodus '04

Through traffic jams in Tokyo
New music on the radio
We'll say goodbye to the world we know
This is our exodus '04

Landscapes keep changing
His story teaches something
I know I could be mistaken but my heart has spoken
I cannot redirect my feelings
The waves have parted

Daddy don't be mad that I'm leaving
Please let me worry about me
Mama don't you worry about me
This is my story

Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean through the desert snow
We'll say goodbye to the friend we know
This is our exodus '04

Through traffic jams in Tokyo
New music on the radio
We'll say goodbye to the world we know
This is our exodus '04

I'm listening to a music never-ending
My baby don't you know I'll never let you down
You've opened me to so many different endings
But baby I know that you'll always be around

Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean through the desert snow
We'll say goodbye to the friend we know
This is our exodus '04

Through traffic jams in Tokyo
New music on the radio
We'll say goodbye to the world we know
This is our exodus '04

Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean through the desert snow
We'll say goodbye to the friend we know
This is our exodus '04

Through traffic jams in Tokyo
New music on the radio
We'll say goodbye to the world we know
This is our exodus '04

Knife edge

Trip is tentatively on. I can't really feel too optimistic, hopefully a good decision is made with valid reasons.
Nothing else really to write here, prac starts in 5 days.
And united drew again. Argh.

Curtain call

This is the end,
there is no more.
And so another chapter of my life closes.
I didn't cry, nothing in me choked up, nothing really to indicate that the feeling of severing all ties with a place which I called school for the last 2 years. It was more of a confused feeling, not the warm fuzzy feeling as john described, more like that feeling mixed with the relief in knowing it's all over, plus a sudden realisation that 2 years have just zipped past so quickly. Throw in a feeling of introspection as I think back over the 2 years you've got a very confused zhao yang.
It seems just like yesterday when I got that phone call from sally welcoming me to RJC and telling me she was my OGL. I can remember how lost I felt on the first day, how I fretted over stuff really insignificant now. And then things accerlerated at a mad pace, at one point I felt so overwhelmed that I didn't want to go to school at all.
But at the end of it, I think when I look back on these 2 years, I'll have enough happy memories to get me by. JC sure taught me a lot of things in the short 2 years, helped me to be a better person.
I just like to thank all those people I got to know in RJC, my classmates, people in fencing, faction, outlook, assorted ex-RI mates, 22nd o team, my J1 OG Qaeas, and my J2 OG Apsytus and the teachers. And most of all, the Guys, for managing to stick together despite being different classes and pursuing different goals. Cheers to all the new and old friendships.
I guess the occasion got to me somewhat. At times I really wanted this day to come, but now that it has, I wish I could go back and do some things differently. Like not betraying Jimmy in the 2nd week of school, saying things I shouldn't, playing the fool instead of doing things right. All that said and done, I'll cherish every experience, every nugget of wisdom gathered.
Next stop, university or the army. It just hit me that after prom, I'll really never see some people ever again. We'll go our seperate ways, even the Guys would have to split up.
Maybe for all those who knew me, in the future, just remember me as the irreverent idiot, and allow yourself a nice chuckle.
"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."

Just this

I said this to a friend online the other day.
"I would be very happy to be an ordinary person who is extraordinary to his family."
Somehow, it sums up what I want in my life.
To make a difference in areas which matters to me the most.

Down

Went through today feeling very lousy. No motivation to study, got scolded by my CT, friends falling ill etc. A day to forget.
A week to bio prac. Like my teacher said, the A's will be over before you know it, but whether I'll be finished when they're done is another thing. I don't want to live in blinded bliss for 3 months then live in denial for the rest of my life.
Was sec 4 better? I don't know, memory's too foggy.
A classmate asked me the other day, if I could get any car in the world, what would it be? I told her that it'll have to be a red lambogrini, and I'll put a large Autobot insignia on it and call it Sideswipe. She laughed and said it wasn't really me, which I agreed.
In reality, I would rather have a nice gray volvo. I would rather be a strong dependable person, one that people can count on, albeit boring and unadventurous. Something like my dad. I always described him as a volvo, which he is to our family. I guess my desire to want a volvo stemmed from his influence.
I guess, to take the analogy further, there are many people who are volvos, and there are many others who are also swanky sports cars. The sports cars are nice to look at, they get all the initial attention, but there will always be people who prefer the steadiness of the volvo to the speed of a sports car. Or maybe they decide that speed is not their style and prefer steadiness.
No matter how much attention a sports car gets, I would rather stick to being a volvo. I would make a very bad sports car.

Carpe Diem

Why am I still acting as though the A levels do not start in less than a month???

Karrrrannnggg Guuunnnniiii!

Well, I turned out my cupboard, and I found have a stack of CDs I don't want anymore. For a small and negotiable fee you can take them off me. All of them are original, mostly in mint condition (a few scratches here and there, nothing a closed eye can't rectify) Anyone interested just msg me or leave a tag.
And here's the embarassing list. My music tastes then was a bit weird I must admit.
N Sync - No strings attached
backstreet boys - millenium and black and blue
craig david - born to do it
westlife - 1st album, coast to coast (plus poster that I never got rid off), and swear it again single (got conned by jacob in sec 2 for this one, he told me the album was out and it was a steal for 10 bucks.)
boyzone- by request
max and now 4
code red- crimson (won it in the law quiz in sec 2)
So please help increase my coffers and decrease my shelf space. Bidding starts now! :)

Democracy in Singapore is screwed up. Discuss.

How liberating. I ponned the last day of school, after never done so prior to that. Was changed and ready to go, until my inner voice told me this would be the last ever time I get to cut class, and "reason" won in the end.
Won't bore you with details of me studying here, suffice to say it was heartily interspaced with plenty of naps.
I must write this observation down. After seeing the results of the voting in Singapore Idol, I think it would be safe to say that democracy in Singapore needs a lot of work.
First off, addressing the problem of people who can actually sing getting voted off instead of those who pretend to be singing, let's assume a simple model. Out of the Singapore population, assuming that 40% don't vote because they have imperfect information or lack the ability to do so, eg. they don't watch the show at all or they cannot afford to vote. Continuing on, we assume that another 30% are those armchair critics, who watch the show but do not feel compelled to vote, for what reasons I'll touch on later. Then take another 15% who feel motivated enough to vote, but vote in small denominations, let's say less than 5 times. The final 15% are strong and avid voters, who would vote in larger denominations, possibly due to the fact they wish to support their friends/family members/relatives.
Taking this model, if it was an election, it is unconsituitional to form a government where only 30% of the population voted. So the results should not be upheld as they wouldn't form the majority opinion.
In addition, the last 15% that had voted a lot of times are not governed by the most important aspect of democracy, impartiality. They definately have a motive in voting for a certain person, which may and is likely to run counter to the idea of voting for what you think is the best idol.
To make the case more damming, the penultimate 15%, which voted impartially, would be drowned out by the last 15%, thus they would make little impact on standings.
Another point made is that voting ability is affected by affluence as well, so it seems like market forces are at work here, where dollar votes dictate.
Thus, I think there would be enough evidence to conclude that the Singapore Idol voting system is flawed.
Why is it flawed? I offer some insights:
1) Imperfect information, or to be put it bluntly, lack of an enlightened nation that doesn't vote in terms of talent or is unable to recognise talent.
2) Voting on wrong basis. One should only vote for a person if he or she deems the person worthy enough to stay in the competition, not because he or she is good looking/ is your friend/ is your eye candy.
3) Apathy. The portion of the pouplation that may or may not recognise talent do not vote and therefore do not make any difference. This may be due to many reasons, like they don't vote as they assume the next person would, do not feel enough to vote or would rather spend the 50 cents elsewhere.
4) Duplication. One person is entitled to infinite number of votes, so with a lot of thumbwork and money, it is possible for one person to influence the results. Which sickens me to the core.
I believe that Mediacorp should reduce the number of votes per number to 4 only, thus it reduces the likelihood that an interest group can influence the results with their endless texting. Also, the population of Singapore should vote according to the main objective of voting, which is vote in who you deem is worthy to come back, and not due to other reasons. Lastly, it would really really REALLY help if Singaporeans become more enlightened and don't vote irresponsibly. There are no walkovers here.

No comment

I think my titles are lacking in the usual zip and spiffiness, must be due to the quagmire I got myself in.
Less spoken about the results, the better. Hopelessly underachieved. No use fuming about it now, need to grab my subjects by the scuff of the neck and change my failing fortunes.
So many observations of human behaviour in my life, yet cannot find the words to articulate them here in words. Maybe when all this is over, I can sit down and think thoroughly about them.
Till then, I'll make myself scarce here, the books need my attention more than my ego on show here.

Reap what you sow

Well well, the asphalt sure smells good, as I have my nose firmly placed against it for a rather long time. D for chem, kinda expected as papers 1 2 & 3 were disatrous, maths B, which sucks as everyone and his or her mother got an A and I should have joined their ranks if not for horrendous careless mistakes that made me feel sick to the core when I saw them. Econs, I need 13 marks from DRQ to scrape a B, and I'm still feeling sore over the essays. Bio is neither here bad nor good yet, as we haven't got the full paper back yet, but not really keeping my fingers crossed for it. Only silver lining is an A2 for GP, but it says a lot if I do the best for a subject which requires no studying.
Guess the time for the wishy washy studying is over. Time to knuckle down and study hard. It starts on the 21st of october and ends on the 30th of november, and I swear I'm going to do it right for this last time.

Life is waiting

Today was fun. Nice lunch, nice movie, nice issue of transformers, overall nice day.
The terminal is a good movie, thanks to edwin for recommending it. It did capture the human element of the show well, with many a hilarious moments thrown in for measure. I now realise that an airport is a mini city in itself, and the movie put faces on the normally faceless and nameless aiport staff, letting me realise they're just like you and me, normal human beings, with their own lives, desires and dreams.
I find it ironic that i ate sushi for lunch and dinner. Must be one of those days where everything becomes conincidental, like during campfire with the 72 bian hat trick. Dropped one whole packet of california rolls on the floor, one even rolled almost under the piano, had to finish the whole packet myself as "punishment" haha. Even drank quite a lot white wine as well, as it was a sweeter wine and I was feeling a bit reckless thanks to the nice day. Even my sis was nice enough to get me some ice-cream after dinner, even though she had the ulterior motive of wanting to use the whipped cream bottle and chocolate syrup, so much so it was so sweet that i just ate the ice cream and rejected the whipped cream, much to her chagrin.
Friday was my first meeting for quite a long time, and well, it was fun at times, settled quite a number of stuff, shuwei came up with SIGH! sign to GL anyone who talked out of point (i got it like 3? times), only person not to get it was brandon. Had coffee break courtesy of brandon, who only woke up at 2 when jun seng called him . Jolly. The meeting ended quite early at 9, (we expected to be able to get a mid-morning snack at 5 am) we went to J8's cafe cartel and ate dinner. Had a very stale fish and chips for dinner, with free flow of ice water and big hunk of bread to go along with it. The guys laughed at me cutting it up, they rather tear it apart with their hands. Ate till 2230, then don bought a very aptly named shandy called DNA. Took a small swig at it, tasted like sprite mixed with beer, with carbon dioxide bubbles in it. Headed home feeling a tad heady at one point.
Hmm, just realised I'm developing a very cavalier attitude to alcoholic drinks now. My mum must be fearing for the contents in her 5 well-stocked wine cellars.
I guess, the real meaning of "everything but the girl" was evident in the terminal, where the hero doesn't get the girl. Reality? Maybe. But not on my watch.
At the station, before I left for home, I heard the disabled musician sing a very heart rendering version of "leaving on a jetplane". The style i liked most songs sung, chock full of emotion and totally from the heart. They don't do that much nowadays. Having said that, english radio is saturated with rap and punk rock that my mum hankers for the periods when soft love ballads ruled the airwaves, and I do agree with her. Watching singapore idol she started singing along with most of the songs from yesteryear.
Next week will be a tough week. Hope I get the results I deserve. Final lap people, this break has been good, but it's back to business.

Everything but the girl

Ahh yessss, love that smell of freedom. Or is that asphalt I smell instead?
Yup, prelims are done and dusted, 2 and a half weeks of mental torture have finally gone, and I'm glad to report that I didn't suffer from any mysterious anxiety caused stomach/head/backache this time.
Off my head, nothing much of significance really happened, been taking this time to sleep in, read, and ultimately take a breather before the real thing comes along.
Econs s is just an exercise in futility, I was trying to force quotes to make them make sense, which is a very bad thing. Was pondering whether I should come up with a quote myself and attribute it to an economist by the name of John Smith who like Mendel published his work in obscure journals. Was contemplating the name alan smith but sowden would probably have a coronary if he sees the name of Judas reincarnated (to him anyway).
Finished Da Vinci code. I finally join the ranks of the many people who have read this book, and frankly I wonder what's the fuss is about. Sure it was exciting at times, but it got a bit repetive when the main character keeps on having "eureka" moments. He must have had like 7-8 of them in the book. Another thing that bothered me was the sheer length, as most of it was spent doing detective work which didn't really move the story along. I sort of laboured through it, as at times mr brown didn't know what kind of story he wants it to be, a sherlock-holmes type or indiana-jones type.
The first few remarks I heard about this book was its anti-christ theme, and having read how the church has attempted to cover up a lie leads me to wonder a few things. Firstly, how much of the work is real? Places seem real enough, too much intricate detail to be fabricated, it'll be interesting to see what was fact and what was fiction in the book. Another thing which stuck in my mind was Mr Tan, normally a mild-mannered person, had strongly said that the contents of the book was false. It seems that the content did strike a nerve, but I would think it is hardly damaging. Personally, I have nothing against the christian faith, I believe as a whole, it promotes good moral behaviour, but it is undeniable that its past is tainted somewhat. Nevertheless, so what if christianity is based on a lie? Lots of other things are. It just so happens to be the biggest one ever. Anyway, I wouldn't go so far as to pigeon hole every christian to be a bible-thumping evangelist. They come in shapes and sizes.
On a more earthly issue, on the day I was scoring a hat trick of U essays for econs s, wayne rooney, still 18, scores a hat trick of stupendous goals, a left foot lash to the back of the net, a feint and a right footed daisy cutter, before a free kick that brought back memories of a certain mr david beckham. I wished I watched the live match. I would have cried my eyes out with tears of joy and woke up the whole estate with my shouts. 6-2. The last time Man Utd was on the right end of that scoreline was when they shot the magpies down in their own nest, with scholes netting a hattrick too. The only I can complain about was the defence going to sleep twice, letting in 2 goals of the silliest quality. But otherwise, it was a great performance, made even better by a superb player. Think about this. Guys his age (which is also my age) get nervous when asking a girl out or taking an exam, but in front of a stadium 67 000 fans, you score a hat trick with nonchalence, like it was a kick about in the park with your mates. Now, I DARE anyone to write Manchester United off.
Ruud, rooney, ronaldo, roy and rio. The stuff of dreams, ironically in the Theatre of Dreams. Rio holding the fort, roy snapping at the heels of the opposition, giggs and ronaldo giving fullbacks twisted blood, ruud and rooney making defences piss in their pants, plus a very strong squad, I do think we stand a good chance this season. And hopefully it'll be a throwback to those good old days of free-flowing Manchester United football, exciting, incisive and devastating.
Haha, jimmy just asked me about my nick, which is the same as the title of this post. Oh well, at least I have "everything" right? The girl can come later...

Up close and very personal

Wrote this to help my CT write my testimonial, and rather than let it rot in my hard drive, might as well put it out here and let people read. As honest as it gets. Haha maybe after reading you can write me a testimonial on friendster. (*hint I'm not that desperate hint*)

Ng Zhao Yang 2SO3E

1) List 5 adjectives that best describe you.

Easy-going, passionate, meticulous, analytical, affable

2) Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths: Tries to come up with different solutions to problems, will always strive for the best possible solution, but still willing to compromise for the group.
Weaknesses: Lazy at times and tends to suffer no fools. Not very tactful either, says things before thinking.

3) Personal mission statement

"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."

4) Subjects I like

Economics. Being the subject that is most relevant to my life now, I can relate to it well and use concepts learned in everyday life. Furthermore money is the new religion of the modern economy therefore as a student it helps me have a grasp on what is happening in the world, where money is a very important concern. In addition, the concepts in economics can be challenged and have a human angle, which is similar to my first love law, and it lacks the dryness and absolute-ness of science, where everything is more or less cold hard fact and I just have to accept it.

5) Hobbies

I like reading and writing, but my major writing projects tend to fall through halfway thanks to either writer’s block or lack of time. I also play computer games. Now and then I’ll play football and basketball with friends, or go swimming in my estate’s pool. I rarely watch television save for live televised football matches and played the guitar very rarely. I also have an interest in japanese animation and japanese culture. Also in possession is an almost obsessive liking for the cartoon Transformers, to the point of imaging how cars on the street would look like if they could transform.

6) Challenges over the past 2 years

Personally, I think in my first year I tried to do a lot and found myself with little sleep and a lot of stress at times. I wanted to experience as much as I could as I believed each experience is a learning experience. In the end, I helped out in many areas and aspects, be it in my 4 CCAs or at home. Part of the learning experience was also the independent way of studying required for JC, as you are basically left alone to fend for yourself. Sometimes I would devote all my time to other things and neglect my studies, but in the end I struck a balance and learned to take only as much as I can handle.

7) 3 things I value in life

Family: 2 parents 3 siblings plus various relatives, when everything goes against you at least they’ll be there for you
Friends: No man is an island, we are all social animals and we need friends. Peers, for better or worse, are important in a young person’s life
A (warped) sense of humor: Otherwise, everything would be too dull

8) Course I wish to pursue

I wish to pursue law, specifically biomedical or biotechnological law, as I have interest in both biology and law. It is my belief that these two subjects are the most dynamic subjects today, new laws are being set everyday and we have only started to scratch the surface of biotechnology. I hope that once I graduate I can be the forefront of such changes. In addition, I feel that law suits my outspoken and analytical persona, as I have been actively reading about law ever since I was exposed to it in secondary 2.
I wish to study law, in order of preference, England, Australia then Singapore. I hope to be able to experience the English way of life and by living overseas learn to be independent. Undecided at the moment about the choice of which university, but veering towards the University of Nottingham.

9) CCAs

Fencing:

I started fencing slightly later than the rest, as I had joined the CCA later. However, I soon got the hang of the skills necessary and made great strides quickly. I have a good attendance record, despite having to juggle various other CCAs. I would participate actively in the trainings, working hard under the coaches to learn the skills. Although I was not from a sport CCA before so I was unfamiliar with the concept of a sport CCA, but eventually I got the hang of it.
I attended the various camps and clinics organised. Although I didn’t hold a leadership position in fencing due to commitments in other CCAs, I still actively helped to carry out the activities, even though I did not help in the actual planning process itself. I helped out in a fencing clinic for disadvantaged children, as well as initiating activities in the Fencing camp for the current J1s. I also attended some extra trainings as I was eager to try and improve my skill level.
In competitions, although most of the time we faced up against far superior opposition, we still gave it our best try and gave it all we got.
From my time in fencing, I learned various skills, notably, determination to practise hard to master the techniques; teamwork in order to work well with my teammates in team matches; time management to juggle between studies and CCA; leadership as sometimes I had to lead my friends in stretching and drills. In addition, I enjoyed the camaraderie of my club mates, and I shall take away fond memories of my time in fencing. Given a chance in the future I would want to pursue fencing again.

Events Organised / Participated In
Pesta Sukan Team Championships 2003
Raffles Invitational 2003
Novices Fencing Championships 2004
Singapore Junior Fencing Championships 2004
Schools Invitational Championships 2004 (Div A)
Fencing Singapore International 2004
1 Clinic for welfare youths (9th Sept 2003)
School Clinic Camp for current J2s
Camp for current J1s

Scouting:

Ng Zhao Yang was a member of 01 Raffles Scout Group from 2000 to 2003. He was a volunteer leader with the Group during his first Junior College Year in 2003.

Ng Zhao Yang served in the Group Council of 2003, a council dedicated to the direct administration of the Group’s scouting programme, serving his council position as Venture Vice Chairman. Zhao Yang executed his duties with pride and dedication. He was in charge of the matters involving the Venture Troop consisting of Secondary 4 students, namely their pursuits of the National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA). The ultimate goal was to train them to take on the mantel of Group leadership in the Group Council the following year. His efforts together with Lee Wen Jun Edwin the Venture Chairman were rewarded when the Venture Troop was awarded the Frank Sands Award Silver. Despite having no portfolio in 2004, Zhao Yang still occasionally helps out, drawing upon his experiences to educate the younger Scouts, and has provided advice on matters concerning the new Council before.

Zhao Yang was not confined only to his portfolio, as he played his part in helping the running of the activities of the Scout Unit as well. Despite facing disruptions due to the SARS outbreak, the Group Council organised a diverse range of activities for the Scout Unit, ranging from Scout skills-based sessions held in school to outdoor orienteering exercises and night hikes, ensuring that the Scouts are well equipped to handle life’s challenges, true to the Scout Motto, “Be Prepared”. This ten men team also organised a Community Involvement Project, a Campfire as well as four camps over the course of 2003. Through their efforts, they fostered group spirit and camaraderie. Zhao Yang was instrumental in the successful running of the aforementioned activities.

During his time as the Venture Vice Chairman, Zhao Yang displayed maturity in thought and action to communicate and work well with charges only a year younger than himself. He won their respect and trust with his affable personality, but was tough when important decisions had to be made.

Zhao Yang also actively seeks to improve himself, and his efforts saw fruition as he was awarded with the Venture Scout Standard.

Despite having to juggle other commitments in the form of other co-curricular-activities and his studies in college, he still always found time to attend to his charges’ welfare. A vocal person, he frequently contributes ideas to Group Council discussions, but is also able to know when to put aside personal beliefs to stand by the Council consensus. Zhao Yang is also a situational leader, able to think on his feet and react in a decisive manner to all sorts of problems that may crop up. He carries out his duties in a responsible manner, always meticulous and making sure that everything would run smoothly when executed.

A person who exudes confidence, is passionate about what he does and works determinedly to attain his goals, Zhao Yang has a bright future ahead of him, which would see him being an influential figure in any organisation he goes to eventually, impacting the lives of those he meets.

Raffles Faction:

As a member of Raffles Faction, I played a part in many school based projects, like Open House and Faculty Initiation. In addition, I also helped organise faculty based events, and helped foster friendship and togetherness within the medicine faculty. Although it was hard going at first as we were a relatively new organisation without a clear goal, in the end we managed to find a purpose for ourselves and worked towards achieving it. Through my experiences in Faction, I have learnt that bravado does not get anything done, one must still go through the proper channels in order to get something done. I also learnt that the seemingly impossible task of motivating a large number of incredulous 18 year olds who deem school events as dumb is not that impossible at all. All you need is a thick skin, mega watt smile and sincere words. Not all will sway your way, but those that do, at least that’s worth it.

Rafflesian Outlook:

My interest in writng brought me to Outlook, where I was the vice-chairman. On hindsight, the job required me to do more than what I had expected, I thought all I had to do was to write and write, but I ended up doing interviews, organising layouts for the magazine itself, coordinating between the photography club to take the necessary photos etc. It required my organisational skills to ensure everything ran smoothly. Also with our club’s small size and infrequent meetings, it was hard to pass information along easily and we also had to sort out that problem, which we did using a message group. My time in outlook, although short, was fruitful as I picked up useful skills such as discipline in meeting datelines and working with a small team.

10) Scholarship

Honestly, I hope to get any scholarship that can help me study law in the UK. I am currently looking at the PSC scholarship, but there is a sad lack of scholarships for prospective law students

Soqed Hezi

Strangely enough, my much-maligned and misunderstood alias has never made an appearance on my blog. In the jewish bible it's the name of the Angel of the Sword, i gleaned it off an evangelion fanfiction website, and it has since been mispronounced and massacred by many others. My favourite, "Socketed Hazy" thanks to the Diablo 2 craze in sec 4.
Catching up on beloved sleep nowadays, to the point I'm still alert close to 1 am. Murphy's law at work. Still need to get started for Econs S as well. Why isn't there like "The definative guide to studying for Economics S level" on the market, the physics people have this large black book with green lettering on the front that's like their physics s bible. And the best part is I don't have the slightest idea how to go about studying for it. Jolly. Shall figure it out somehow. Don't want sowden to give me a sneering look when he returns me my paper.
Otherwise, it's a rather relaxing time for me. Watched Kid's central, someone please lend me gundam seed cds, am starting to have an interest in it. My weakeness for giant robots is showing again. In any case, it's still a generic only-pilot-is-a-kid-who-doesn't-want-to-fight anime. Been that done that a long time ago, with eveangelion and a host of other animes. At least the male lead is not as whiny as shinji and he has girls actively after him. And hopefully he doesn't go bezerker and kill everyone eventually.
Hmm LaU asked me a question yesterday, and I never got to answer it. "What really goes on in your mind zhaoyang?" Sometimes I wonder too. Sometimes I'm so sure of myself, so sure of what I'm doing, so in my element that I feel like I'm invincible. Then on other days I feel so swamped by things and elements unknown that I just feel so overwhelmed and frustrated, even if these things wouldn't have bothered another person for one second.
Good enough answer? At least that's what I think.
On a final sidenote, I really miss fencing, on many levels, fitness wise, challenge wise, and company wise. Seeing my foil lying forlornly in a corner of my studyroom collecting dust is a real sad sight to behold.
Good luck to all those taking S papers!

All that one needs

Well well, it's the sign of the changing times that I am actually blogging in the afternoon, instead of studying or sleeping while studying. Yeah, it's the end of the A level prelims, still I got my Econs S paper but that's for later. Much later.
Friday was quite the enjoyable day, with various interesting experiences interspaced with many guys moments. It started with me waking up feeling still a bit zonky, thanks to me staying up late to watch OC. Struggled to school and to stay awake somewhat, in between reading my notes and taking a few cat naps here and there to try and raise my attention levels.
Bio paper 1 was quite easy, but I made one really careless mistake. Argh. Hopefully this paper pushes my Bio grade up. Felt very glad for it to be psuedo over, as the 2 weeks had taken its toll on me. Inexplicable aches and what nots didn't really help me.
Took the train with mogilan to dhoby ghaut, and argued with him whether there is a need to understand the why of everything. A longer elaboration another time. Anyway we got there and saw no one, but js murugan and kenneth came just behind us. The rest joined up later at different times. We got over to paradiz and ate macs for lunch, and that was the start of my money begging to mogilan, as I forgot to top up my wallet before leaving home.
Quote of the lunchhour:
"It's based on a true story right?" Js, refering to the Terminal when everyone else was talking about dodgeball. LaU started to tell us about Valerie, which I am damm convinced is fabian in disguise.
And yes, the whole of yesterday was punctuated with dodgeball jokes, which I could not understand nor appreciate.
Lunch done, we began to LAN. An attempt of battlefield vietnam was aborted soon after, as it was too laggy and boring. We switched to the original battlefield, and kenneth created a server where the bots outnumber us by 10 to 1. But it was really, in truth no kick at all. Plus somehow we didn't really get that many bots. In the end, kenneth decided to go for the jugular and changed the ratio to 100 to 1, and started laughing madly and shouting "Song bo? No kick right? Now sure got kick!" as he pointed at the tactical map, with the numerous blue dots compared to the measly few red dots we had.
Now, that's what I call fun. When you throw your grenade you can kill up to about 7 bots at one go. And they started to try and fly (and crash) the planes again. Finally figured out how to drive the tank properly.
CS was next, and we tried out the new features of 1.6, namely the tactical shield for the CTs. It's amusing to see 4 CTs charging up the italy tunnel with the shields. I shotgunned my way around. This time got less drama, no one headshoted himself with his own grenade, or flash his own teammates. Or maybe I should say I wasn't on fabian team that's why.
3 hours and $5 dollars later, we trekked over to HMV to kill time, saw DC and his gf(?). Anyway we harassed him for a while, before letting him be.
At HMV saw cheryl, went in to talk to her for a while. The rest were playing finger games and trying to contact edwin. Then he did show up, and we flashed lenty of thumb-ups.
In the end we came to a consenssus (after threatening to keep on forming horseshoes around me), to got to suntec for dinner. Along the way, as I was already quite tired due to lack of sleep and my heavy bag of bio stuff I started to whine, the other DC style, much to kenneth's chagrin, who then threatened me with the "umbrella". We slacked at esplanade, under the stern glare of a security guard there. Brandon had to leave for Lingli's birthday party, and sufficiently rested we hit suntec foodcourt for dinner. Following which mogilan told us about this quiet place in suntec where we can just sit and talk cock, and led us to the sky garden.
Well, if you never been there before, DON'T go there unless you're with your other half. I think we unwittingly passed by 9-12 couples making out under the dim lights.
Gosh. We couldn't really find a spot devoid of them, so we just sat on the floor, as far away from them as possible.
My eyes were hurting due to my contacts, and fabian's unfunny jokes were not really helping. On another day I would have laughed but not yesterday. Edwin had joined us for dinner and they were grilling him.
The I saw it. I couldn't really believe it at first, as my eyes were quite blurry, but I asked edwin and mogilan if what I saw was correct, and they confirmed it.
In truth I don't quite know what to make of it. In any case, it's something I found a tad disturbing.
Yeah, maybe towards the end of the day I was not quite myself, but yeah I had fun. Maybe, just maybe, like mogilan said, why waste yourself looking for that one love, when all you need is the company of friends?

The Lazarus Effect

Almost there. 2 more subjects left. Chem was quite harrowing, especially for paper 1, you need to do so much for just 1 measly mark. Maths was interesting as well, as the questions were not the run-of-the-mill type and required me to think a bit further.
I'll be glad once all this is over. But till then, still need to stay focused. At least I get a bit of respite for tommorrow.
Hmmm, wonder what to write here. Oh Silvestre uses his head to good effect and vanquishes the Reds. Rio's return is somewhat like the Lazarus effect, I hope his return would bring back the days when Man United played great football that brought a lot of joy to me.
Overplayed songs on the radio
1) She will be loved
2) My happy ending
3) the reason
I beseech the radio stations to not overplay songs, so much so I am almost sick of she will be loved, which is a beautifu song which is chock-full of meaning. To think that I thought it was the weakest song of the album, going on from Shiver to Tangled immediately.
Media merger = media death. It's back to shitty standards of programming again, it is really a case of how low can they go...
Seems that more people are tagging now. Yeah just tag if you like what i write here, if you don't well we just differ in opinions.
Late at night again. Decided to put off the econs mcqs for now, until tommorrow at least. Realised that, my mind, without work to occupy it, started to wander off to something I thought I had forsaken.
The evils of an idle mind.
Hmm I think I shall post something more interesting next time, after the prelims.

I-don't-want-to-tell-you-but-I'll-tell-you-anyway

Let me tell about a syndrome that is named after the title of this post. That is just a shortened name of the syndrome and does not accurately reflect its nature. The real nature would be "I want to tell you something but I don't want to be so direct and tell you so I'll drop hints to make you ask me or somehow shift the conversation towards it so I can tell you." It is believed to have its origin in the times when women would fan themselves slowly and claim it's hot to show off their diamond ring. This is especially so when it concerns matters of the heart or achievements.
This syndrome is accredited to mr nicholas tsao wen jie who has been very perceptive in pointing it out and coining the term for it.
Confused? Here are some examples to illustrate this syndrome.
1) Jake is with his friends studying. Jake then looks at his phone and announces loudly, "Oh shit, I forgot to call Jessie! I promised to go out with her today! No she'll kill me!" Then he waits for his friends to start questioning him about his relationship with Jessie.
2) OR Jake sighs and says "man later still need to go buy new clothes. Need to to meet Mr Nathan for the awarding of my scholarship." and then waits for his friends to ask about it.
3) OR Jake receives an SMS and laughs happily and audibly, then saying "hey look at this... aiyah never mind" Having aroused his friends curiosity, they would badger him for an explanation.
4) OR suddenly, out of the blue, Jake asks, "hey do you think Jessie is pretty?" Then when his bewildered friend replies, and asks him why did he ask that question, he'll just dismis it with a mysterious nothing, before leading his friend on to probe further and then he'll say.
Got a better idea about it? Actually, this syndrome is a good form of conversation starter, but when it gets to more sensitive subjects eg. wealth or achievements they tend to cause resentment in other people who deem it as an indirect way of showing off. Or people would think you're a chronic attention seeker.
Well, I must confess to having fallen prey to it a few times. But hey, it's relatively harmless, and among friends it's fine, as they won't get wrong ideas of you being cocky. Personally, try not to do this so much, but among friends you guys can have a good laugh about it. Besides, by not doing it, there would no longer be conversation for conversation's sake, and life would be so boring.
Reproduced with permission from nicholas tsao.
Are you guilty of this syndrome?

Cower in the face of danger

After the maths paper on monday, took the train home with yangqi. Boarding it, I noticed a large cardboard box, waist high, written on its side was "korean ginseng tea". And it was stashed near the clear side of the doors, with no obvious owner in sight.
Well, after being well drilled in knowing when to spot danger, I got a bit jittery, thinking it was a bomb. I nervously told yangqi my suspicions, and he pooh-poohed it immediately and loudly.
In the end, I had to endure my over active imaginations as I envisioned a sudden explosion and a large fireball rushing after me while I try to out run it ala insert-any-action-hero-name-here.
Finally, as I heaved a sigh of relief as I left the train, I hazarded one last glimpse at the box. I saw was that the guy sitting closest to it stood up, inspected it for a while, and then indicated that I was crazy by drawing a circle around his temples.
Well, nothing blew up in the end, right?

Occam's Razor

When faced with many solutions to the same problem, choose the simplest one. That's the gist of Occam's razor.
Somehow, as my bored self channel surfed today, I came across this drama serial that had 2 characters telling each other what love actually is. It struck me as their defination was quite simple.
1) If you are scared to talk to the person, yet feel unhappy if he (generic he here) is not around, you'll feel unhappy as well
2) When you're happy, you want to share your happiness with him; when you're sad, you want his shoulder to cry on and for him to comfort you.
3) When you like someone, you want to do things for him to make him happy, as making him happy would make you happy as well
There were others, but they slip my mind. Well, it seems to show that love is actually such a simple thing. Maybe it is just as simple as 2 people who have mutual feelings for each other which are stronger than friendship, who come together, do things together, do things for each other, and admiration will evolve into love, which continues to blossom as they go along life together. A very big maybe then. How's that for simplifying the most complex process or emotion in life into one sentence?
I always say, if life was too easy, the challenge would go out of it. Still, maybe some things are in need of simplification, of keeping other things ceteris paribus while you deal with it. Can we ever do this? The other factors change too fast, and what you do may mess it up more...
Oh well, still a bit affected by the music video for kiss' because I'm a girl. It's about this photographer guy who meets this hairdresser girl and well fall in love, but he leaves a bottle of developing photos liquid uncapped and she accidentally knocks it and it pours into her eyes, blinding her. Blaming himself, he gives his eyes to her as a result loses his career as a photographer. It's very touching, so much so this heartless idiot felt some twang of the heart strings.
What of it? I swear to always cap everything I use from now on. And well, when the right time comes, everything will fall in place.

Pit stop

Well well, prelims have been fun. Yes fun. Strangely enough, I seem to enjoy having my brain teased by the questions. Maths was doable, now I'm afraid it's too doable that my frequent careless msitakes would condemn me. I got a good feeling about econs essay, having spotted oil and budget deficits. Chem err well, got nervous, forgot formulae, basically to quote joshua "never felt so screwed after a paper before". Bio was ok, but was giving answers off my head as I didn't really touch the topics that came out.
And, chem paper 3 and econs paper 3 on the same day, absoultely no joke. Wrote until my hand ached.
Slept at 10 on tuesday night, as I just couldn't take it anymore as I slept at 1230 the previous night mugging for chem and econs. Set the alarm for 5, didn't wake until ah ma woke me up at 6, thus my plans to study early in the morning went out of the window.
At least I get a break for tommorrow, as I don't take feesixs. Will resume with biotech paper on friday.
Went online and looked at universities. Well, to me, all the Uk universities for law are all about the same, so I really have not my idea which one I want to go...
Hmm, recently I realised that I have cultivated for observing cars on my way home, only in a different way. I'll look at a car, and try to imagine how it would transform if it were a transformer. If I see a subaru I would think Smokescreen, a red sportscar Sideswipe, a yellow car with a hood I think Sunstreaker, a beetle I think Bumblebee. Pity no red semi-trucks though. Anyway I remember how esther commented how nice the BMW Z4 looked, I agreed and said it would make a good transformer. New levels of obession haha.
Speaking of which, I must proclaim that there is god on earth, and his name is Don Allen Figueroa. This guy took every transformer featured in their earthen forms, and redesigned them to give them cybertonian forms for the prequel comic. Everyone of them looks good, with homage to their future forms, plus they all transform. In addition, he can draw the transformers the best of all the comics artists.
On a different note, I shall leave with this quote from catch me if you can.
"Why do the (New York) Yankees always win?"
"It's because the opponents get distracted by the pinstripes."
Go figure.

Now what...?

"To see or dream that you are a minister, suggest that you need to be more compassionate and understanding in some situation or relationship. Alternatively, it indicates that you have overstep your boundaries and into another's rights." Courtesy of dreammoods.com.
Ok means I have to retrace what I did on thursday that may fall into this category. Anyway, to all. Let's whack some prelim butt.
And as cheryl/raine has implied, I'm normal. So there.

Philogynist

Now to the normal stuff. Been a crazy week, where I was out of home more than I was in, school surprisingly is rather conducive for study, if you managed to snag a coveted seat in the library. Mugging with christelle is scary. She's so motivated that you get frightened into studying. No wonder she's a top student. Had a few consultation sessions, with ms lui and mr chan, ms lui was swarmed by her numerous students, so I only managed to squeeze a few questions in. Mr chan is really damm good, man if he was our bio teacher from the start maybe my bio wouldn't be so screwed up now. He's so analytical and explains the concepts well. Spent 2 hours with him going through assorted questions from the 2002 set of papers. He even said idiot once when he got led on a merry wild goose chase doing a genetics question. Of what may have been sigh. I bet his J1 classes want him back badly.
Thursday, went to RI with ed nick and jun seng, ate ban mian again, sans egg, washed down with s-11 ice lemon tea. Tried to some essay outlines, but I dieded midway as my contacts hurt damm badly, a combination of the lens being worn out and the mosquito coil smoke getting into my eyes. The power also went out of us in the den, forcing us outside. In the end, we got bored, started talking a bit crap, before breaking for dinner. Bet edwin that lin jun jie is from SAJC (and won as of today!). Had dinner at J8, then jimmy had to leave for his date with a HC girl.... at the tuition centre, leaving ed and I talking cock till about 8, before I went home. 8 as ed wanted to catch singapore idol on the bus.
Friday, woke up late thanks to a another weird dream. Dreamt that PM Lee gave up his post, and Nick of all people was the stand-in Pm for 2 months. Then it was time to vote for the new PM, and weirdly I was voted to be the next PM. Then all I can remember after that was I had to make a speech in 2 hours, during which i was looking for something, which I don't know. In the end, i woke up even before giving any speech, or finding what I was looking for. Uber-weird. Yet it felt damm real at one point. Unbelievable yet real. Another lucid dream.
Got up, played a bit of warcraft, ate lunch and wne tot be a errand boy. Got egg tarts for al as her birthday was yesterday (9/11), and passed the econs compliation to jane, thanks to ed blabbing. Settled down to do a bit of chem, then elft at about 6.
Saturday, ed and adrian came over to study, I picked up dark designs, wildman's art is bad compared to figueroa's. I think I'm too spoiled by Don's great artwork. Anyway adrian left at about 6 while ed and I had dinner at home, before we started to watch, out of curiosity the channel u talent show. Excuse me as I go wash my eyeballs and ears out with dettol again. I can assure you that feels better than watching them (supposed finalists) give listless performance after listless performance. Ok maybe not. Listless is far too kind. More like totally absymal. Gah.
Oh and are you a philogynist? I think I'm an electic one, at times the subjects in question irritate me, but nonetheless they are still engimatic and capricious creatures that are hard to fathom yet strangely appealing. Just my opinion, dont lynch me.
Prelims, here i come. Ready or not.

Tough love

Ok now I'm just feel with frustration and I just have to blast it all out here so bear with me if you hate angry rants.
1) They. Did. It. Again. I couldn't believe my eyes when i saw the bloody @(*#^%(!#&#!( cock up. What happened to the normally calm silvestre? What happened to the normally unflappable howard? Someone sponsor me a trip to manchester now, I think a few very choice words in hokkien would be able to wake all of them.... Gah....
2) Everything the media in Singapore serves up these days...

a)Why is ananconda the no. 1 movie in Singapore???? Ooh man gets eaten by snake wow! Sheesh. Even in America where I always thought had bad taste at least their no.1 movie is Zhang Yimou's Hero. So again, why spend good money or a show that can be considered campy and stupid at best? If one watches that stuff for entertainment, well all I can say if you want to watch snakes watch the Discovery channel and learn something! Besides snakes are more likely to run away from humans as they have highly sensitive ears and are frightened by the vibrations footsteps make. So not only the movie is just plain stupid (no better word describes it) it puts snakes in a bad light.

b)Now back to familiar territory. Mediacock has done it again. After my last rant, where they brought in my big fat fiance or whatever that show is, I thought they couldn't sink any lower. Well, apparently the ground has a false bottom. Mediacock went and got MORE reality shows, which according to PACE, the programming revisory body, are "morally decadent and teach the wrong values" To that effect anyway. Seriously, who wants to watch shows like who wants to marry my dad? or bacholerette 2000? I really cannot stand it anymore. Mediacock is using prime-time slots to spread such drivel to the population! Most reality TV try to push the envelope with crazier and dumber acts, to the point it just gets disgusting. The only reality programmes to have any sort of credibility are amazing race, which I feel is a true advertisment of how global our world is now, and the idols concept, but only if they celebrate true talent. Anything else is just trash. No other intrinstic value but just to accomodate the lowest common denominator of crass and tasteless. All in the name of entertainment.
In this time and age where reality TV threatens to take over any semblance of prime-time, I think shows like friends are badly needed. Humor that is yes crass at times, yet it doesn't come across as being trashy. Pity it ends its run for forever tommorrow. Maybe Mediacock can try to put better shows earlier for once. If they could do it for charmed, why not for Alias, OC (questionable whether it's a good show) Practice, or CSI? CSI especially, CSI is so engaging and informative that it shoudl deserve a prime-time spot, not shelved away into the bewitching hour. The Pratice I agree should be put back a bit, due to the sensitive nature of the topics they deal with, but not till 12, where no one witll watch.
And once again, I say this. If we as a society, allow such tasteless and degrading programming on to our screens, we will find it hard to progress to become a cultured nation. I appeal to Mediacock, please have some moral integrity, find it within that profit maximising soul of yours to do something about the current sorry state of affairs of the shows in Singapore. And please, as a reader, do not contribute to this trend. Do you really enjoy what you are watching? If not, please, i implore you, turn off that TV, call your siblings together, blow the dust off that scrabble board, and play a game. Not only does it sitmulate the mind, it builds family bonds, something the goggle box can never do.
At this point, I would like to say yet again I'm no snob. I understand there is some value, however disgusting it is, to such shows. My point is, these shows are not worth showing on TV, neither are they watching. I hope by saying so much it'll make people understand that such shows should not be watched a lot or at all. Neither can I say what type of shows are better. But all I know is, such shows are definately not worth you wasting your time on.

c)Someone please tell me why is a certain william hung on ou friendly shores? All I know he has made the asian male the biggest joke in the west, embarrased himself and the whole chinese population. And he's here, on our fair island. Well, I blame those who actually brought him here in the first place. One word: profiteering. Cashing in on a freakshow. And to those who, higher being forbid, *shudder* who actually LIKE him apart from his parents, and actually bought his album, well, I'm speechless. Who can actually like him? Sure like any one-trick pony he was interesting for a while but he most definately outlasted his 15 seconds of fame. And now, they made hima judge of a talent contest! Granted the talent contest was half-baked to begin with, but again what does it mean to our society? That a screw-up who cannot dance or sing properly is qualified enough to be a judge in our fair island? Well if that's the case I'm qualified to be the next prime minister. And waht message does it send to our potential talent? That all of you are so screwed-up that even william hung is better than you that's why he's in a judge's seat. And call a spade a spade. He's not some star, he's just a joke that refuses to go away, one that outstays its welcome. Sure he has his "i tried my best and nothing else matters" crap but that nice enduring human characteristic is now gone forever. All I see is a misguided young man with delusions of popularity. William, if you do read this, for the love of any higher being you believe in, the world is laughing AT you, not WITH you. You're the joke.

Ok, feels better to get all that out of my system. Any opinions please use the tagboard.

Conversation for conversation's sake

Went to RI and mugged with ed jim and nick. Was a partial success i guess, as we got to do the essay outlines we set out to do, just not all 20 of them. oops.
E.S Posthumus is a great composer. Nara is good stuff. I can just imagine the hero trekking across the harsh desert as the camera pans up towards the scorching sun, and as the tempo increases, it falls in sync with his heavy footsteps, yet he still goes on.
Will talk about this title another time. Eyes hurt too much after wearing contacts for too long.

Assuming an air of superiority and refusing to pander to the intellectually feeble

An interesting incident happened, but i decided to respect the privacy of the person writing it, but i shall talk about my opinions of it. My point I want to make is, RJ people are normal! At least most of them are, but that's for another post. I don't think we're superior or anything, I think we're a bit sheltered in fact. My time in RI and RJ has been a bit insulated at times, and the skateboarders incident is testimony to it. (go check the archives july 03 i think, pre-campfire period) I personally think that RJ people have loads to learn from other school people, those supposedly and wrongly deem as "intellectually inferior".
Well, I think RJ people can learn a few things about humility, social graces, and most of all street smartness from them.
And about RJ people being superior, that frankly, for a lack of a better word, is bullshit. We're just superior in terms of studies, maybe we can memorise more facts than normal and know how to regurgitate them when the time comes for the exams. In other areas I feel we can learn more and transcend further.
Confuscious said, "when 3 people walk together, at least one can teach me something." I agree wholeheartedly. Like esther taught me what are qulots (sp?), and crystal told me about hiflux etc. One should have his head too high up in the clouds to not realise that everyone can teach you something. You can't profess to know everything.
Argh, caffeine is messing up my system. It feels like my body wants to shut down but my mind doesn't want to. Or maybe the other way round. Can't really determine where
this swirly fatigued feeling is coming from. Swearing off coffee until the A's.
Mugging in school is quite ok, surprisingly. Monday's session in the council room was juxatoposed by various incidents happening in the council room, like J1s screaming, crashing around the very messy, worse than the den when patrols don't do den duty for a month dirty. Reminded me of a mini version of trash hills of phillipines. To any J1 counicllor who reads this, please do clear up. It's a reflection on you. If you can't keep your own room clean, who's going to trust you to handle more important stuff?
Tuesday mugged with ms 11 A1s, bombarded her with loads of questions, and throughout the 2 days was doing bio papers. They're fun to do, especially when HCJC comes up with this mammoth mcq question taking up a whole page. Found that there is wealth of stuff I read and forgot. Very encouraging. Stuff like Vagus veins, position of sino-atrial node and pseudomonas, how could i forget them, my favourite tut... i mean bacterium.
A funny thing is that the libarian would sound a bell like an ice man seller to signal the start of "happy" hour, it's 5 and it's time to mug elsewhere as the library is going to close.
Ok my body is really feeling weird, shall stop now. Hey, you cut me, I bleed. We all do.

New packaging, same product

And I don't want to finish off this line by BW megatron as it is far from savoury. In any case, got a bit fed up with the grey hues of the previous template, so decided to go with the standard templates offered by blogger. Surprisingly, did not wrestle with the code, did the template in 6-7 minutes. Now my blog looks fresher and brighter, to coincide with the wave of optimism (no sacrasm intended) sweeping throughout RJC.
In any case, somehow this template miraculously resurrected my archives links, which I though were gone for good after I messed up the code.
In any case, the number of posts would slow down, as more time is spent on studying rather than doing anything else that would be worth writing about here.
Full throttle people.

Hero

Hihi, chem prac was fun haha. For starters, I wet my paper even before the prac started while washing my burette. Then it was so hot and perspired like mad. Then my hands were trembling when i was adding the last few drops to the volumetric flask. Then wanted to curse loudly when I got a blue colour when I was 100% sure it was Cr. Designs were messed up. Argh. I must say the paper was hard and well set. Kudos to the chem department. Still, argh.
On my way home, I couldn't help overhearing 2 RJ girls sitting behind me were discussing about their lives. 1 girl was saying that even in her home people judge her. Basically she went on and on about how life sucks.
Does life REALLY suck? Somehow I was reminded of the conversation I had with nick on sun about a person who always so moody and has a bleak outlook on life. I guess, to quote ms elaine wong, it all depends.
I think life sucks only if you let it. Faced with adversity, you can either tackle it straight on, accept it and move on, or moan about it and wallow in self pity. To me, the 3rd option is a non-issue. Moaning never did any good.
Of course, if life was so clear cut things would so easy. Sometimes you cannot take the 1st 2 options out. Life cannot be ceteris paribus (all else constant), the world we live in is constantly evolving.
Life doesn't suck. Life is what you make it. Life is too beautiful to suck. Sure at times things seem rough and bleak, but in the end everything will sort itself out. You still have your family, friends, people who care for you. Sure at times you can't tell if they really do, but they do.
Rewatched two towers and spiderman 1 again, just realised that they are really heroes we can look up to. Against the most unsurmountable of odds, they triumphed. Sure that's fiction, but the theme of heroism, the selflessness, courage under fire, bravery and valour is still very relevant in this day and time. For real life heroes we can look at olympic athletes, firemen, people who stick to their beliefs no matter what, nurses doctors policemen etc.
"There's good in this world worth fighting for." Heroes inspire us, makes us believe in ourselves, makes the impossible seem possible.
Who's your hero? Maybe if you know that your hero has made it through worse times, you won't think life sucks that much. They probably thought that their lives sucked as well, but they didn't give in. We lesser mortals shouldn't as well.
The least I can do is try my best.
For honour.
For glory.
For 01.
For myself.

"The abolishment of EPL broadcasts constitutes a serious social welfare loss" Discuss

How's that for an econs s question. I wouldn't put it pass mr sowden.
In any case, I hope this gets settled soon. I don't want to have to cross my fingers each week and wonder if they'll be showing matches.
Smith is the man. He's winning me over the same way he made hate him when he used to play for leeds, with his abrasive and determined style. Plus he's no longer just a grafter in a (sadly) medicore team (mr sowden better not see this!), and he has added a frequent goalscoring touch to his game.
Chem prac. Here goes.

Woman In Red

Can't believe I forgot to comment on all these stuff on my mind...
The Life section today was a bit chilling to me. I hope I don't end up that way. Imagine living your whole life, not now per se when one should be studying, alone. Sure you get to be independent your not bogged down by another person, but I think deep down as homo saipiens we're social creatures and we would like to have some sort of company. I could go on an Evangelion-inspired rant now but it's been there done that for me so I shall pass. Let's hope when the time is right she enters my life. Like a saccarhine sweet romantic comedy, those types where you can diabetes just by watching.
Oh and today channel i showed a nice episode of power rangers. Yes those colour coded high kicking do gooders from an embarassing part of my childhood. Anyway, in the episode i watched they assembled all the 10 red rangers there ever was and got them to gather to fight a greater evil yadda yadda. So it was just another half hour wasted watching over elaborate henshin (morphing) sequences, scratching my head over obvious loopholes (they were fighting on the moon surface without space suits... didn't know that the moon had oxygen), but somehow it was just a throwback to primary school days where aaron foo would do his stupid dragonzord impersonation and everyone would try to play the dragonzord theme on the recorder. Ahh memories. Watching the show made me realise how much it insulted my intelligience. Why do the baddies always shoot at their feet only? Why don't the rangers ummon their machines immediately to squash the monster? Why isn't there any mention of collateral damage? The list goes on... Oh well, it's a children show, all laws of physics and common sense go out the very large window. In any case, I did recognise some of the older series rangers (shamefully), and yeah strangely enough, I think I enjoyed the series. Maybe their black-or-white non-ambivalent characters made me live a lie until shinji ikari came along to wake me up. Ahh who cares, no use psychoanalysing power rangers. Hey I still do get a kick out of watching them do their super power calling out, machines merging to forma super robot, more robots merging to form a more powerful robot, and the proverbial I'll-never-up attitude in the face of laughable evil.
This is my 300th post on blogspot! Wow! Pop the champagne! But if you somehow access my archives and count the entries, there are only 299 published entries! Anyway, no need to try as I never link my archives haha... Boy do I have something to hide...
(this paragraph just screams "attention seeker who wants to be asked what it is.." but I assure you it's not...)
Well, so long, and watch out for the woman in red...

Respite

Destruction. Been slacking this whole weekend, or nodding off at most inappropriate moments. Sheesh.
Watched Man U beat norwich. Normal service was resumed at Old Trafford. Smith's goal was a beauty, and the fact that O'Shea and Neville played more in the norwich half than in their own says a lot about Man U's dominance, never mind the fact the scoreline does not really show it to the same extent. Plus, ronaldo is back, and in 8 short minutes he got fouled 3 times, shot once, almost created 2 more goals and pegged back norwich in their own half with his dribbling as they were threatening to equalise.
And Singapore ends up with no medal. I wouldn't want to be a S'pore athlete... the pressure is immense. When the camera closed up on li jiawei's face, you could practically feel the pressure of a whole nation's hopes on you. She probably should have won, but this goes to show that you may be more skilled but you can lose as what matters is what happens on matchday. Mental toughness is necessary for any sport.
Strangely enough, I feel as gutted as I was when Man U was kicked out of the champions league by the cheating clowns of porto. I guess that shows I'm still patriotic! National Education sure works!

On the wings of love

I just realised that this must be one of the very few times I used the L word in my posts.
I think I should start scaling down my computer usage. Or at least leave it till the end of the day. The cyberworld that has been an integral part of my life is going to take a backseat soon.
Just a few random thoughts.
Ronaldo is back! Now to give many a full back twisted blood. And things have started to look better on the injury front for Man U. Norwich watch out.
Also, forgot all about my testimonial for Nicky Butt. Another of the class of 92 has left, and in rather sad circumstances. In the end he could not command a place in the crowded central midfield. Not the way he wanted to leave i guess. Still, he was the fetcher and gatherer, the midfield destroyer that never hit any headlines, but crucial to Man United's cause in any case. I'll remember his header in the 3-2 match against Leeds which nigel martyn saved but had to be subsituted, and then he went on to score the winner when he swivelled on the ball and blasted it past robinson. I'll remember groaning everytime he tries to shoot from long range ala paul scholes, either he balloons it badly or rips the net apart. So long Butt, and thanks for the memories. May you play well for newcastle, but not that well.
Singapore Idol is a disgrace. I cringe to think that those 30 people are the best Singapore can offer. So much for a value-added workforce. No one particularly stands out, and I think I'm giving up. No more jokers to laugh at equals not much entertainment worth. And yes, I watch SI so I'm no snob.
Just watched catch me if you can on HBO again. I remember the last time I watched it was on valentine's day after palawan last year, with nick and mog i think. I remember commenting it was damm sad that on valentine's day 3 guys are watching a movie together. Also, after that we went to buy stuff for campfire invites. Murugan was complaining all the way about how we were making use of his sister's artistic talents.
Yeah, it seems like just last week. I could be typing this on a friday, typing about how crazy things are in RJ for the first 3 months, before turning in to get ready for a scout activity on sat. Then on Sun I'll be rushing some tutorial or going out to have some fun.
Oh well, just a bit pensive I guess. If I were list all the stupid things I did in the first 3 months it'll invoke a few chuckles.
Rambling on. I have nothing really worth saying. I guess this place will quieter from now on.
And please, for the love of humanity, DO NOT rig the vote for the prom king and queen. It is just too disgusting to think about.

Entropy of my life

Just some messed up thoughts I would like to put down here.
Last saturday went down to clementi to support deborah, went there halfway through her bout, thanks to my lack of timing and the turtle-like 7. Spent some time talking to assorted juniors, barney, eugene, yun qin and deborah as well. I also witnessed an incident, which provoked memories of myself being stupid.
Still, when I was there, things did not feel the same. I guess it is really time to let go and move forward. The place does bring back memories, nice ones indeed, but they are just that, nothing else. In the end, I left with a pensive mood. I wonder if I went there to try and salvage what's left of my happy memories, hoping that they'll be still there, but the truth is that they're gone, time to move on pal. And that's what I have done, so long and thanks for the memories.
Chelsea were dominated by Man U, no doubt about that. Although we still lost, there is a silver lining after all, and once the senior players come back watch out Premiership.
Everyone seems to be either excited by grad nite, or griping about the lousy location. I'm sorta in between, neither too enthusiatic nor whining. I guess the truth is I don't know what to expect from it. Some say it is an ultimate posing session, some say it'll be a night of fun celebration. I guess, as Mr Tan said, it's what you make it. It'll be the last time I see many of my friends, people in fencing faction outlook etc. before I go to army. Still, I'm not goign to agonise too much about what to wear etc. Besides going to pahang before it will do "wonders" to my skin (mosquito leech bites).
Another thing that bothers me was the suggestion of booking hotel rooms. Chalet I think it's fine, but hotel rooms a bit hard to swallow for me. Besides my mum will probably pick out the words "hotel room" and jump to the wrong conclusions immediately. Anyway it's a waste of money when you can go Boon Lay haha.
Don and Mog were discussing the AVP movie then I dismissively said that predators were jsut men in plastic suits. Don coolly replied that transformers were robots that changed into vehicles, which one suspends your belief more? That shut me up.
And Don is the man, he is very eloquent, persuasive and charismatic. Go and acquire the target!
Everything is going to change from now. My life will change drastically next year. It's time I bid adieu to all that I held dear before, and embrace this new chapter of my life.
But before that there is a small problem of the A's.
I am a soldier.
I fight.
That's what I do.

That's quite a mouthful

I know I broke my own promise, but this is too good a list to pass up. Behold a selection (yes only a selection!) of the funniest quotes coming from Beast Wars!

Cheetor: "YAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"
Rhinox: "There, good as new."
Rattrap: "Yeah, and twice as loud."

Waspinator: "Waspinator find Spider-bot and tear him a new waste disposal unit!"

Blackarachnia: "Ready to rock 'n roll, insect?"
Inferno: I do not rock and roll, I burn..."

Megatron: "We have no time for Maximals now."
Blackarachnia: "When do we ever... except for maybe that hunky Silverb-"

Silverbolt: "Why did you save me?"
Blackarachnia: "Well, uh, there might be, uh, other... creatures."
Megatron: "Oh, yuck."

Megatron: "Ah, as I expected. The base is undermanned and unprotected; ours for the asking."
Quickstrike: "Aw, now we ain't gonna ask, are we? How about we just blast our way in there, and SLAG everybody and TAKE IT?!"
Megatron: "Hmmm... okay!"

Tarantulus: "You musn't turn your back on a spider! They tend to be venemous."
Dinobot: "But they still squash!"
*squash*

Tigatron: "You cannot fire. We have a truce, remember?"
Terrorsaur: "Oh, I remember. But you know my trigger finger; it just might forget!"

Cheetor: "So clue us in. What's it really like being a Predacon."
Rhinox: "It's like having three gigs of attitude on a two gig harddrive. No wonder they have personality problems."

Rattrap: "Pre-evolved bird-brain!"
Dinobot: "Eater of garbage!"
Cheetor: "Sheesh, and they call me the immature one."

Inferno: "As you command, my queen."
Megatron: I wish he'd stop calling me that."

Inferno: "Never mind the rat. We have better prizes for our queen! Return to the nest!"
Quickstrike: "That 'bot sure does talk peculiar."

Inferno: "Yes, my queen."
Dinobot: "I was not aware that you'd given yourself a new title."
Megatron: "The ant has some faulty programming."

Inferno: "Say the word, my queen, and he shall burn!"
Megatron: "Not just yet. And for the last time: STOP CALLING ME THAT!"
Inferno: "As you command, my que-ACK!"

Megatron: "Ah, there it is: the mountain."
Rampage: "You brought us all this way too look at scenery?!"

Ravage: "So, it was a trap."
Megatron: "Oh, no! Really?"

Silverbolt: "Cybertron... the home I've never known."
Rattrap: "Oh, man, you are gonna love it! I know this little place where you can get dirty mech fluid mixed with just a hint of radium. It'll take your head right off! Not only that-"
*Rattrap notices Cheetor listening, bends in close to Silverbolt*
Rattrap: "Not only that, but all the servant-bots are all walking around minus their torso-plates!"

Rattrap: "So, eh, where ya been, Bird-Dog?"
Silverbolt: "Uh, scout patrol."
Rattrap: "Oh yeah, yeah. Scoutin' the enemy, yeah... Find any new positions?"

Optimus: "Looks like Waspinator's been on a suger binge. How long has he been up there?"
Tigatron: "Long enough to make my head spin."

Dinobot: "Look! Down in the sky! Is it a bird?"
Rhinox: "Maybe a plane?"
Rattrap: "Nah, it's Optimus!"

Airazor: "I'm flattered, but hardly impressed."

Rattrap: "And, eh, what if he goes ape-slag on us?"

Blackarachnia: "Do Maximals always talk such slop?"
*POW!*
Rattrap: "My sentiments exactly."

Rattrap: "If there was a clone, where is he?"
Dinobot: "I'm afraid he's gone for good. A shame, really. He was such a handsome creature... And, quite tasty."
*BURP!*
Optimus: "You're disgusting."

Rattrap: "This ain't a security grid, it's a gym!"

Terrorsaur: "Stop slobbering on me, Tarantulus!"
Tarantulus: "I am feasting!"
Waspinator: "Give Waspinator more room! Tarantulus fat enough already!"
Tarantulus: "If Waspinator does not stop cuddling me like a stuffed toy when he sleeps, I'll eat him as well!"
Waspinator: "I'd like to see you try!"
Tarantulus: "Yes I will!"
Waspinator: "Will not!"
Tarantulus: "I will so!"
Terrorsaur: "You all make me sick! I can't stand this any longer, Megatron! I've- I've got to get out! Eh-heh! Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha haa-" *POW!*

Optimus (to Rattrap): "I swear, I can't take you anywhere!"

Rattrap: "You do know that was crazy, right?"
Optimus: "Sometimes crazy works."

Waspinator: "Waspinator has a headache in his whole body."

Waspinator: "Not fair! Waspinator always gets slag assignments!"
Megatron: "May I remind Waspinator that the current cease-fire applies only in reference to Maximals!"
Waspinator: "Gulp! Waspinator go."

Waspinator: "Oh, sure. Don't mind Waspinator. Waspinator just lie here and suffer, drag himself to CR tank..."

Waspinator: "Waspinator just flying around, minding his own business, when BANG! Gets whole stasis pod right up the kazootie..."

Waspinator: "Oh, Inferno blow up, Waspinator must salvage; Waspinator blow up, nobody salvage! Why universe hate Waspinator?"

Inferno: "There! That will be our new colony!"
Quickstrike: "Eww! I don't wanna move in there! It's got all them hairy critters runnin' around... Unless... Unless you mean we's gonna slag 'em! Oh, please tell me that's what yer thinkin'!"
Inferno: "The royalty demands a new colony, and we shall take it... by force."
Quickstrike: "Yee-haw! Now yer' talkin'! How 'bout you, Bug-Boy? You ready to rip?"
Waspinator: "No."
Quickstrike: "What?!"
Inferno: "But the royalty commands it!"
Waspinator: "I said NO! Dragon-Bot comman you, Subcommander Kiss-butt! Dragon-Bot not command Waspinator! Not anymore! Waspinator sick of being evil, sick of being Predacon, and Waspinator especially sick of being blown to scrap all the time! So, Waspinator quit. Hmph! As of now, which means Ant-Bot and Two-Face can just pucker their mandibles and lay big, wet, juicy one right here on Waspinator's big, fat, stripey-"
*BANG!*

Waspinator: "Sigh... Waspinator happy at last!"

Dinobot 2: "You have already read the Covenant of Primus?"
Megatron: "Just the good parts."

Silverbolt: "I know now that my place was always with the Maximals. May I join you?"
Optimus (watching Megatron fall off a cliff): "Well, I like your resumé."

Rattrap: "We're all gonna die!"
Everybody: "Shut-up, Rattrap!"

Rattrap: "It's like I always say, we're all gonna die!"
*Everybody looks at him.*
Rattrap: "I know, I know: Shut-up Rattrap."

Rattrap: "No power, no weapons... we're all gonna die."
Rhinox: "Yup."

Megatron: "Oh, come on now, let's have it: the usual 'Destiny and honor' speech."
Optimus: "Speech this!"
*POW!*

Silverbolt: "Our leader has charged us with a mission, my friend. And Silverbolt, for one, shall prove worthy of his trust!"
Rattrap: "Man, I just hate it when he talks like that.

Silverbolt: "Lest you forget, your Protoform was a Maximal."
Blackarachnia: "Just drop it, okay?"
Silverbolt: "But saving me was indicative of your more noble heritage."
Blackarachnia: "I said drop it."
Silverbolt: "Just admit that there is a spark of goodness deep inside you, and then-"
*Blackarachnia unloads a few rounds in his direction.*
Blackarachnia: "Shall I elaborate?"
Silverbolt: "Uhh... perhaps not."

Silverbolt: "Prepare to be boarded!"
Blackarachnia: "And you can prepare to be blown away if you don't get your tail outta here!"
Silverbolt: "Blackarachnia, I want you to come back with me, to the Maximals!"
Blackarachnia: "Grrr... Get a clue, you canine cretin! I'm a Predacon. I'm evil. I'll shoot you!"
Silverbolt: "No, my heart tells me you will not."
Blackarachnia: "Oh yeah?"
*Bang!*
Silverbolt: "You shot me!"
Blackarachnia: "No duh, Dog-Boy, I'm evil. Now do you believe me?"
Silverbolt: "And yet, you ensured that the wound would not be mortal. Your inner Maximal goodness prevented you from-"
Blackarachnia: "Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!"
Silverbolt: "I know how you must be feeling. You don't know whether to kiss me, or kill me."
Blackarachnia: "I'm a black widow spider, you dolt. I can do both."

Silverbolt: "Blackarachnia... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Rattrap: "Sheesh, where's my cyber-violin?"
Rhinox: "Very touching, Silverbolt, but she's just in stasis-lock."
Rattrap: "Yeah, so if you could stop crushing her to yer manly torso plate, let's say we get some repairs done?"
Silverbolt: "Um, yes. Very well, then."

Rattrap: "Maybe they just decided to take a little break. Heh heh."
Silverbolt: "Were that innuendo not beneath my contempt, rodent, you would be required to give satisfaction!"
Rattrap: "I forget. Did he talk like this before, or did fallin' in love do somethin' to his circuits?"

Silverbolt (literally in pieces): "Sir, I'm fine. I just need to-"
Blackarachnia: "Shut-up and obey your commander, bone-brain."
Silverbolt (as his head pops off): "Yes, dear."

Dinobot: "You would unleash the full fury of this battle station on a lone anthropoid? Tell me, Megatron: where's the honor in that?"
Megatron: "You dare use the H-word to me?"

Cheetor: "You lookin' at somethin'?"
Rattrap: "Oh, joy. Cyber-puberty."

Inferno: "Royalty! Why was I not chosen?"
Megatron: "Because, Inferno: When expecting booby-traps, always send the boob in first."

Waspinator: "Waspinator detects stink of unnatural Transmetal!"
Dinobot 2: "Grrrr!"
Waspinator: "*Gulp!* Waspinator excludes present company!"

Cheetor: "I got a blue plate sighting in Tengu Sector. Crabby and Crab-legs, all you can eat!"

Waspinator: "Wspinator don't see why carrying Transwarp cells so important."
Inferno: "Every job for the royalty is a gift!"
Waspinator: "Ant-Bot is major suck up!"

Rattrap: "Why you ain't nothin' but a schemin' snake in the grass!"
Starscream: "Eh, flattery will get you flattened, vermin."

Starscream: "You've betrayed me!"
Blackarachnia: "I studied with the master."

Waspinator: "Waspinator to Megatron! Waspinator has female fleshy-bot, but there is problem!"
Megatron: "She'd better not be injured!"
Waspinator: "No, she injuring Waspinator!"
Megatron: "Ah, situation normal, then. Return to base."
Waspinator: "Waspinator wants to renegotiate contract!"

Brain is fired after testing so many hypotheses doing S8...

Basket, fishballs, super white etc.

I don't know which one to hate more, the olympics, or Mediacock. Olympics decide to screw Man Utd over by stealing heinze and ronaldo from their paymasters to put up a facade of a dog and pony show, since when olympics had anything to do with football anyway? And mediacock has decided to screw any tv viewer over for a grand total of 6 (SIX) weeks by messing up the television schedule thanks to the darn olympics. They oh ONLY and i do mean ONLY rescheduled those shows 10 pm and onwards, which happen to be the only good shows worth watching, and that includes OC! By the time it returns to our very friendly screens it'll be prelim period!!! Blooming marvellous!!! (I'm doing a great job keeping explicit vulgarities out of this post!)
Which brings me back to my favourite rant of the standard of programming in Singapore. Anyone who has a burning desire to watch my big fat obnoxious fiance whatever stupid title they gave that show should be condemned to watch gigli for 24 hours straight. Or make them watch the "all your base" flash for 24 hours. On second thoughts that is quite lenient. Why would any self respecting individual want to watch shows that have no intrinsic value in them except for (gross) entertainment? I'm no snob, OC is just pure fluff, I watch it to relax, but shows like these should not be occupying prime time, It is just symptomatic of a society which has a weird set of values if their idea of post-dinner entertainment was watching people eating extremely gross stuff, or reality dating shows which undermine the institution of marriage, or just simply 2 spoilt brats getting paid for acting more spoilt. Maybe every family should just switch off the TV and engage in a game of scrabble, that is far more intellectually stimulating.
Haiz, rant over i think, but I just don't understand why lame-ass reality shows get prime time while award winning shows either get banned, cut to pieces, or simply get shelved into the twilight zone timeslot. All we get as common fare are (no) talent shows, reality TV which i detest (surprise there), variety programmes (which are only slightly better than reality TV, I mean who actually bothers watching stars doing challenges on water?), or drama serials which are so formulaic.
Like I said, I'm nos nob, and being an econs student I know there is a demand for such programmes therefore they are produced. Still, I just shake off the feeling that mum is right, that a society which watches shows like Unbeatables and Holland V is in danger of being stuck in that level only. Or maybe she and I are just acting the snob again, only that she is always worse than me (ha!).
In any case, it means now there is NOTHING to make my wretched thursdays better.
And for the benefit of all those out there who think that banana joker is funny, he was a guy in the Singapore GameFAQs forum who got dared to do it. And he did. But he NEVER got to the judges, Mediacock decided to do some clever editing to insert that scene with the judges in it. Now you know the truth.
List of things Mediacock has screwed me over for:
1) CANCELING BEAST WARS!!!!!!!! (I'll never forgive them for that)
2) Their shitty programming
3) Timing of the practice
4) And now this
It's amazing how a humble tv company can make me so pissed off.
Thank you for listening to me rant. Have a nice day. If possible, send Mediacock a pig's head.
:)

I guess this is it

After talking to don, things do look better now. At least I can laugh at myself.
I guess this is it. I'll just last chance saloon it, exercise my 0.000000001% chance, then go out in a blaze of glory, and from the ashes, I'll rebuild a stronger person.

Well I been thinking 'bout the future
But I'm too young to pretend
It's such a waste to always look behind you
Should be lookin' straight ahead

Yeah, I'm gonna have to move on
Before we meet again
Yeah, it's hard
If you had've only seen

"Move On" by Jet

Claiming back what's ours

I was walking towards kinokuniya yesterday after dinner with my family. Upon reaching the entrance, I saw a boy wearing the new Manchester United jersey. I felt it looked odd, and on closer inspection, I realised why so.
There was no golden lion on the sleeve, just a normal blue one.
Then all the hurt and disgust came flooding back, before slowly being replaced with righteous anger.
This time, we're going to get that golden lion back, and how.
Just you pretenders wait.

Head. Meet wall.

Only now can I fully comprehend my stupidity. Argh...
Just don't quite know how to articulate myself. Maybe for once, I am actually lost for words.
Things really don't go the way you want them to go...
Shet, why am I so screwed up? Nothing to worry about, pick yourself up now and walk on, don't look back.
I really have to ask myself, why am I doing this to myself?
Somebody wake me up proper.

Dreams, delusions, reality and hallucination all intertwined...

Ok that's it. If I have another dream about dinosaurs chasing me I'm laying off the Land Before Time marathons I have been having. In all seriousness, those prehistoric stalkers in my sleep are driving me mad. First it was a T-Rex chasing us in a yellow sports car with keng piang at the wheel (I don't know which one I find more terrifying), to a dark grey sharp toothed brontosaurus (or apatosaurus for those purists out there) chasing me in a jungle, and finally to raptors that could morph into women and gut their victims with their fingernails. What next? If I want a dream about dinosaurs I rather it would be about the Dinobots. Mum quipped that she expects that a stegosaurus or ankylosaurus will make its appearance next, and matter-of-factly pointed out that bronotsauruses are herbivores so they don't have sharp teeth.
Well, this is interesting, from www.dreammoods.com, apparently "To dream that you are being chased by a dinosaur, indicates your fears of no longer being needed or useful. Alternatively, being chased by a dinosaur, may reflect old issues that are still coming back to haunt you."
Hmm, the latter is quite true, some unresolved issues are always haunting me. Oh well, maybe it is just that I'm quite stressed out.
Wonder if dreams are really a window to one's life...
On a more saner note, Jay's new album is out and from what I heard so far it's good stuff, although a bit rehashed. I'm quite sure he sampled a piece of music from Heroes 3 for track 1.
So much mugging, so little time. Shall try my best, no way I'm going to let anything get in my life, not even a herd of rampaging dinos.

Church Bells

How do you let go of something? Well, just don't think of it. Simple, right? Yeah, but if it keeps on popping up in your mind, that's when things get tricky.
Which makes me wonder if I really want to let go of it. Bah, madness. I really don't need this now.
Resolved to not say "i was like", instead shall say "my reaction was" as the former really reduces my intellect level.
No more PE, darn that means I shall become a flabby piece of triglyceride. Means I should step up my swimming frequencies. 4 consecutive laps of butterfly stroke feels good when your arms ache. Shall increase the number of laps after a while, I'm really out of shape with regards of swimming, haven't swam for some time. But still can remember the strokes clearly, I guess it's like riding a bike, once you learned it you won't forget.
Ran out stuff to say, maybe more like ran out of things I can say online. Just found out that Mr Zheng Shuwei actually reads this blog (If you're reading this now, hi!) and nick cryptically says a lot (emphasis here) more people read my blog than I think. That just means more people will be forming opinions, correct or wildly otherwise, based on what I write here. I try to be truthful, but the reality is that what I say here is perhaps just marginally more truthful than what I say in person. Still, this place has its purpose, to be my soundboard, whether for fanboy gushing or cryptic analogies.
To all those who think you know me, just from what I write here, you don't.

Unravelling slowly
 
I think I'm going to go crazy soon. During chem lecture I dozed off, and in that short nap I saw some images that had absolutely no meaning at all, until I focused on 1 image, before a poke from keng piang in the side prompted me to wake up and copy some stuff. Then when econs lecture ended, I saw that image. It wasn't exactly the same image, but the fact it was close enough to it that freaked me out. People do get deja vu quite frequently, but mine has always been simple stuff like shoes being arranged in a certain way on the shoe mat. I hope it just because of the fact that I slept at 2 last night and an amazing coincidence took place. But then the human mind has always had the uncanny ability to explain away phenomenon in the most plausible way without suggesting any trace of the truth. In short, I hope I'm not so stressed out.
Anyway, I hate thursdays. Just realised that most of the shitty stuff happens on thursdays. Maybe it is because of the 3 lectures, 2 of which are hard to understand; maybe because it is the long hours of the day that make me irritable; maybe it is the penultimate day of the week which is neither the end nor the start. Well, maybe it is just the multitude of reasons that interact and make me feel lousy. Oh well, one saving grace of thursdays is OC, which incidentally is starting now. Feeling better already.