Guineamon's Paradise

Sweet 16

2009-07-14T22:22:00.005+08:00

I'm finally sixteen!

First off I would like to thank everyone who wished me today, I truly appreciate it guys!

I can oh so very confidently say that today was the GREATEST birthday I ever had, and it's all thanks to you guys ^^ I haven't felt so happy in such a long long time...

So lets see what happened today shall we? Went to school extra early today and fell asleep at my desk, earphones plugged in, and listening to random songs. Was rudely awakened when the soothing melodies suddenly switched to the obscene hollering that Chun Wee, Matthew, Zhi En and I call a Podcast.

Fell asleep once more, and to my surprise, this time I was awakened by the 'oh-so-familiar' bothering of Chi Haur violently shaking me. Isaac, Chi Haur and Zach had came over specially to wish me a birthday, and I would have all you guys a hug for filling me with so much happiness if I weren't half asleep, confused and listening to Dancing Queen! They gave me a beautiful set of red earplugs (which looked really really expensive o.o), and I love it so much! Haha, it sure is a welcome change to my battered hand-me-down set of default Mac earphones! Thanks a lot guys, the card was really special as well ;) I will surely treasure this forever and ever, and use it every single day!

Well, then it was off to normal lessons, although PE was really enjoyable. A full long session of good 'ol badminton sure helps loosen up the joints (and give me a chance to horribly injure Ting Wei), and me and Chun Wee had a great workout passing to and fro as we ran the length of the MPH ^^

Nothing else really remarkable for the rest of the school day, just slept and did alot of math questions. Chun Wee asked me to stay back for 'PoD project', but it was sadly too obvious guys, Chun Wee's too much of a slacker =D Thanks to Joshua, Bynes and Chun Wee for the cake and the gifts! The HSM socks are really warm and colourful, the pendant was really sweet and personal.

The pendant was really sweet and personal, the CD was really really great and I enjoyed every moment of the two years we spent together Joshua! Your friendship has been invaluable and one-of-kind. Thanks for the Bible as well! The HSM bookmark is really nice ^^

Headed home before going out for dinner at Raffles City at Prego, the same place I went too last year =D Thanks to my sis for the awesome shirt, and my mum and dad for the awsum Crumpler >.<

Thanks to everyone who wished me, especially Ngiam, Robert and Bee Tat who SMSed me in the wee wee hours of the morning ^^

I'm really glad I have so many friends I can rely on in my times of despair, and if it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't be around to celebrate my 16th birthday! Although the gifts are real sweet of you guys, no material present on this earth can EVER replace the beautiful friendship you have shared with me, in spite of me not being the nicest and well-tempered person, not to mention all the bits and pieces of trouble I always impose on you guys! I love you guys!

~~~~

Well since we're on the note of birthdays, I finally found some peekchurs on my phone from way back in June during Isaac's birthday. Haha enjoy!

Here's the card I bought on my way back from Dhoby Ghaut from one of those scam charity drive thingies. She even had the audacity to say it was handmade =P

Really sour lemon cake!

And finally the gift itself ^^. The other part of it was too small for me to catch on my camera anyways :)

Well at least now I know how to send pictures from my phone to my camera! Expect much more peekchurspam in the future.

The One Month Mark

2009-07-05T21:27:00.002+08:00

5th June...

It's been one month since I've had the worst day of my life, and so much has happened

In just this tiny span of time, I've come to experience so much of the sinister side of life, the darkest recesses of my mind unfurling my sanity.

My heart was broken, and I fear it will never be the same again. Tears I have shed, and they still flow every night. I have come so near to a coward's death, and the thought still lingers in my mind. I finally understood why it hurts so bad to not hate, and to have the very foundations of my life shaken to it's very roots.

The dark clouds of suffering still hang low over me, but I have finally found the great anchor in these troubled times. I followed Joshua to his church for a miracle service, and I it was then I felt the veil of shadow finally being drawn apart by the power of God. It won't be easy for me to convert, for I live a life of sin, but I must, I cannot fail.

The Lord will save me from this burning agony and fill me with life once more.

Ring-bearer

2009-06-24T01:05:00.004+08:00

Wow...so much has happened since the last time I posted...

But it's getting really late now and it would take me forever to go through those events, so I'll make this a short post. Let me show you my most treasured possession as of now, something I received only recently.

Its a simple titanium ring with a zirconium gem inlaid in it, and it comes with a steel chain...as for the words inscribed into it, that's for me to know and you to find out ;)

Well, then I stumbled upon the DVD's I had of Lord of the Rings and decided to watch it out of pure boredom, and decided to name the ring! Since I play a Blood Elf in WoW, I decided to name the ring in Thalassian, the language of the Quel'dorei. It just took a few moments of research on the internet, and I know it's real childish and such, but how often to you get the opportunity to do something like this?

So I decided to call the ring,

Femeienore'lo o'riom, Heirloom of the House of Belore'shasuoor

Wowee, that sure is a mouthful! For those of you too lazy to find out what that means, it roughly translates to Angel of my Love, Heirloom of the House of Sun-field.

There's a reason for why I called it that, and maybe you guys might be smart enough to find out. So go ahead, venture a guess =)

Till next time!

It'll be over soon

2009-06-09T23:06:00.002+08:00

Well...

Unless you've been slow/lazy to scroll down, you would probably know I haven't been feeling all to joyful these few days. Well, it's been a rocky 4 days since it started, and honestly, I'm still not exactly too happy nor trusting, so please forgive me if I have been a tad snappy or quiet.

The worst of the turmoil has passed, but pangs of sadness still do over take me... But an improvement is an improvement! I've learnt a lot about life and love from this, and even found out several secrets too along the way. I've experienced the pain of heartbreak, the comfort of friendship, the awkwardness of the aftermath, and am no longer as naive as I was before...

I reckon it's all part of life isn't it? Only a person with the capacity to feel great pain has the emotion to experience overwhelming ecstasy...and hopefully that second bit comes soon in the form of a double victory at Nats!

I've even found the courage to voice my emotions and place my thoughts into actions that has eluded me for so very long, ever since Primary 4... I even find myself taking the first few baby steps to drawing nearer to God, to acknowledge him and thank him for sending down one of his angels to guide me in life. I made a new friend too!

Thanks to Bee Tat, Robert, Joshua Tay, and Nick Ngiam for helping me through this, Sean, Matthew, Chun Wee, Shahdan, Chris, Niranjan, and Matt Lee for the concern. I especially wanna thank Isaac and Zach for being so understanding and patient even though it was tough on you guys. I love all of you guys lots, and sorry if I missed anyone out!

Peace out!

Songs

2009-06-07T10:03:00.002+08:00

Do you know what it's like, to feel so in the dark?
To dream about a life, where you're the shining star?
This is real,
This is me.

You sayd

2009-06-06T23:25:00.004+08:00

Well, here is my third poem attempt. Isaac told me not to be so emo so I tried a happier poem. It's a fairly simple if not excessively long poem, and it details the story of a young kid and his encounter with homosexuality and the likes. Hopefully, this will help people see homosexuals beyond a group of individuals driven by lust, and that true, innocent and pure love between homosexuals is possible.

You sayd

You sayd to forget it, to get over the memeries
That we were too young
To understand why we shouldnt kiss

I tot that was cute when you sayd that
Gazing at you sillyly
Giggling away

I tried to thought back of
A time when I didnt know you
It was dificult, I gave up quite soon

Techer scolded me today in English class,
Cauz I was writing a letter to you
And dangling it out the window
But the string broke and away it flew

She made me stay back during recess
Asking me why I wasn’t paying attenchun no more
I looked at her blankly, I didnt know how to say
What was it about the cat and the tounge again?

She sighed a few times before she gave me her chalk
“Write on the board”
,She said
“Everything on your mind”

I clozed my eyes and taught real hard,
I was scared techer wouldn’t be happy if I wrote lard
As my tummy grumbled,
I herd your voice outsyde,
So I wrote what I thot of you

Once moar I thought real hard,
I took the chalk, and wrote from the start
How we met, that time in the park
The bullys hit me cause they sayd I was short
You ripped your red shirt while helping me up

You smiled at me for the first time,
I remember those dimpels,
Front teeth missin
Yet so wide a grin
Like that Cheshire Cat techer talked about

So inocent and clean, I liked your hair
Were you an angel from heavens lair?
I sayd you smelt like my lucky coin,
That your eyes were like the milk
In my cereal bowl
I thot it was so very cute

You gave a hearty chuckle,
The sweetest sound I did hear
I never forgot it,
It was kinda like my favourite song
About that mermaid and her pearl
It was deep, but you mayd me comfertable

So I went back to skool, you said you studied right below me
I asked if we culd be friends
I didnt have any then, I was so scared that you wouldnt be the key
But you were so nyce, so very sweet
You sayd yes of course,
I thot that was really neat

I wanted to see you eveyday
You’re clasmates, my clasmates they all laughed
Sayd I was so mushy and such,
Cot by love, like the pikpocket the sheriff cuffed
But I didnt care, you were all that mattered

You stood up for me, when the bullys came
Younger and skinnier,
Yet so very brave
I cried when I saw your nose bleed
I kicked the bullys but they hit my head

When I sayd I had no friends,
That no one lovd me cause I was ugly
You gave me my first hug and sayd I was being silly
Took me by the hand to your class
Introdyuced me to your best friend

I never thought I wuld fall in love
But yet I did, I couldnt help it
I told your best friend, he sayd it wasnt right
For me to like you

“Why?” I asked, I did not undestand
“Is it because he’s an angel sent by God?”
He sayd he didnt know
Someone once told him it was not approved by the Lord

I didnt get it, why was it so?
Running home my mum I told
She grabbed my dad and shovd him into the study
They shouted quite a lot

I hid under the table and cried all night
I only stopped when you called,
To check if I was alright

I opeened my eyes,
The recess bell had rung twice
I looked around

I thought techer would be happy I filled the board
With all our happy mememries
She slapped my face instead, when she saw I wanted your kiss

Whats wrong with being in love I asked
As I walked right out of class
Why couldnt a boy like a boy?

Enjoy~

Someone Else

2009-06-06T17:45:00.003+08:00

So... before school closed I decided to write a poem to submit to the Language Arts department internal literary competition. To be honest, I wrote one down last week, but because I felt that poems were practically songs without an obvious tune, so I expected myself to be truthful to my feelings and reflect myself and my life into the poems. Things changed drastically after I wrote the poem, and the wishful and more upbeat mood to it no longer suited me. Well, here's the second poem I penned, I hope you like it!

Someone Else

Tearful eyes gaze unto the stars
Love’s fond memories scarred Unrequited, forever it mars
My heart sang our songs Now agony cries, happy lyrics transformed
Lips I stayed, kept dry Arms unfilled hugs platonic, I do not lie, waiting
For my angel to breach My body, In my holy sanctuary unfurl
A yelp did I utter In unbearable horror
To find my angel Soiled in Man’s lust
Yet how could I hate, to not pretend
When he smiles Like that?
Sweetly rejected Sole consolation
My tears bleed forth
Because my Angel
Will always dream
of

Someone Else

The formatting screwed up a little when I transferred it from Word to over here, but I barely managed to salvage the structure of the poem >.<

What do you think of it? Leave your comments!

Edit: The formatting doesn't work here, look at the screen shot below. The capital letters mid-sentence signify a break and is meant to be read as a different sentence.

The Teardrops on my Guitar

2009-06-05T03:57:00.003+08:00

In all my 15 years, I thought I had felt pain and sadness to a degree that could go no further.

Yet today, the 5th of June, I have lost my reason to live. My heart which I have so faithfully followed has been smashed into pieces, my dreams ground to dust.

It is today I have felt the truly bitter pain of love.

It is today that I truly understand how it feels to be depressed.

It is today that I know why people commit suicide.

Why has thou forsaken me oh Cupid? If your arrows will not strike my heart, then let them strike me down.

I no longer have the will to carry on, the core principles of my life ruined.

I don't know what to do.

My Heartsong no longer cries out to the chorus of Hey Stephen. It writhes in pain as Teardrops on my Guitar reigns

Isaac's Birthday

2009-06-02T23:08:00.003+08:00

HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY ISAAC!

I know you never read blogs, but thanks for helping me along and keeping me going! You may not know it, but you've been a very important pillar in my life.

Thank you! And a very blessed birthday to you!

Love

2009-05-19T22:21:00.002+08:00

Well... I know I just posted earlier, but I couldn't help but make a second one!

First of all, I forgot to mention that our groups SL project has begun! Despite several set backs, including but not limited to our severely limited advertising campaign, the stage has already been set. Project AC.Love is a go! Please do donate at the Roundabout in the morning, or at the SAC during you recess!

Secondly, I recall coming across a latin phrase back in March when I was trying to find something meaningful to inscribe as a gift to someone (which failed quite horribly >.<).

Amor Vincit Omnia, or Love Conquers All was the phrase I chanced upon, and I did not really give it much thought until now. Perhaps it is our way of venting our anger or frustrations upon the ones closest to us, perhaps our classmates or friends, being rowdy boys and all. But seeing others descend and give in to anger and yelling at others reminds me of an event two years ago, where I had done the same and lost a near and dear friend because of it. Even today, I had lost my temper after my glasses were broken, but I tried my best not to yell, rather keeping mum and forcing myself asleep to prevent any repercussions.

Seeing some of the people I hold closest to my heart giving way to the temptation of anger towards their very own classmates over something trivial as a game really hurts me, and I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of sorrow over it. I have often said that hate is a very strong word, and I often avoid using it as best I can, and seeing others go down the same path that lead me to losing a close friend makes me feel... pained for lack of a better vocabulary.

I recall that there was once a chapel talk by some kung fu guy. Of all the things he said that day, I took home this message.

"In the eyes of God, if you ever hated someone, anyone, it would be as though you had murdered him, and hence you have sinned"

I may not be Christian, but I felt there was much truth behind these words. Not only does anger make both parties feel unhappy, but it poisons and mutilates both parties to become squabbling and less than decent boys.

Love has indeed been a shining light for me in my path to be at peace with the world, and it has been the only thing allowing me to forgive others who have turned so foul in front of my eyes amidst arguments. It really does pain my heart to see the angels of my life descend into madness, and I hope that as you read this, that you my find the love and compassion in yourself to forgive others.

And if you are the one I am referring to, I sincerely wish and hope that you might let go of this anger, and let the bittersweet tides of love wash over you to fill the void, and that you understand how it pains me to see you suffer from the backlash of anger, mijo.

Post Mid Years

2009-05-19T21:56:00.002+08:00

So...

Alot has happened since I submitted my POD essay, so lets start from... Week 7!

Nothing really special, just the start of the SJAB flag raising week. I had to get up earlier every single day of the week and that didn't really do wonders for me -.-. Tuesday was supposed to the day I commanded, but it rained, so I did it on Wednesday instead.

Exams began on Thursday, with a nice little flourish of Lang Arts and IHS as our first two papers. Once again, I have that dread feeling at the pit of the stomach that I had been too flamboyant in my essays, especially the part about Star Wars in IHS =/

Week 8 was time for the Year 3s to do flagraising and such, but NPCC day and rain interrupted a good portion of the week, so Ryan and Isaac were cut out. I was quite happy with it overall, but still, I overheard callous remarks against my beloved UYO, and it was with great determination that I did not punch the living day lights out of the guy right in front of the Senior Admin.

Exams took the entire week, and the Boarding School Dining Hall wasn't too bad a venue, maybe being a little too cramped is all. Physics, Chem and Bio were all done satisfactorily, the three subjects being the ones I studied the most by implementing the time consuming task of hand copying the textbook and notes into my notebook.

Interesting thing I noted though. I lent my chem note book to Isaac for a couple of days, and when I took it back it undoubtably smelt like him. Pheromones or just diffusion of particles, I will never know, but it made me consider taking a more scientific approach to my upcoming PoD presentation, which topic is tentatively on Homosexuality.

C math was terrible, I thought I was prepared but it turned out I wasn't.
A math was reasonable, maybe I could finally scrape a G5 if I'm lucky
Chinese was bad bad bad! I wrote a lot for the composition, but on hindsight I believe I wrote out of point. I didn't even get to finish my Paper 2 -.- So I'm predicting a fail here.

Well, I finally topped up my prepaid card for WoW on Friday after a nice little outing to watch Angel and Demons. The movie was really nice, the ambigrams were cool, the screenplay was good, and not to mention, Ewan McGregor (Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars) was in it.

I got home, raided the brand spanking new raid Ulduar on WoW, letting myself immerse into the game after such a long abstinence.

Saturday came around and it was back to Sinma training. Nothing really special...but it was quite obvious to me that our missing friend (read earlier posts) was having quite an impact on all of us.

Well, paper reviews have shown that I should be able to get a G7 or G6 for my Sciences no problem, and I slept through both Math reviews so goodness knows what will happen. Chinese found me perhaps scraping a fail by a point or two, but I guess I won't really know till Friday.

SJAB day is coming up too, and I've had two nightmares about it already... it's going to be quite trying for me, being probably the first and last parade considering they cancelled Founder's Day and National Day's parades.

I'm still waiting to go out with my SJAB buddies, but everyone is so busy...

Singapore Idol

2009-05-18T00:25:00.001+08:00

Argh!

I can't believe I can't take part in Singapore Idol for the 3rd blimey time! And this time it's because I am just a month too young!

Where is the justice?!

Well at least exams are over, its been a very trying 2 weeks...

Will post more soon!

Personal Identity

2009-05-03T12:40:00.000+08:00

As with tradition, here is my PoD essay on Personal Identity! I had to leave out many details as there was a word limit though...
Most of my beliefs about personal identity I acquired when I broke my arm and smashed my head into a locker, where I tried to remove myself from my body to relieve the pain.

Cogito ergo sum.

I think therefore I am. This famous philosophical statement written in 1644 in René Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy has survived the trial of time, and even after over 350 years, it is still often quoted as a reason for someone to believe that the individual itself exists.

But another question has arisen from this conclusion. If I exist, then who am I? What makes me different from everyone else, what is it that binds my personal identity to myself, and what happens of it in the afterlife?

Over the years, many theories have surfaced to try to answer these questions of personal identity. There is the Succession theory, where it is believed that everyone is a succession of different beings through time, and although one would take responsibility for past selves, they are ultimately not the same being. The succession theory contradicts the theory of continuity.

The continuity theory can be split into two major segments, the first segment believing that a persons personal identity relies on his physical appearance, how he looks, how he behaves, and his name amongst many other things. Therefore, in accordance with this theory, a person is no longer the same being he was after plastic surgery, and this point of contention is one of the reasons why many disregard this theory of physical continuity.

The second segment is that of psychological continuity, where a persons mind and his thoughts define his identity. Philosophers argue that a person’s memory is the factor that makes a person the same being from childhood to birth, his ability to recall living the life and experiencing the experiences of the past that no one else can claim to have done so. However, one major flaw in this theory is the fact that people can lose memories to diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. Is the person then a different individual?

For me, I believe in psychological continuity, similar to that of John Locke’s. In his argument, he often mentions consciousness as the deciding factor of personal identity. Consciousness is described as being awake and aware, being responsive to the environment.

Let us use a hypothetical situation to explain this theory of consciousness. There is a man, Isaac who crashes his car, and as a result is horribly disfigured and loses his memory. When he awakes, Isaac no longer remembers who he is, and adopts a new name, Bob. Yet eventually, Bob remembers his past and decides to adopt his old name.

In such a situation, the man has lost his identity when his face was disfigured if we use the physical continuity theory, and lost his identity when his memory was lost in accordance to memories being the defining factor of identity, gaining his identity of Isaac back only after having regained his memories. But if he did lose his identity of Isaac upon loss of memory, then does this mean that Bob is a completely different individual, one who is completely erased from existence with the mere recollection of Isaac’s memories?

In the consciousness theory, the person involved in the crash is in fact the same person throughout the entire series of events. As Bob, the individual may not recall his past, but from the very first moment he is awake, he is creating new memories for himself, experiencing things that no one else can claim they are going through. And when his old memories return, it does not mean that he cannot claim to have undergone life as Bob, nor can he claim that he was never Isaac. In fact, both Bob and Isaac are the same person, because both of them are a singular consciousness that only one individual can undergo.

This concept of consciousness is in tandem with religions, which believe in reincarnation after death. After reincarnation, the individual loses his memories, his appearance, but he does not lose his consciousness. Even if he was reborn as a completely different thing, such as a dog or a cat, his consciousness would still remain the same, the only being who experiences life the way the individual does. Many philosophers describe this as Spiritual continuity, where a separate being resides in our physical bodies, devoid of our memories and looks, yet is the only spirit that experiences life the way it does, with no other spirit or being being able to do so.

One of the things that come to my mind when thinking of personal identity is that of the massive armies of Clones in Star Wars. Over a million clones, all behaving, thinking and looking the same, and yet each and every one of them has a different consciousness. Whereas one clone might have lived his life out on an icy planet, another might have been experiencing life on a desert planet, their souls experiencing completely different things, and as such, they are said to be separate individuals. Another reason why I think of Star Wars is its emphasis of detachment. In the movie, a group of individuals known as Jedi attempt to detach themselves from the physical world, abandoning relationships, attachments and material comforts alike. When a Jedi has managed to completely release himself the physical constraints of mind and body, to accept that what one believes to be oneself is but a manifestation of ones senses, to accept that one is not a fearless warrior or acclaimed diplomat, and is in fact part of what they describe as the Force, something intangible yet has an identity of its own, similar to how spirits work, only then will the Jedi achieve enlightenment, retaining their personalities into the afterlife as Force ghosts. This concept echoes the Buddhist teachings of how Buddha had managed to severe all ties he had with the physical world, to accept his one and only identity was that of his spirit, and eventually achieves enlightenment.

Thus, it is with these arguments that I believe that ones identity is not how one looks, what one remembers, or what one thinks. It is in fact what we experience, and whether or not we understand or comprehend the fact that we are a continuous being from a life long forgotten is of little importance, as seen from the case study of Bob and Isaac.

Yes I like the name Bob. =.=

GEP Camp!

2009-04-26T11:29:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone! Time for a proper blog post long overdue!

Its been like two weeks since the event has passed, and I feel so embarrassed blogging about it now, but with exam stress and all, reliving good times can help! So here it is, my experience at the 19th ACS(Independent) GEP camp!

The camp took place from Wednesday to Friday, taking over normal lessons. This being said, of course everyone was happy with it. The first day started off in a boring manner, with some Olympics guy coming down and talking about random Olympic stuff. Everyone was falling asleep but he couldn't take the hint. So after bearing with it for around 2 hours, we moved on to our first elective, an activity we had picked a week before.

Mine was rock climbing, and I went for it with Chun Wee, Matthew and Alex. We went to the schools indoor hall, and lo and behold, we got to use the rarely touched rock wall! The first hour or so of the activity was a complete bore, the same procedures being repeated over and over again. We played some trust fall games and that was about the extent of our enjoyment. We stopped for lunch, and came back again, sitting around with a tight harness attached to our bodies, waiting for all the year 1's and 2's scale the wall. Eventually we got our turn, and with much effort, I finally reached the top!

Despite the boredom of the elective as a whole, it was worth it. I remembered how much I enjoyed that injection of adrenaline after scaling the mountain wall back in LDP, and I wanted to experience that feeling once more, where pain was nearly non-existent. Perhaps it was the indoors setting, but the adrenaline rush just wasn't strong enough. Oh well, at least I got a chance to prove that I wasn't just some fat kid once more.

The second day of the camp came, and a panel discussion was held by some former Olympians who hailed from ACS in days past. It started off quite professionally, but after a while it just became advertisement for the schools swimming team, so it wasn't all that beneficial. My second elective was cycling, and I chose it due to lack of other choices. So I asked Isaac what he was doing, and just picked that without reading the summary. Turns out, we were going to Pulau Ubin to cycle on an off-road path.

I. Was. Horrified. I could barely cycle on solid ground, let alone an off-road path! Not to mention, the only people I knew from the group were Isaac, his classmate Zach, and Jonathan Lim, all strong cyclers in their own right as I was led to believe. So...I was probably going to be lagging behind the entire way, stuck in some jungle all alone.

We took a bus all the way to Changi, followed by a short ferry ride to Pulau Ubin, where we rented a bike and started on our trial. The first part was all right, just cement road. And then we reached a ravine with a small path barely large enough for a Hobbit to stand in. With much effort I tried cycling through it, but every 5 seconds I drove into a particularly large bush on the sides and got stuck. We reached the top of the hill at last, and stopped for a break, thinking that we had probably reached at least one quarter of the trail. We took in a particularly beautiful sight there. On one side there was a huge river surrounded by cliff walls, the other, traces of Singapore's skyscrapers and industrial parks beckoning across the ocean.

We grudgingly carried on, exhausted without even reaching one quarter of the trail, and I soon found myself lagging behind my friends, having to push my bicycle through much of the treacherous trail. After hour upon hour of cycling, I overtook the resting Isaac and Zach when we reached a long dirt road stretch which was definitely much easily traversed than the narrow jungle paths which had a long drop on either side. I met up with the rest of the group at the crossroads, it was either get onto the road which would lead us back to our start point, or go up this unsightly path and continue the trail. I couldn't decide, and my coin was stuck in my sweat drenched wallet, so all I could do was to pull out my bottle from my equally sweat drenched bag and have a sip or two. They decided to go ahead on the trail, and knowing that if I followed them I would lag behind, I decided to wait for Isaac and Zach, and they came along eventually. So we went up the unsightly path, and lo and behold!

The entire path was covered in steep drops and climbs, and there was no way we could cycle down those. So, despite being exhausted and dehydrated, we pushed through the entire way, conquering the path step by step. And perhaps this was the highlight of the entire camp. Separated from the distractions of civilization, sharing a painful and tiring experience together, and bearing the pain to encourage and help each other along the way, was one of the best quality time I had with anyone. It was like SBB with only 2 other people.

We finally reached a rest point and decided to take the road back from there on, proud that we had managed to complete 3/4 of the course. It was a long ride back, but it was much easier, and we thoroughly enjoyed the cool wind rushing against us. Isaac got a cramp on the way back, but as usual, he didn't let us help him carry his bag, and with determination and willpower only GEPers can show, we finally made it back! (with me behind the both of them of course).

We sat around at the cafe for around an hour, waiting for the stragglers whom Mr Jason Chan had picked up to return, and took the ferry home at around 4.30, reaching school slightly past 5.

The third day was just like any other day, just sitting around and listening to presentations. But all in all, the camp experience was an unforgettable one, providing me with the experience to share quality time with my close friends.

So, we headed back to Sinma the day after, and were told that there was going to be a Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) examination the following week. Training was as per usual, just some cases here and there, and Isaac and I still had our cycling tans, so we looked kinda funny.

After the BCLS test, which all four of us passed (Chi Haur with GREAT difficulty), we spent the remainder of the day doing some drills and a case or two. They announced who were going to be in the main team, and chose 10 out of the 11 of us, cutting one member from our school. I shall not say who, but I was really angry at that time; perhaps if our instructor did not announce it in front of everyone, the Nursing teams included, and told us personally behind closed doors, it wouldn't have been so embarrassing for that guy. But no, he had to make it so obvious who he didn't choose, and extended false sincerity at letting him stay as a second reserve.

The worst part was, they had made him waste an entire month of his Saturday's coming down for full-day trainings, only to cut him off like that. I am not sure if I had mentioned this before, but I had competed in Sinma 2 years ago in year 2 as a reserve, and so I decided that if I hadn't been so selfish, then all three of my juniors would have the chance to experience an international competition. So I sounded it out to the guy who got cut, telling him I would resign or take laxatives the day before the competition or something, but he didn't want to continue, and I blame the irresponsible and unnecessary shaming of him by the instructors for this.

But if you are ever reading this, , I hope you reconsider. I mean, laxatives are easy to get, and what's a little diarrhea now and then? :)

Random blogthings

2009-04-23T23:02:00.000+08:00

Too lazy to post anything chunky, since I still have to cover GEP camp and lots of other stuff, not to mention the incoming midyears. So for your viewing pleasure, random blog things!

Your Name's Power is Beauty

Your name's power is that it helps you be beautiful.

Your name conveys both a pleasant and kind attitude.

People who meet you can't help but think you are delightful.

You try to live your life with honesty and affection.

What's Your Name's Power?

You Are Cheese Pizza

Traditional and comforting.

You focus on living a quality life.

You're not easily impressed with novelty.

Yet, you easily impress others.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

You Are Mind

If you dream it, then you can do it. You are very mentally sharp and strong.

You enjoy challenging yourself both at work and with studies. You love mastering difficult tasks.

You thrive in new environments, even stressful ones. You are able to study everything objectively.

You have a upbeat attitude, and won't be deterred easily. You are open minded and optimistic about the future.

Are You Mind, Body, or Spirit?

You Would Win Best Actor / Actress

You are confident and talented. When it's time for you to shine, you step up.

You have a strong personality. You love attention, and you can command an audience of any size.

You tend to be a bit obsessive. You're the perfect person to immerse yourself in a big role.

You're both empathetic and expressive. You understand and communicate well.

What Would You Win an Oscar For?

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from Romeo + Juliet

"Has my heart loved 'till now? Forswear it, sight! For I never saw a true beauty 'till this night."

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

Your Star Wars Name Is Wonwe Alsin

Your Star Wars Title Is Iakras of Caasi

What Is Your Star Wars Name and Title?

2009 Zone FAC

2009-04-02T23:52:00.000+08:00

March 28, 2009.

The date of the SJAB Zone 4 First Aid Competition.

Since I was in year 1, the zone competition trainings has been my life. Every day, I would think about it, and yet the championship had constantly eluded my team's grasp, year after year slipping through our fingers.

My first team in Year 2 was led by Nick Ngiam, consisting of myself, Niranjan, Bee Tat and Andrew Lim. We lost to the more experienced team that Trevor commanded.

My second competition was the Singapore-Malaysia First Aid, Home Nursing and Footdrill Competition. Cadets from different schools were all mushed together into teams, and it resulted in extremely diverse styles within the team itself. I was a reserve, and we ultimately lost to the Malaysian team.

My third competition was in Year 3, the zone competition once more. My team, with the new addition of Matthew Lee with the more senior members moving on to the adult category was led by myself. We had went in expecting to win, but in a turn of events, lost to our junior team, led by Ryan Chang, consisting of Isaac, Joshua, Chi Haur and Yinn Liang.

That day, I looked at my team members not knowing how to feel. Their tears sparked something inside of me, and we found ourselves collapsed into a mess of tears. It was perhaps one of the worst surges of emotions I had ever felt. From that day on, emotions no longer come to me easily, smiles and tears alike abandon me, leaving only anger in its wake.

But I do not hate Ryan's team, and in fact, I had often felt that grooming them was more important than my own team's victory. Not because they had won us, and call it maternal instinct if you would like, but the passion I had in year 1, 2 and a large portion of 3 for St John's, which stemmed from personal achievement and pride, had slowly died out and turned into one of care and concern for the future generations.

Now, 2009, my team's last shot at the trophy. We were very worried, and poured our hearts and souls into practicing and studying for the competition, and it was with the final practice case we did on the Friday before the competition which sealed our confidence in. We walked in, still unsure of ourselves, but now with a renewed purpose of competition. It was our last shot, our last chance for history to know us as champions in the Adult category.

We started off with the drill component, which went fairly well, not as well as Ryan's Cadet team, but still strong in our own right. Several mistakes were made, and my voice wasn't warmed up, but we pulled through.

Short case followed, and we went in with a calm demeanor. Perhaps my lack of strong emotion helped me conquer my usually jittery nerves, or perhaps it was the Tic-Tac I ate before that, I don't know. There was one casualty, and we swarmed him. The judge, as Isaac puts it, the "Demonic Dennis", who had previously put our teams down for knowing too much first aid theory, was adamant about his ways, and actually broke the rules to lecture us. 2 minutes into the case, we checked if the eyes dilated equally. He stopped us from doing ANY treatment, and started wasting our case time to blabber on about how the eyes constrict and all that nonsense. The case ended with us barely even doing any treatment, and so I knew how important the final report was. I took a deep breath, and being as calm as I could be, slapped him figuratively over and over again with as much as I could think of, forcing him to keep his mouth shut without letting him slip a word in sideways. Kinda like the Ashtamp Farosh. Other schools usually have their Number 1's, the ones who make the report, practice hours on end to repeat model answers to judges. To me, I feel that its utterly ridongculous, making them sound more like a broken recorder rather than a speaker. My short stint in drama had taught me much, and amongst it was that variety and improvisation could add colour to any boring old speech. I knew I had left out many points, but I actually felt good about it, we hadn't made a mistake apart from the eye check, and I was so proud of my team members.

Transportation of Casualty followed next, and we found ourselves transporting a very light casualty across a very short path. We all remained calm, and managed to pull off perhaps one of our best TOC's ever, hardly hesitating for a moment.

The final long case came, and it was really a stretch with three casualties. What really pissed me off was that the casualties were really pathetic, not even being able to tell us their names and what happened, sitting there like some twit without any answers. This resulted in me diagnosing him with a concussion, and the neck brace was eventually placed on the wrong guy.
-_-lll

The time of results came after over 2 hours of tense waiting, and the Cadet team results were announced first. Best Leader, Best Long Case, Best TOC, Best Drill, Best Overall, all these awards were tossed onto Ryan's team, and I felt so very happy for them, but we were all feeling very tense at the moment, furtively looking at each other, as if looking for shelter from our results which were to be announced shortly.

Best Leader. AA3 (That's us!)
Best CPR. AA2 (That's not us!)
Best Short Case. AA3 (Us again!)
Best Long Case. AA2 (Losing the long case category was quite worrying for us at the point of time, as it carried the greatest percentage of marks, and a loss usually indicated failure to achieve victory overall as well)
Best Drill. AA3
Best TOC. AA3
Best Overall

AA3

My heart stopped beating for a second. We had did it. After four years, we had finally triumphed and won, a year without a sad tear being shed. Victory had never felt so good.

We eventually retreated to my house for a barbeque, and it was fun! Kinda. I never understand barbeques, its far too much work for anyone to have fun, but spending quality time with my fellow friends in the comfort of my house under the cool, starry sky was worth it. I could finally go to sleep happy.

Yet, I still feel this sense of emptiness. I used to train at least thrice a week for a large majority of my school life, and when the National Competition and Sinma Competition is over, I don't know what the feeling would be like. To be pulled away from what I had become so accustomed and so in love with, away from my team members and friends, like a hunter without his prey.

I do hope that I would never ever have to leave this home I've created out of the years of training. Cause if my heart breaks, it's gonna hurt so bad...

March Camp 2

2009-04-02T23:13:00.000+08:00

Kicking off from where I last left off,

MARCH CAMP DAY 2 WHOO!

The day started off relatively simple, just some laps around the astro turf for Physical Training, followed by a mass exodus of wheelbarrow-ing cadets, which was really quite a sight to see!

First aid and drill tests followed next, and I spent most of the time popping in and out of the areas, checking in on Niraj's progress on the upcoming Triage, and preparing for the Nightingale, which had not only been postponed from the night before, but shortened horrendously to around 45 minutes.

Drill tests were fairly ok, but the standard of drill really wasn't up to scratch, not to mention the commanding as well... I attempted to be the responsible, serious, don't-mess-with-me-or-you're-dead NCO is was supposed to be, but I just couldn't take it after Niranjan imitated one of the cadets, yelling out a

"COCONUT POSANG"

complete with a heavy accent. I laughed and so did the other cadets, and then what followed next was hilarious. I turned around and told them it wasn't funny, and I laughed even more after that.

But honestly, the cadets will have to really pick up the slack in terms of foot drill if we want a successful St John's Day Parade. Not to mention, I finally found my sadistic side during this activity, being inexplicably angry at reasons I am still unsure about, I yelled and screamed at the cadets. To my horror, I found myself feeling better -_-

In case I didn't mention in my earlier post, we had hidden an immunity idol of sorts in my locker, and the cadets were to find it. The purpose of this activity was to see if the factions were selfish and keeping to the immunity idol to themselves, letting others suffer more punishments whilst they did less. It was to my great pleasure that the faction which found it was willing to share it.

I later found out 4 out of 6 of the factions found it. Shame on you Matthew for giving such easy clues! Fast-forwarding to Monday of Term 2 Week 2, apparently someone had stolen my lock... AGAIN. So much for respecting my privacy!

Well, moving on, Niraj's triage was a resounding success! Matthew and Niraj both had planned it to such perfection that its only fault was that there wasn't enough time for the carrying out of the cases. To be honest, I was fairly disappointed when I saw 3 year one cadets sitting around the casualty, taking 15 minutes to even START CPR, and failing to even get pass the 4th step.

The Nightingale followed next, and our hands were forced by circumstance. Deviating from the original plan of allowing 2 factions to carry out a case at one time, we had to clump all 6 factions together to do a massive case. Having limited manpower, the casualties were limited to 10, as compared to the massive number of 70 cadets. They were given 30 minutes to move everyone out of the danger zone, the space frame, to the basketball court, or the place would blow up and kill everyone inside.

In a stroke of genius, Niranjan tied all the Faction IC's hands together to force them to stick together. Reno and I went around from casualty to casualty, constantly provoking the stoning year 1's to actually do first aid, to no avail. 3/4 of the corps and the casualties "died".

Silly year ones.

Of course, no March Camp is complete without the traditional Stand-by-bunk, or SBB for short. SBB has been part of the camp for as long as I can remember, and it involved rounds of inspection by NCO's of the sleeping areas of the factions. This usually resulted in severe scolding and punishment. On the surface, this activity seemed nothing more than a torture-fest, a means for NCO's to fulfill their sadistic needs, to nit pick at every little detail. Yet on reflection, every cadet who successfully completes the activity finds themselves far more enriched morally, more in tune with oneself, and in tune with the others of the same faction. In fact, the entire activity's sole purpose is not one of discipline, but rather of moral growth, aiming to cultivate good values in the cadets when they are at their most vulnerable.

The first faction I went into was Chi Haur's. To my disgust, three quarters of his faction quit, including his AIC. Chi Haur's faction, 100+, was a hot favorite to win the Best Faction award, but due largely in part of their inability to persevere and show determination, their past efforts were thrown down the drain.

Faction number 2, the faction nearest and dearest to my heart, Isaac's faction. Normally, cadets expect NCO's to walk in and check for dirt and uniform errors to accumulate a large number of push-ups. At the point of time, I was frustrated, angry, and disappointed at the way the faction was working. Despite my numerous prodding, they had failed to improve themselves, as evidenced by the triage. I just went in, gave them but a moment of respite to catch their breath they had lost when we had literally burst into the room, and I just issued them 1200 push ups straight off the cuff.

Obviously, they didn't complete it, but what was amazing was the way the faction had improved. I yelled, I screamed, and I questioned mockingly. The faction held together through the white hot sparks I threw in their direction, both faction and IC surpassing our expectations. I gave Isaac a chance to clear the massive amount of pushups by completing a hundred in one shot. Without hesitation, he went down and finished 30 before I even had the chance to think. I stopped him there and allowed him to recover. This was without doubt the second bravest act Isaac had done in the camp, the first being the reaching into an egg for his faction. We told him it contained worms, which we knew he was horrendously afraid of, but he did it eventually. But of course, being the nice guy I am, I didn't put anything inside. I even let them keep the carefully crafted Paper Mache eggs!

Before leaving the faction, I told them to finish 50 push ups at one shot and I would leave. Despite all the physically weak people they had, they completed it. 50 may not sound like alot to you right now, sitting comfortably in your chair, but after 2 days of constant wearing and numerous push ups completed before hand, it is of an immense difficulty. The other NCO's, Michael, Reno, Andrew and myself all went down with them, and even then it wasn't an easy task. I left the faction with my heart content, a smile on my face (well it would have been there if my face wasn't frozen in an intense look of anger)

The third faction was Joshua's, and I let Michael take free reign of this one. Nothing really interesting happened here.

The fourth and final faction was Ryan's, and we were quite surprised to find that they couldn't even finish a set of 20 properly. Year 1's constantly gave up, sliding and slamming their knees onto the floor, and the rest suffered. By the end of the set, the floor was literally flooded with sweat and tears. I could barely even stand without slipping. Once more, I told Ryan to do a hundred push ups straight off to clear for his faction, but he didn't get my cues and asked for permission to continue trying as a faction. Obviously it failed, with some cadets failing to do even five, and he was forced to do the 100. But.. they solved it too early and spoilt all my fun. They all volunteered to help do the push ups, leaving each with only 10. And yet they still... did poorly. We left the room as time was running short, and also due to the fact that the room now smelt worse than ever.

SBB was finally over, but the aftershocks will stay in the hearts and minds of the cadets for many years to come. Hopefully, the lessons they learnt within will grow within them as they go on with their lives.

Fire drill followed that night, and I was so tired till I could barely keep my eyes open. I just gave up doing the shouting, and sleepily droned on about leaving their lights on. I just followed them in doing the push ups and finally retired into my sleeping bag.

Day 3 was the final day, and also the slackest of the days. Physical training was good ol' soccer, followed by a water bomb fight. Cadets packed up their bags, cleaned their rooms once more, and attended the closing ceremony.

The much anticipated Best Cadets and Best Faction Awards were given out, and it was awarded to Faction 3 for their outstanding improvement through the course of the camp. To be perfectly honest, I had thought they were complete garbage all the way till 5 minutes before the awarding of the award, because I was so involved in it that I couldn't take a birds-eye perspective of the situation. Thank goodness for the rest of my committee, who reasoned with me before I finally understood why the award went to them.

Now, Michael Kwan keeps telling me that the year 1s think I'm the scariest NCO! Come on now, I'm a nice guy! I spent such a long time making those nice eggs for you to keep as souvenirs, I hand-delivered the supper with love, and even talked one-on-one with some people after SBB!

Chinese Oral

2009-03-26T23:08:00.000+08:00

1 Day before Zone 4 First Aid and Footdrill Competition.

Preparation has been so very emotionally and physically trying.

Not to mention the fact that my Chinese Oral just took a fail because my head was flooded with drill commands.

Just, why?

A splash of Fate

2009-03-21T23:11:00.001+08:00

So...

Today was my second training for the Singapore Malaysia First Aid and Footdrill Competition, and to be honest,

IT WAS URGHH

We may have learnt a lot of stuff, but honestly, we're all going down on a Saturday as VOLUNTEERS, and the officers still show absolutely no respect at all to us, coming to us with all their drama mama stuff.

I took comfort in the fact that my unassuming guise still hasn't changed after two years. Before reporting for short case, I just gave a soft command to start off, to match the mood of the place. The officer told me that it was too soft...

...and those of you who know me would know the volume that was reached. Heh.

Not to mention, giving out push ups for not greeting an officer who said not to greet her, I mean, WTF?! Sigh, if it weren't for these responsibilities I had to shoulder, I would have just spat out of disgust and left, but at least I made some new friends, and met some old ones from two years back.

I then strolled along with Chi Haur and Joshua to Ang Mo Kio, and it was my first time there! It was a nice place, and there was even this huge shopping center as well! I walked around a tad in the drizzle, and even saw the most beautiful rainbow in months, pointing me in the direction I was headed to, as though some sort of miracle right out of the comic book was unfolding right before my eyes!

Yay rainbows!

March Basic NCO Camp 2009

2009-03-19T09:10:00.000+08:00

Knock it down.

Those three words are definitely not the ones I enjoy saying. And yet, I was bound by my duty to put over seventy people through three days of torture, humiliation and suffering.

The camp started off relatively bad on Sunday, being the precamp for the committee as well as the First Aid Competition Camp. Lugging along 8 bags, coupled with the fact that I had to delegate work and prepare for the logistically massive camp the next day, it was nearly impossible to help the AC team train, causing them to waste their entire Sunday. For that, I would like to extend my apologies to Ryan, Isaac, Joshua, Chi Haur and Yinn Liang.

Monday came, and the cadets were in the space frame, waiting for us in fearful anticipation. The course IC for the time was Joshua, and little did he know that he was in for the worst time of his life. Cadets strolled in late half an hour after camp started, people unaccounted for, and fidgeting whilst falling in were just the beginning of his problems. The cadets were required to empty their bags within a minute, and yet they failed after giving them extra time. Joshua was given a horrendous yelling at, putting him down and blaming him for things he could not have possibly controlled. And of course, punishments were dished out generously, with the cadets owing us over 800 by the end of the hour long activity. Within one hour of the camp, I had already made someone tear, and I felt quite disturbed by it.

After shuffling off to their rooms, physical training commenced. The six factions, led respectively by Yinn Liang, Ryan, Isaac, Lucas, Joshua and Chi Haur were split into three levels evenly, and they had to find a way to coordinate their running. We were all very pleased with the performance after the crappy bag check.

Cheering was up next, and we got to judge the flags the IC's had prepared for the camp. The flags were all generally very nice, and far outshone the ones our committee had prepared last year >.<. I particularly liked the cloth Isaac used for his flag. It was nice to touch.

After a nice lunch break, cadets were split into classrooms according to level for their first aid lessons. Trust me when I say it was boring. I caught so many people sleeping.

Drill lessons were next, and the IC's got their first opportunity to try their hands at instructing. It was nice to hear people who were normally very reserved (like Isaac) commanding, yelling their lungs dry. Not to mention, Chi Haur sounded positively hilarious when he was commanding, and Isaac sounded strangely cute when he commanded.

Breaking for dinner, cadets prepared for the Amazing Race that was about to follow. And boy, were they in for a messy time. One of the stations was a mud station, requiring cadets to remove their shirts and lay them over the mud covered field and commando crawling or wheelbarrowing through it all, on top of their already mud-stained shirts. They eventually decided to run around the school half-naked...

And thats day one for you! I left out details on purpose to protect my juniors, and I doubt they would really want their personal humiliations made public. By the end of day one, my "People who Cried because of me" count was 2.

Their faces still haunt me.

The Sun Will Alway Shine

2009-03-13T23:36:00.001+08:00

It seems that the sun is finally breaking through these dark, dark clouds.

First off, my Zonal competition has been pushed back a week, to the 28th, giving me more space to breathe. March Camp preparations are finally coming to a close, with Nightingale finally off my back, and all thats left are some painting jobs to do. Not to mention the cool ass jacket for SJAB I got today, it's only fault being that it had orange outlines rather than red. As for Singma, I was really worried about the 6 modules, and it didn't help that they sent me SIXTEEN documents to read and memorize the night before the training, and that my request to become a second reserve was denied. However, I opened the documents and laughed at the pure simplicity and outright retardation of the documents.

They requested for champions of each zone, and they got them. And yet they were too blind to see that perhaps the zonal champions would have AT LEAST basic first aid knowledge. I mean duh!

Well at least for now, I can bask in this small stream of sunlight!

Insanity

2009-03-12T23:49:00.000+08:00

Dear Diary,

I have no idea what will happen to me if I continue. This week alone has been so taxing on me, first heat exhaustion, followed by illness, training every single day, mountains of homework, the large amount of work left to be done within 3 days for the March Camp. Sleep is a rare commodity now, and it is evident that my mind is slowly being ripped apart by exhaustion, and as I write this, I can hardly feel my fingers, music dully thudding away at my ears.

And yet, the worse has yet to come. The camp has not started, SIngma training on Saturday involving passing some crap ass 6 modules of basic lifesaving techniques, my last Zone Competition a mere week away.

I am starting to go berserk diary, my temper is as short as Matthew Wong with a shattered femur, and I feel like wildly attacking anyone who talks to me.

What do I do diary?

POD

2009-03-10T10:04:00.000+08:00

Keeping to traditions, I will place my POD essay here for all to read and appreciate. I had originally hoped to structure it better, but my medicine started kicking in halfway and I was half asleep when I was writing it. Do forgive if it appears segmented at parts, or if it doesn't even make sense.

Is the arts an important area of knowledge for you? What does art do that science and mathematics do not?

Art.

From the early dawn of mankind till the present day, it has always been all around us, permeating even the simplest and most uncultured of lives, and most of the time, people hardly even recognize its presence, and if they did, they disregard its value in their lives. After all, how would a piece of art help a recently retrenched worker find another job? As such, when one mentions art, people immediately think of the Mona Lisa and other famous pieces of art, and fail to recognize the beauty of the most common of art. Art has long become a plaything or hobby of the higher echelons of society, rather than something for everyone.

Before we continue, we ask ourselves, what is art? Is art merely a splash of colour placed in a pattern that we find aesthetically pleasing? We then come to the point on why different people find different pieces of art beautiful or ugly. I believe that the art we see today, paintings and sculptures, are but a physical manifestation of art. Similar to Science and Mathematics, we cannot say that we fully understand either areas of knowledge, and rather, we merely represent them with physical manifestations. And when mankind, beings of imperfection, attempt to compress such abstract concepts into a physical form, it is corrupted in the process, stained by the hands of flaw. The art we see today, is but a poor attempt by mankind to achieve perfection.

To me, true art lies not in its physical manifestation, but in the beauty of its raw form, when it blossoms in the mind. Often, when we see a painting, we see it differently from others, and we judge the piece based on our differing past experiences and preferences. True art however, cannot be judged. Art is but a perfect concept in our minds, something we as imperfect beings cannot fully comprehend.

But then you ask, since we cannot perceive art correctly, then why do we still place such emphasis on it? Why not just focus our efforts on Science or Mathematics? As mentioned earlier, art is not unlike Science or Mathematics, and the three of them are in fact perfect concepts. The calculations, formulas, and theories we have collated over the years as a species are but flawed interpretations of the perfect concepts, and scientists often find it difficult to explain certain phenomenon that contradicts their flawed ideologies. These perfect concepts are in fact residing in our minds rather than brought in by our senses. The reason why we still pursue these areas of knowledge with such tenacity is because mankind is inherently curious, we wish to cast off our imperfect forms and become perfect by understanding these areas.

In fact, without pursuing these areas of knowledge, mankind would still be simple cavemen. The right hemisphere of the brain has long been attributed to art, and it is art which allows us to dream, to imagine things the world has never seen before. The left side of the brain attributes itself to the field of science and mathematics, and it provides us with a way to take in stimuli and reinterpret it in a way we can understand better. Just as the two halves of the brain needs to work interpedently, art and science and math are all needed in order for us to progress, to continue to dream of amazing new inventions, and to scour the earth to use information we understand to put form into this idea.

Once more, this raises yet another question; why do we seek to make imperfect by forcing perfect concepts into physical forms? To better understand this question, I require of you to look at your own body and the plants around you. Who crafted these things of beauty, of form and function. It is clear that our understanding of art and of science was born out of attempting to understand and emulate nature, to understand why a plant is so tall, to recreate our bodies through art. Even simple cavemen started to draw cave paintings of human beings and animals in an attempt to capture the perfect beauty of nature. Nature in itself is perfect, but when our imperfect senses try to conceptualize it, and then imperfectly recreate it, it is no longer nature in its true form. Gardening and plastic surgery are but a more recent attempt by man to bring themselves closer to nature in its most primal form.

Therefore, the only way for man to finally fully understand the primal form of nature, we must first free ourselves from the shackles of our flawed physical restrictions, to use Art, Science and Mathematics in its truest and most perfect form to become one with nature, succeeding in doing what our ancestors have long sought to do. If we do ignore art, no amount of science and mathematics can achieve our goal of understanding nature in its primal form, because we are no longer able to dream, leaving us to be bound to the imperfect physical realm once more.

There we go, time to sleep

I've got the Power

2009-03-08T23:56:00.000+08:00

Still busy, tired and ill, with only 7 days away from camp and 12 days from Zone Competition.

First off, I attended the Singapore-Malaysia Foot Drill and First Aid Competition briefing at the SJAB headquarters this Saturday, traveling for over an hour for a waste of time briefing containing information which they could have just emailed to us. Not to mention, being back in the rooms which I trained in 2 years ago every Saturday from 9 - 5 was very bittersweet, I could not decide if I really wanted to do this all over again.

And then there was the matter of one of the competition regulations. As of now, there are 12 male cadets vying for 10 spots in the main team, 4 of which were from ACS. However, there is a regulation preventing a singular school from sending more than 2 cadets (3 under special circumstances) into the main team, and these cadets were to be selected after 4 trainings.

When I heard this I felt really confused as to what I would do. My initial reaction was to pull myself out immediately, and at least let the rest of my juniors, Chi Haur, Joshua, and Isaac, have a better chance of experiencing this valuable lifetime opportunity. And then I thought back to what I would have done before I had become CSM, as Bee Tat has recently told me to do (because he said I had changed tremendously after the event and wanted me to revert to my old ways). The truth dawned upon me that unlike 2 years ago, where I was carefree and had people taking care of things for me, an immature person who did not see past a week ahead and constantly seeking recognition, I no longer craved for the glory that such prestigious competition brought along with it. I now felt as though it was my duty to guide and support the next generation of leaders, and it perplexes me as much as it does make me feel proud of myself.

As usual, Bee Tat had long prophesied this, only crudely and in an incomprehensible manner.

So tell me, my good readers, what should I do? Should I continue vying against my very own juniors for a position which would benefit them in ways far greater than it would to me and establish myself further as an exemplary cadet, or give way to them and appease my conscience, but giving up a chance to add to a list of achievements in SJAB. My heart yearns for me to pick the latter, but I have been known to make very poor choices, relying on a coin flip for many decisions nowadays, and it leaves me very confused.

Should I follow my heart, or follow my head? This question pains me when I ponder over it, when I discover that I love some of my juniors very much, even much more so than I do myself. (No, I'm not gay, be more mature!)

With this quandary in mind, I discovered the immense power I held in my hands. I could make a hundred people stand just by entering a room, I could make a hundred people greet me when I walked by, and I could make all of them suffer physically in ways they never imagined just by muttering three words. It scares me as to the amount of power how a lowly CSM of a secondary school UYO holds. Can you imagine how much a national dictator would hold?

But what separates good leaders from dictators is the way they use this power. With great power comes great responsibility, and as of now, I am confused as to where my responsibilities lie.

Someone please, help me before I place all my faith in yet another coin flip

March Camp Prep

2009-03-04T23:39:00.000+08:00

So hear I stand, less than 2 weeks away from the SJAB Basic NCO Camp, or simply put, March Camp.

As the name implies, the camp is held in the month of March, the Monday to Wednesday of the holiday week. The committee has been planning hard for this camp, as it is without a doubt, the most important portion of our term, a make or break moment if you will.

Due to the nature of the camp, I am unable to reveal the details as of yet.

However, I have decided to stay up the entire night once more, something I had vowed not to do again after that crazy episode last year spent for studying. If I remember, I'll come and post every hour or so!

Wish me luck!

Edit: The time now is 4.00 AM, and I have finished a large majority of my camp planning! TIme for bed at last

New post!

2009-03-03T00:14:00.000+08:00

Hi guys, I know it has been a long time since my last post, and there are still so many outstanding things I want to tell you all about in vivid and torturous detail, for example my trip to the US, CDP to KL, Internal First Aid Competition, planning for March Camp, cross country, and examinations!

Too bad March Camp planning has really taken a tax on my time, I will try to post ASAP!

(not to mention zone competition being only two weeks away and Sinma starting again...)

Pre IFAC Week

2009-02-10T00:00:00.001+08:00

I wanted to put up a nice long post about CDP and last Friday's parade, but there is simply no time!

Amidst homework (which thankfully is not alot), studying hard for exams and juggling SJAB, I find myself with less and less time, barely even touching WoW anymore!

Biology paper was terrible today, even though I studied so very hard, and I got my highest I have ever gotten since I came into ACS for my Chinese paper, a measly 37.5 upon 50, just a half mark higher -.-

The main reason why this post isn't nice and chunky is because the internal First Aid Competition is coming around the corner this Saturday, my teams first true test since last year's Zone Competition. With our relatively little trainings this year, deep down I feel a sense of insecurity.

But we cannot and will not lose. It is our last year. It is time to take home the IFAC cup, clean sweep ZONE, and champion NATIONALS. There can be no defeat, I will not allow it. And that is why I spent hours today intensively reading Wikipedia on cardiological conditions, and yet it feels like I barely took anything in.

We will not back down. Not now, not ever.

Coconut

2009-02-08T02:45:00.000+08:00

For my 100th post, here is a hilarious 6 second clip. Yay!

Song Quiz

2009-02-05T00:03:00.000+08:00

Here we go! My song list has a total of 85 songs, 3 of them podcasts made by TRCT and myself, 13 Mandarin songs that came with the itunes, 1 podcast made by myself, 2 recordings of a instrumental used for my IOP during Language arts, 8 of them karaoke versions of HSM songs, 10 + 11 + 12 HSM Songs = 33, leaving a grand total of 25 non HSM songs!

1. Put your iTunes/Napster/Zune Player/WinAmp/etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 or more friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got it from.

This is just to prove how limited my song list is!

if someone says "is this okay" you say?
We're all in this Together - High School Musical

what do you like in a guy/girl?
You Are The Music In Me (Sharpay Version) - High School Musical 2
Teehee!

how do you feel today?
We're All In This Together (Graduation Mix) - High School Musical 3

what is your life's purpose?
What I've Been Looking For - High School Musical
Answering a question with a question is always the best!

what is your motto?
Can I Have This Dance? - High School Musical 3
Thats cute ^^

what do your friends think of you?
I Can't Take My Eyes Off You - High School Musical
Yay!

what do you think of your parents?
Fabulous - High School Musical 2
Giggle!

what do you think about very often?
Everyday - High School Musical 2
Thats true!

what is 2+2?
When There Was Me And You - High School Musical

what do you think of your best friend?
What I've Been Looking For (Reprise) - High School Musical
Aww thats so sweet

what do you think of the person you like?
Accidently In Love - Counting Crows
The first non HSM one!

what is your life story?
Scream - High School Musical 3
Yes I do scream quite a tad

what do you want to be when you grow up?
High School Musical - High School Musical 3

what do you think when you see the person you like?
You Are the Music In Me - High School Musical 2
Lawl

what do your parents think of you?
Right Here, Right Now - High School Musical 3

what will you dance to at your wedding?
I Want It All - High School Musical 3
I could have been some nice slow HSM song, but noooooo

what will they play at your funeral?
The Call - Regina Spektor
A nice solemn song

what is your hobby/interest?
Get'cha Head In The Game - High School Musical

what do you think of your friends?
The Nicest Kids In Town - Hairspray
What a coincidence! Thats what I think of my friends

what's the worst thing that could happen?
Stick to The Status Quo - High School Musical
I guess conforming is bad...

how will you die?
The Boys Are Back - High School Musical 3
Loan sharks?

what is the one thing you regret?
Senior Year Spring Musical - High School Musical 3
I hope not... I don't want any drama productions I make to flop!

what makes you laugh?
Now or Never - High School Musical 3

what makes you cry?
A Night To Remember - High School Musical 3

will you ever get married?
Bet On It - High School Musical 2
Haha thats nice

what scares you the most?
Walk Away - High School Musical 3
I don't want anyone to leave me :(

does anyone like you?
Ladie's Choice - Hairspray
I guess that means yes!

if you could go back in time, what would you change?
All For One - High School Musical

what hurts right now?
Gotta Go My Own Way - High School Musical
Thats how I felt a year ago when I had to leave all my classmates behind to take my subject combination :'(

what will you post this as?
It's My Life - Bon Jovi
How nice!

There there, are you convinced about how terribly lacking my song list is?

Animology!

2009-02-01T23:36:00.000+08:00

ANIMOLOGY: What Animal Are You? Your Result: Silver and Red Wolf howl You're a very strong person. You tend to be naive most of the time, but when in love boy do you know how to get around! You prefer to be quite around adults. Your soul mate is the gold falcon. You're in conflict with the maroon panda.
Ocre and Gray Dolphin
Red Jaguar
Blue Fox
Gold Falcon
Tan Giraffe
Teal Cat
Yellow Trout
ANIMOLOGY: What Animal Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I've recently become quite interested in how humans can tend to display animal like traits, so I decided to try one of these animology quizzes. Time to find more!

Heres another, less well made one

Silver Badger
-You are very loyal to others and hardworking. You are a good friend, even if others find you sometimes a bit boring. -You are shy but pure, and quick. You are sensitive but friendly. However, you can never seem to stay in one place.A shy and quiet animology, but when you're by yourself, you are very active and peppy. Even if you are timid, you have a strong inner self. You are quiet and often stay in one place pondering your next move. You are not a threat to other animologies, even if your strikes are quite lethal.
-Soulmate: Pink Sloth
-In conflict with: Fuchsia Possum

I did another one, and heres the result!

H. Silver Badger
-You are very loyal to others and hardworking. You are a good friend, even if others find you sometimes a bit boring.
-Soul mate: Pink Sloth
-In conflict with: White Tiger

Yet another one, this time without colours

An Animology Quiz! Your Result: Dog Congragulations! You are a dog! You are compadable with other dogs and sheep. See what your friends ( or crush ) about this quiz and see if you are compadable!
Sheep
Monkey
Cat
Snake
Mouse
An Animology Quiz! Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

So what do you think I really am?

First SJAB Parade!

2009-01-30T23:56:00.000+08:00

30th January marks the day of the first proper and clean parade of my term in the committee, where we were finally loose of many restrictions we had before, for example exams and the like, preventing us from unleashing the wrath of our disciplinary actions!

Planning for this parade was fairly fun, thinking of games for the cadets to play was actually far more difficult than we thought. No wonder we used to play soccer all the time, with 50 people charging at the same ball. Not a very pleasant sight.

And then there was the issue of sorting out the March Camp faction lists. For those unfamiliar with the workings of the ACS(I) SJAB, the March Camp is the most important event of the year for the corps. as well as the defining feature of the current committee. As such, sorting out the factions required lots of careful planning, analyzing everyones personalities, considering their performance so far, all part of the process of sorting out these factions. The committee had probably met three times to discuss the issue of factions, and discussions have been going on since last November.

We eventually settled for 6 factions, the IC's and AIC's finally in place. I even got to learn how to place watermarks using Microsoft Word, which made the faction lists look really nice (:

As I was finishing off the faction lists, printer churning out page after page of names, I thought back about how the previous years had decided to place people as IC's and AIC's, most notably just the year before, where my batch took charge as the individual faction in charge's. Oh boy, when I think back about how I handled my faction, I cannot help but regret. Regret about how I couldn't find the confidence to talk with my faction, regret how I strained under the pressure, regret how I made some terrible decisions, and ultimately regret that I had not done my best. That is why I hope to be able to talk with all the IC's soon. People usually say "Do not do things that you will regret", my philosophy is the other way around. "Do not hold back such that you will regret in the future". Therefore my mission for my term in SJAB is to pave the way for future generations, probably not a very ideal choice, but yet I know in my heart I will not regret doing so.

Anyways, back to the parade!

After a 40 minute briefing on administrative thingos, the committee got the cadets to fall in.

The message was clear for us all, "Be strict"

We had decided we had not enforced enough discipline amongst the corps, and as such, we had to be very strict this parade so as to elevate the level up to that of our Year 1 years, where a fidget would probably result in an hour long punishment. Oh the joy.

Surprisingly, the cadets were more or less better behaved. No watches were found, and everyones pockets were nice and empty. We could not bear to punish them for no particular reason at all....

...until the teachers came down to observe the taking of attendance. For the sake of those unfamiliar with the regulations of Uniform Groups, cadets are expected to greet senior NCO's and officers, teachers included. We decided to continue being nice, dropping hints to 5 people several times, but to no avail.

There was no choice, we had to finally give the first punishments of the year. 6 NCO's, 4 teachers all un-greeted. Aye eay eay eay eay. It was evident discipline had slipped. Back in the glory days, 1 senior un-greeted was usually met with terrible consequences, let alone teachers not being greeted.

I had dreaded for a long time, to give these punishments. After all, we all went through the pains of it all once. But thanks to my new glasses, I managed to do some shouting. Why the glasses? Because the sides are so thick and opaque, I cant really see anything to my sides, like a horse with blinders. Seemingly pumping one guy is much easier than pumping 50.

But that was still fairly slack, the cadets barely holding their positions, as well as a minute long break in between. Things changed when two cadets decided to turn up late and without uniform to go along with it. Niraj handled it perfectly, a splitting image of our year one seniors yelling at cadets.

Faction lists were then released to the cadets, and watching them sitting around quietly wasting their time made me really worried for them. Did they not know that this sort of memory would live with them for a long time? Did they not know that they would regret when they finally see the folly of their silence? I definitely did not when I was in their shoes, and this cemented my goal of helping the current juniors become much better leaders than I will ever be.

Next was some nice and simple drill. I took the year 2's, going really nice on them, speaking without any harshness, with-holding punishments for the foulest of all drill-related offenses, yawning when the instructor is speaking. On the other hand, the old-school discipline was being drilled right into the skulls of the year 3's, pumping for making mistakes. But no one could deny that it was not effective.

But why the disparity? It was actually accidental on my part, not knowing that the year 3's were about to have a flaming of their lives. Yet I know I wouldn't be able to do that, it just didn't make me feel good. Perhaps next time, I shall find the courage in me to bring about the rod the cadets have long been begging for.

Games were next, and we had run into quite a number of issues. Namely, we had only 1 ball, and the astro turf was taken. Not to mention a certain games master not fulfilling his task of coming up with a simple game. Improvisation and luck played a large part in the eventual successful completion of the activity. Michael had managed to grab a small corner of astro turf, excellent for playing a short game of soccer, Niraj managed to borrow a nice plump soccer ball for NPCC, as well as inspiring the cadets during the run. The most notable aspect of the games was the running, and how Niraj once again shone in the carrying out of it. I remember someone once telling me about how there were many ways to inspire people, one of which was by being strict, yet humbly serving the cadets as well. A servant-leadership if you will. Niraj taught me so much through his actions that day. He had been the strictest of us all, shouting and yelling the most, and yet when it came to the running, he enthusiastically got the cadets to cheer and sing, as well as following 3 different groups around the school, effectively pummeling gravel thrice around the school. At the end of it, I saw him drenched, exhausted and in a terrible shape. And yet did not complain, something which made me want to congratulate him vehemently for doing such an insanely good job. Not only did he manage to instill a high level of discipline, but also prevent the cadets from alienating and hating him, by showing that he still cares for all of them. I hope that most of the cadets were able to see past his facade of sternness, and embrace this form of commendable leadership.

The cadets were finally released, and it was done.

We had completed our first clean and proper parade with minimal assistance. As I sat there in the room, body aching and tired, just like how parades made me feel before being in the committee, I smiled inwardly. It was as though this long-lost tiredness was telling me that we had done good that day.

That there was nothing to look back upon and regret.

One more quiz!

2009-01-28T04:03:00.000+08:00

Another quiz, taken from Charles blog;
TEN HOWS:
How did you get one of your scars?
I was racing with Joon Kiat along a corridor, and slammed my head against a locker

How did you celebrate your last birthday?
I ate dinner after school!

How are you feeling at this moment?
Very Sleepy, its 4.20 am!

How did your night go last night?
Dreamless

How did you do in high school?
I reckon I'm still in High School, or Middle School or something, but the answer is hopefully very well!

How did you get the shirt you are wearing?
Bought it at an Old Navy outlet in San Fransisco, a nice plain red shirt

How much money did you spend last month?
Alot, way too much

How old do you want to be when you get married?
I have no idea

How old will you be at your next birthday?
Sweet 16!

NINE WHATS:
Your mother’s name:
*****

What did you do last weekend?
Visited some relatives for Chinese New Year

What is the most important part of your life?
My friends

What would you rather be doing?
Sleeping

What is your most memorable thing done yesterday?
Dropping an orange because I was trying to juggle, and my aunt shouted for me from upstairs

What always makes you feel better when you are upset?
Crying works sometimes

What is the most important thing you look for in a significant other?
Character and a warm smile

What are you worried about?
Ooh, lets see, the rest of my term as CSM in SJAB, especially that nasty ol March Camp

What did you have for breakfast?
Roti Prata

EIGHT YOU’S
Have you ever liked someone who had a boyfriend/girlfriend?
I don't think so, Dora said she didn't like Diego that much

Have you ever had your heart broken?
Probably not

Have you ever been out of the country?
Indeed!

Have you ever done something outrageously dumb?
Plenty, yet none come to my mind now

Have you ever been back stabbed by a friend?
Nope..

Have you ever had sex on the beach?
I haven't really touched alcohol much

Have you ever dated someone younger than you?
I haven't dated before

Have you ever read an entire book in a day?
Those Mr Men and Little Miss books were good

SEVEN WHO’S
Who was the last person you saw?
Kirby, he's playing some silly army game

Who was the last person you texted?
I think it was Isaac?

Who was the last person you hung out with?
Kirby, Chun Wee, Jie Hui

Who was the last person to call you?
Matthew Wong

Who did you last hug?
It has been some time back.

Who was the last person who texted you?
Matthew Wong

Who was the last person you said “i love you” to?
No idea

SIX WHERE’S
Where does your best friend live?
I have lots of best friends ^^, so Singapore I guess

Where did you last go?
To the bathroom

Where did you last hang out?
My house

Where do you go to school?
ACS (Independent), 121 Dover Road is my chilling grounds!

Where is your favourite place to be?
At home

Where did you sleep last night?
In my bed

FIVE DO’s/DOES
Do you like someone right now?
Dora told me not to reveal our relationship

Do you think anyone likes you?
Probably in a friendly manner

Do you ever wish you were someone else?
Nope, I am but a semi-filled canvas waiting to be filled!

Does the future scare you?
Yes it does, it keeps me awake occasionally

FOUR WHYS
Why are you best friends with your best friend(s)?
Time spent together I guess.

Why did you get a myspace?
I don't have Myspace

Why did your parents give you the name you have?
My third chinese character was because of something about me having too much water or something, so I had to have a wood symbol added to neutralize it

Why are you doing this survey?
I'm bored

THREE IF’S
If you had one super power, what would it be?
Shapeshift to whatever my mind can conjure up

If you could go back in time and change one thing, would you?
Nope, science fiction tells me not to

If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could bring 1 thing, what would it be?
Stamford Raffles

TWO WOULD-YOU-EVER’S
Would you ever get back together with any of your ex’s if they asked you?
I don't have an ex

Would you ever shave your head for someone you love?
Probably

ONE LAST QUESTION
Do you love someone right now?
Yes, I love lots and lots of people!

Moar Quiz!

2009-01-28T03:34:00.001+08:00

Moar moar!

TEN ARE YOUS

1. Are you single - Nope, I have a few million cells in my body
2. Are you happy - Happy is probably through strong.
3. Are you bored - Yes!.
4. Are you fair - I am Justice Bao
5. Are you Italian - Donde esta el bano?
6. Are you intelligent - Eye of the beholder
7. Are you honest - Relatively so
8. Are you nice - I think so
9. Are you Irish - Leprechaun?
10. Are you Asian - I have tiny eyes

TEN FACTS

1. Full Name - Wong Wen Kai
2. Nickname - Guineamon?
3. Birth place - Singapore
4. Hair color - Black-brown
5. Natural hair style - Bowl cut?
6. Eye colour - Brown
7. Birthday - 14th July
8. Mood - Light
9. Favorite color - Red!
10. One place you'd like to visit - East High, the set of High School Musical!

TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

1. Have you ever been in love - "Help, they is telling me hows to feel"
2. Do you believe in love at first sight - No
3. Do you currently have a crush? - Yes, Dora
4. Have you ever been hurt emotionally - Not romantically, but yes
5. Have you ever broken some one's heart - I don't know
6. Have you ever had your heart broken - Yes, not romantically
7. Have you ever liked someone but never told them - Yes, Dora never replies me when I tell her that.
8. Are you afraid of commitment - No.
9. Who was the last person you hugged - Kirby?
10. Who was the last person you said I love you to? - No clue

TEN THIS OR THAT

1. Love or lust - Love
2. Hard liquor or beer - Beer sounds good
3. Cats or dogs - Dogs
4. A few best friends or any regular friends - A few best friends.
5. Creamy or Crunchy - Creamy, mmmm
6. Pencil or Pen - Pencils!
7. Wild night out or romantic night in - I'm lazy, a night in sounds good
8. Money or Happiness - Happiness
9. Night or day - Daytime for shure
10. IM or phone - IM's are useful and convenient, but phones are generally better

TEN HAVE YOU EVER

1. Been caught sneaking out - Nope
2. Seen a polar bear - In the zoo
3. Done something you regret - Yep
4. Bungee jumped - Maybe some day
5. Eaten food that fell on the floor - Yes, unless it looks gross.
6. Finished an entire jaw breaker - Willy Wonka ones.
7. Been caught naked - I looked in a mirror
8. Wanted an ex bf/gf back - I don't have an ex.
9. Cried because you lost a pet - Yes.
10. Wanted to disappear - Sometimes

TEN PREFERENCES IN A PARTNER

1. Smile or eyes - A nice smile brightens anyones day
2. Light or dark hair - Dark.
3. Hugs or kisses - Hugs bring much joy to most
4. Shorter or taller - Probably the same height? I don't think many people are shorter than me
5. Intelligence or attraction - Attraction
6. Topman or Zara - Prada
7. Funny or serious - Funny
8. Older or Younger - Same age
9. Outgoing or quiet - In between
10. Sweet or Bad - Sweet.

TEN HAVE YOUS

1. Ever performed in front of a large crowd - With much joy
2. Ever talked on the phone for longer than an hour - Yes, on Skype too!
3. Ever tried walking on your hands - No
4. Ever been to a rock concert - Yes!
5. Ever been on a cheer leading team - No.
6. Ever been on a dance team - Back in the day.
7. Ever been on a sports team - Nope
8. Ever been in a drama play/production - Oh course (:
9. Ever owned a BMW, Mercedes Benz, Escalade, Hummer or Bentley - I have Hot Wheels
10. Ever been in a rap video - Michael Kwan tried, but missed

TEN LASTS

1. Last phone call you made -Matthew Wong
2. Last person you hugged - I don't recall
3. Last person you hung out with - Kirby, Chun Wee and Jie Hui and chilling out in my place
4. Last time you worked - Homeworked would be for my LDP a couple of hours back.
5. Last person you talked to - Kirby
6. Last person you IM'd - Bynes!
7. Last person you texted - Isaac I think
8. Last person(s) you went to the movies with - My family
9. Last person/thing you missed - CDP
10. Last website visited - My blog! guineamonsparadise.blogspot.com, click click!

Quiz!

2009-01-28T03:23:00.000+08:00

I am far too lazy to do a proper post, so lets do brain dead quizzes! (courtesy of Wei Yang)

SCHOOL LIFE CONFESSIONS

[x]Talked back to a teacher (Not much)
[x] Been kicked out of class
[ ] Worn pyjamas to school (How in the world?)
[x] Had your tooth fall out at school (In Primary School I reckon)
[x] Gotten lost in your school (1st day of ACS)
[ ] Broken the dress code in school.
[ ] Completely failed a test (Only failed a Chinese test once by a point XD.)
[ ] Left class without asking
[x] Missed a whole week of school (When I broke my arm)
[x] Thrown up in school (I remember it like it was yesterday)
[ ] Been beat up at school

HOME LIFE CONFESSIONS

[ ] Argue with your parents a lot
[ ] Argue with your brother(s)
[x] Argue with your sister(s) a lot
[x] Have your own room (A nice High School Musical-y one)
[ ] Do your own laundry
[ ] Cook dinner once in a while (I make milkshake, that counts right?)
[ ] Are loud and obnoxious at home
[x] Wear pajamas when you are not going anywhere (I like my pajamas)
[x] You sleep in very long
[ ] All you do is watch television
[ ] Your parents are divorced
[ ] Your family makes you cry alot (In the past, in the past)
[ ] One or both of your grandparents live with you
[ ] You cant stand being with your parents.

FRIEND CONFESSIONS

[ ] You currently dislike one or more of your friends (Au contraire, no.)
[ ] You are jealous of one or more of your friends
[ ] You have known a friend your whole life
[x] Your friends are all taller than you (Except maybe Matthew...)
[x] You have been ditched by a friend
[x] You have memorized a friends phone number
[x] You have lost/forgotten a friends phone number
[ ] You have been to all of your friends houses
[x] You love most or all of your friends

HABIT CONFESSIONS

[ ] You bite your nails
[ ] You have an odd obsession with knives (Sounds like Kirby)
[ ] You cannot sleep with the door closed
[x] You cannot sleep with the door open
[x] There is at least one sound you cannot stand (I hate phone alarms)
[ ] You write stories about mad cannibalistic serial killers
[x] You are good at telling lies (All part of the concept called acting.)

LOVE CONFESSIONS

[x] You currently like someone. (Dora the Explorer))
[ ] You want to kill one of your exes
[x] You can stay committed for an unusually long time
[ ] You get bored of your crush/bf/gf easily
[ ] A crush/bf/gf has called you a bitch before
[ ] A crush/bf/gf has called you self- centered before

PERSONAL OPINION CONFESSIONS

[ ] You hate George Bush
[ ] Abortion is horrible and should be illegal
[x] Gay marriage is fine to you
[ ] Boys make better friends than girls do (I don't have many girl friends)
[x] The beach is an excellent place for a date (I think clocks are a good place for a date. Calenders too)
[ ] Pink is an ugly color
[ ] Needles aren’t so horrible
[ ] Human flesh tastes like fine aged veal (/vomit)
[x] You have plenty of secrets (Plenty, yet none when I think about it)

HAVE YOU EVER CONFESSIONS

[x] Fallen down the stairs (Escalators too!)
[x] Someone has tied your shoelaces together
[] Had a nail fall off
[ ] Captured, Manipulated, or Destroyed a soul by Ars Falcis
[ ] Had surgery
[x] Slapped someone across the face (Hehe, fun fun)
[ ] Killed someone
[ ] Someone has called you a tease
[ ] You have been to Europe
[ ] You have worn something inside out for a whole day (Maybe a small portion of the day)

CDP post 1

2009-01-22T22:25:00.000+08:00

Back from Kuala Lumpur after 6 fun filled days of goodness with my classmates and friends. The purpose of the trip was for Character Development, as hinted by the name of the program, the Character Development Program!

I had lots of fun there, and I may post about it in more detail if I'm not too lazy. :D

Sorta Revival

2009-01-06T22:30:00.000+08:00

I know I promised a long ass post, but with school reopening, the usual hustle and bustle of the New Year has robbed me of my time. Also my 3000 awesome pictures that I took can't be uploaded as of yet due to technical difficulties (one which involved all my hard work nearly being deleted).

So here I am sitting in my room without WoW, and as I think about the year ahead, I am very scared. Not only is it a year full of much academic challenges (as evidenced by the 24 topics of Amath), it is my year of service as the committee.

And with things like Discovery Camp and Promotion Ceremonies on my plate, I can tell it's not going to be easy.

It is very late for a school day now, so hopefully this little tidbit will tide you through till my next post ^^

2008-12-01T17:01:00.000+08:00

Hi! I am in Los Angeles! Disneyland, huge servings of food, etc etc etc.

Big post when I get back!

Bear attack!

2008-11-27T00:40:00.000+08:00

Bear!

After a nice long meeting session to discuss details for March Camp, my FAC team minus Niranjan (he's chilling in England) headed down to Plaza Sing to meet Dr Ngiamtopus and buy him a belated birthday gift as well.

We had initially wanted to purchase a tennis racket, but after much wasting of time touring around shopping centers, Beetat just gave up and I was handed the reigns! So I chose,....

BUILD A BEAR!

With much persuasion, we finally entered the store, with Ngiam picking a skin for his bear. He ended up with the Bearemy skin, and we placed a happy birthday bear song into the bears left paw. The people there impaled the bear onto some wooden pole thingy and started shooting fluff into it's limp body, followed by a fabric heart with powerful birthday wish magic placed inside. It was quickly followed by a shower for the bear, which involved gusts of air coming from an oversized shower head and a brush. Heres an image of the bath!

Finally came the time to dress up the bear, but apparently Ngiam was a bear nudist right promoter, and refused to buy any clothes. It was only through much persuading (and fits of giggles) that he chose a pair of Hanukkah boxers for the poor bear. The naming ceremony came, and it was called Banana, and he even got a really cool birth certificate. Well heres the final product!

I want one!

On another note, I'm headed to USA this Saturday! Its going to be food galore! I'm going to check out their special fat-infused McDonald's burgers, pizzerias, hot dog stands and maybe even their really fake Chinese food!

Then I will go to Disneyland and giggle away like a retard, followed by the consumption of overpriced Disneyland food, such as pizzas in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

Following that, I shall head on to Walmart and check out the place, purchasing Mistymate, a personal mister, for my costume!

Then I plan to see the Grand Canyon on donkey back, followed shortly by a trip to Vegas, and hopefully meet Bynes somewhere along the way.

As an added bonus, I hope to visit Salt Lake City to see the set of High School Musical in all its glory!

Oh the giggly joy!

Committee Camp

2008-11-19T19:05:00.000+08:00

First of all, you may have noticed I finally learnt how to spell committee correctly

C-O-M-M-I-T-T-E-E

Why you ask? What sort of miracle or major traumatic event has me spelling it correctly after 15 years of misspelling?

Committee Camp

After around 2 and a half day of camp, I find myself back home in the luxury of my room. Despite the fact that our camp was much easier than the one the previous committee had, I personally felt that I have learnt much from the camp, and hopefully, so has the rest of the committee.

Now time for a rundown of activities!

Day 1, woke up early in the morning to mentally prepare myself for the camp, which since the year before I had a bad impression of. The only thing that I had to brace for the camp was shreds of information provided to us by the previous committee, about how it was hell on earth brought right to your doorstep.

And of course, it scared the chihuahua out of me.

The day started with falling in, followed shortly by a bag check. Yep, bag check, but not the kind you are used to, with a security guard tossing luggage through machines and scanning for guns and stuff. Nope, it was much more basic, aka, tossing everything out into the middle of a circle within 30 seconds, following by massive amounts of stuffing everything in sight, including stuff that wasn't your own. Of course, many things went missing.

Next up was the designing of our camp flags, two of them for the two groups we were split into. After much thought, we decided to call ourselves,

COMMIT and TEEPOTZ, our symbols being a lock and a key, and then we had to explain what it all meant.

We then started off on our amazing race, which involved walking in the heavy rain from Dover, to Clementi, to Bukit Timah and finally Boon Lay. The entire journey was fun as there was little pressure, allowing us to freely enjoy the company of each other, and I got to walk in the rain like some emo kid or something.

But I fell ill for quite awhile when the rain lifted, and fell into a drain when I wasn't looking, leading to quite a cut on my right knee, and even now, I cannot bend my knee without a certain degree of pain. The night finally came to a close when we got back to school, or so we thought.....

After two hours of sentry, I went back to bed for around 30 minutes, before being awakened by the seniors and kidnapped away into their room, silenced with a candy cane. A few others were led to the astroturf, where we were meant to be casualties for the nightingale cum fire drill.

Despite treatment being slow, I commend my other committee members for doing so well, especially Niraj, whom grabbed the lead when the top 3 were stolen away, demonstrating the initiative I had tried to encourage amongst the Committee. So hurray for Niraj!

Eventually all the casualties were saved, and I would say that it was a good effort despite the haze of lack of sleep. However, we didn't exhibit the teamwork the seniors wanted, and so we got a really long talk in the amphitheater. I shall not reveal what happened there, for the sake of privacy of my fellow members. But after the talk, I just could not sleep for the 1 hour we had left. I just sat outside with Reno and Beetat, and starting talking about, thinking and reflecting upon every word said during the talk (well not every word, my memory is not that good), and perhaps I was caught up in the moment, I felt myself tearing abit, pondering once again on issues I had touched in earlier posts about me questioning myself being the CSM, and how it seemed that I was not doing what I could to make the committee stronger.

Despite my effort, I could not avert this session. I felt completely,

Useless.

Day 2! It didn't feel like a completely separate day, but I still felt alright, thanks to my practice sessions for not sleeping during the weeks before, involving playing WoW till the wee hours of the morning. 5 am and we were having PT once more, and I even sneaked into the final lap around the field despite Bee Tat not wanting me to run due to my injury. Breakfast came soon after and we worked on Powerpoint slides for first aid lessons we were going to teach the cadets next year. I'm not sure if I had really read about this somewhere before, but I recall that if there is a lack of sleep, the person may find himself going into fits of microsleep, which is just like the moment before falling into proper sleep, just when you are standing on the edge of conciousness. That was exactly what it was like typing the powerpoint, I didn't even remember a quarter of the stuff I had put in.

The rest of the afternoon passed without much else other than teambonding games, such as the "Wheelbarrow" and "Illidan Game" as I like to call it. It was then I could feel that my committee was finally making an effort to hustle together, and I felt something swelling inside of me.

But then, 8.00 pm came, and the dreaded sentence invaded my happy space.

"You have 30 minutes to prepare for bunk inspection"

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the return of STAND BY BUNK!

After cleaning up and standardizing our positions around the room, we stood still for around 20 minutes, a stillness pervaded only by the stench of fear encased the room.

The tension stretched thin, when suddenly, the door burst open. In comes the seniors, one by one, malice tattooed over their faces. But it wasn't as scary as those in March Camp, partly due to the fact that the talk the day before had prepared us mentally for something to forcefully pull us together if we failed to gather our efforts, and also the knowledge that the people around you were all friends you had stuck through together for three years, and not just brand new cadets.

The bunk inspection wasn't very auspicious at all. Dust was found everywhere, and the seniors bunched round the front, discussing ever slightly too loudly how much punishment was to be issued. There we were, shaking in our shoes, hands vibrating in fear. When suddenly, Ngiam creeps up behind me, so silently and stealthily, like a serpent.

"All of you clench your FISTS!"

The last three words were killer, with the first of those two words reaching my head so slowly, like an anchor was dragging it down, and the final one a horrible shriek intruding upon my innermost sanctuary. I almost tipped over.

We did some pumpings, and then the seniors left. I felt angry, not at anyone in particular, but rather that adrenaline that pumps through you, the savage roar you wish to let out after exertion.

The seniors stepped in once more, midway through our cleaning.

"Mr Seah is going to do something he has never done before"

A million morbid thoughts flashed across my minds eye.

"Do an interview"

I heaved a sigh of relief, and was promptly brought into the interview room.

Fearful and humbled from the bunk inspection, I receded into the chair provided for me, looking around at the "council" before me. It started with me choosing a number from 1 to 8, and I chose 3.

"How would you command the respect of your cadets?"

I replied with two very mumbled and silent sentences, something along the lines of how I had not been gaining any respect at all, and my mind rushed through the many moments I had spent mulling and condescending myself for having a lack of vocal skills when in front of the cadets.

I soon found myself overwhelmed by sadness, and I broke into tears, something I had not done in a long long time, even when I had tried to force it. It took some time for me to calm down, before the rest of the interview could go on. And I was glad that it wasn't a one sided thing when Mr Seah started giving opinions on how I could improve.

I was mildly surprised when they knew certain things I had never told anyone before, such as how I secretly blamed my lack of commanding respect due to my poor speeches I gave. They even started talking about my leadership style, something I had never thought about before. I had always thought about how I wanted to emulate other's leadership, but never saw myself as enough of a leader to see that I had one being molded from the very beginning. The rest of the evening passed by without much harm, and I sat in the room alone after the interview, sipping away on a packet of Milo whilst letting my thoughts stroll through my mind. The rest of the committee started streaming in one by one, and we started talking once more, before I slowly drifted into sleep. We woke up soon enough and went back to our own room, where we got ready for bed once more, and I found myself once more on the cold floor, surrounded by the cold fabric of the sleeping bag.

A snap of a finger, and we soon found ourselves scrambling awake, kicking and tossing off the bed covers and grabbing whatever footwear we found. It was a fire drill. Our two sentries were kidnapped, and we rushed off to the gathering grounds, where we were told we had to ascend the dark and shadowy IB block to find them.

We reached the stairwell before being told only one of us could go up. I just grabbed a torch and climbed up and away, barely afraid thanks to the glorious light of the moon. At the top, I found Ngiam and Joshua and we headed back down to the safety of our committee. The second sentry was eventually fetched by another member of our committee, and we were allowed precious few moments for sleep. We also relocated a packet of food we had stashed away in one of the lockers for Jian Hui to enjoy when he felt hungry again.

The third day finally came, and we did PT once more, this time involving soccer! After a meal, we found we were joined by Mr Firdous, the famed drill instructor, and despite the weariness of the camp bearing down upon us, we grinned our way through and learned much through it all. Finally, the camp was released, and we grabbed our stuff before heading our separate ways. I went back home and collapsed onto the floor, fleeting flights of fancy running through my head.

I found myself up and running soon after, and back to my regular schedule of gaming and joy (Too bad my computer is fried now, meaning no WoW).

And when we went back for training on Saturday, we found a certain packet of food once more...

DUM DUM DUM!

2008-11-14T20:31:00.001+08:00

So much has happened!

It is Friday today, and 3 days since IBA ended. No doubt most of my counterpart's blogs would consist of their own thoughts of IBA and perhaps it would seem boring and stuff, but since I apparently do not have any links to those, I shall type about it!

2 weeks, or more accurately 11 days at IBA, and I have been to both sides of my job posting, meaning both the clinical and the administration side.

My earlier posts have covered much about the clinical side, with interesting facts such as entoptic phenomenons and what not, although I have to admit, watching people having fundus photos taken for an entire day isn't exactly the most exciting thing on the planet.

On the administration side, I found it quite fun, considering it was something to distract me from the tedium of an office job. Folding mail and stuffing them into envelopes, making power point slides, whatever worked. But I could foresee how one would could to dread it, well I would, if I had stayed any longer.

But after what has been said and done, IBA is finally over, and I did feel quite downcast when it was finally time to leave. I had many new friends, and had seen many interesting things there, so perhaps I should drop by and visit one day.

-----

On the topic of the First Aid competition trainings, it has been sporadic at best, and this does not bode well for the new team that has just joined our ranks. But moping is not what you have come here for, so moping you shall not receive.

Towards something much better and interesting,

WRATH OF THE LICH KING IS HERE,

PREPARE YOURSELVES FOOLISH MORTALS!

Thats right, WotLK is finally here in Singapore, one day behind the release of America. The shitty thing is, only one stall in the whole of Singapore was handing out the game to people who had preordered it, and imagine my surprise when I reached the collection point today.

I checked out the entrance, and saw like perhaps a crowd of 50 people, and I thought, hey not too bad. So I walked nearer, and to my horror, the line stretched behind the building, leading to an alley, opening out and snaking round a second building, and across a road.

It took me two hours to get it, but it is awesome! Too bad I didn't have much time to play yet, considering how there are like 1 hour queues to get into the server now, and the revelation that the new shadow feature did not work on a Macintosh, or else it would be fully sweet!

Signing off!

IBA Over Part 1

2008-11-12T01:06:00.001+08:00

IBA is over yay!

Too tired to post details and afterthoughts, with such a long day to come tomorrow. So to make up,

Which High School Musical Character Are You?

More On High School Musical. Created By BuddyTV

IBA Day 7

2008-11-06T23:53:00.000+08:00

Well, I have finally gotten over my rage about those two blasted extra days of IBA.

Too all Higher Second Language people, congratulations on completing the paper in what I assume was more than satisfactory to you.

Well, yesterday I got posted with a doctor again, from which I saw a few interesting cases, although I lack the proper knowledge to understand many of the things.

One interesting thing I was thought was something called the Entoptic Phenomenon. It was touched upon because the patient asked the doctor why he saw his own blood vessels of the retina (like I did when I tried one of the anterior chamber tests), and he explained it as the phenomenon, due to the spherical shape of the eyeball and some physizziks stuff. It turns out, that before all the fundus cameras and tests came into use, the entoptic phenomena was used by doctors in order to check the patients condition. One of those was asking the patient to count how many cells he could see, which would tell if the macula of the eye was in working order.

HOWEVER, one of the biggest take aways from that posting was when I was about to leave. He told me about the medical profession, from a standpoint from someone who had seen through the many ups and downs of this path. Apparently, approximately the first TEN years after graduating from medical school is torture, being ping ponged about into new departments, adhering to a strongly inherent hierarchy system. Not only that, you have no time to commit to family and other aspects of life, which was really shocking for me at that time, but I shall not post the details of what the doctor told me in respect of his privacy.

Thinking back on this, I don't think I am suitable for the medical profession, and suddenly performing arts seem even more appealing to me. But I know the truth of things, no matter what anyone says, a career in the performing arts is rarely successful, a fanciful dream taken to another level, with everyone around scorning you for making a terrible choice.

I am so confused now.

----

Moving on, I got to watch Obama's president-elect speech, which was really cool. He was indeed the charismatic man many have hailed him to be, and when I saw some of the Americans crying and nodding their heads in full fledged approval at his speech, I just went 'wow' inside. Being someone not very verbose, and perhaps even introverted, people like Obama are good role models for me. Sure, I have improved a tad bit thanks to Secondary school and small exposure to drama, but a leopard doesn't change its spots. And I believe this is one of the reasons I find it conflicting and confusing about my appointment as CSM.

And did I ever mention I wanna be just like Ironman? Not because of the cool suit and things, but his character is one which combines two aspects of my life, one I am missing, and one I am striving towards. The first being confident and charismatic, the second being an intellectual who contributes much to the world and leaving a mark upon history. Perhaps the next post I shall go into a much more in-depth analysis on this thingos, but heck its boring for people reading my blog.

Oh! I got to send prepare spam mail today at work

2008-11-05T21:19:00.001+08:00

I was going to post something nice about my day during IBA, till I found out I had to go through it for 2 more days than I thought.

You know what, f*** you IBA. I'm not going

Higher Chinese

2008-11-04T23:08:00.000+08:00

To all my Higher Chinese/Tamil/Malay taking friends, best of luck for O-levels! You have all come too far to give up now, so do your best!

Anyways, today was one of the more interesting days of IBA. Due to my agreement I have with the company thanks to my signature being penned upon that indemnity form, I am compelled by law to respect patient's privacy and stuff so there isn't much I can say.

I did get to observe an operation though, which was actually quite cool, with sloshy liquids spilling all over the place, small incisions, sterile clothes and hair caps. To be honest, I was really nervous before the operation started, when everything was being prepared, thinking there would be blood all over the place.

Remember those medical scenes in Chinese dramas? Those with doctors panicking all over the place, bloody tools strewn across metal trollies, less than sterile techniques, loud beeping and swooshing noises accompanied by a fast panning of the camera. Well the operation was completely different, in fact it was very silent and quiet, very serene. There wasn't even blood, although that may be due to the nature of the operation.

But it was through this that I truly could see the immense amount of patience doctors required. If one of the things I have learned so far during my IBA, is that being in the medical field is in fact a very social based job, requiring doctors to constantly interact with patients whilst processing gigabites of information at the back of their minds. I also learnt that doctors in fact do not just read books and treat patients, and most of them are in fact active and essential contributers to medical journals and such.

On this note, I have received an invitation by a staff member to be a part of a medical research, serving as a telemarketer. I have not accepted, but if anyone is interested, I would gladly pass your names on to the person in charge.

I recall a quote in what I think would be in Digital Life, by the creator of Sims and Spore.

"Boys enjoy repetitive things ,...." in respect to gaming.

Sure you may argue that Maple story is not repetitive, but perhaps you've grinded those 200 levels so much you can't even do basic math any more to calculate how many of those chubby units moving in a predictive manner you have killed. The same goes for many MMORPG's, with the main objective of the game being leveling up by a process of grinding, followed by getting better items through earning gold (from killing more monsters) and killing bosses for a miniscule chance of getting it.

Well, that would explain why I found today more enjoyable than most days. I was given the privilege of folding, placing in envelopes and plastering names upon around 105 sheets of paper meant to be mailed out. The type of mail people barely even read before chucking into the bins.

I think I got a high score.

Iphone

2008-11-03T08:49:00.000+08:00

Thanks to the wonders of technology, this entire post has been written and posted by a handphonee

IBA

2008-10-28T20:00:00.000+08:00

First day of the Industry and Business Attachment Program. I am not supposed to blog about but what the heck, I believe a warning would suffice

WARNING

READING THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS MEANS THAT YOU AND THE INSTITUTIONS YOU REPRESENT WILL ADHERE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS POST. YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT IS BEING EXPRESSED WILL NOT BE USED IN A COURT OF LAW OR USED AGAINST THE PERSON(S) STATING THEIR POINT OF VIEW. SO IF YOU WANNA DO THAT, GO TO TALKINGCOCK.COM

Ok thats over now, but I won't mention where I am working for the benefit of my employer. I would like to thank everyone who helped me get my job posting for this program, or else I would have to do it next year during a busy period of the year.

I did learn quite alot during the day, although it slowed down quite quickly.

I can say I am interested in medical studies, but the thing is that the working life in a hospital doesn't seem very appealing one bit. After some reflection, it seems the siren call of the theatre is more appealing to me.

Now on the note of theatre, I guess that was another thing that High School Musical has changed in my life. I used to tap dance for around 2 years and quite eventually, but I would never forget my days on the stage. And along comes High School Musical, reminding me once more of the joy of the stage, the butterflies before a show, the glares of a spotlight and the glorious applause.

Also, many people have made comments on High School Musical, many bad. So here I am to come to its defense. First of all, I want you to see it as a piece of literature rather than just pure brain dead entertainment. Spoiler warning just in case.

The movie starts off with Now or Never, a song about how the Wildcats play their last game. When I first heard this song and saw its lyrics, I immediately thought of my own experience to come in the following year, for the First Aid Competition. I was thoroughly disappointed to see that the scene did not live up to the wonderful music accompanying it. Many have also mentioned about how the middle portion with the Gabriella and Troy duet being stupid. I beg to differ. Not only is it sweet for those familiar with the relationship the previous 2 movies have built, it also serves as a introduction to their relationship to newcomers who have not watched the first 2 movies.

The next song would be....Right here, Right now. Sure they broke into song quite randomly, but the lyrics were very accurate in pinpointing the focus of the movie, putting forth the conflict in a manner where it could be explored along with the Troyella relationship in a non-overbearing and cheesy manner. Imagine the scene without the song.

"I don't wanna leave High school Gabby"

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to leave you"

"Me too"

"I wish time could stop like now, and not go away"

"Yeah me too"

"I love you"

"Me too"

Moving on to I Want it All. It was a fun song which introduced the twins to newcomers. It also shows why Ryan was willing to work with Sharpay once more after the second movie, linking them together. It was also funny looking into the twin's crazy and over-the-top imagination, and it also introduced the theme of knowing what you want for your future, something Troy faces later on.

A Night to Remember was cute, but it gives us a look of the stereotypical prom scene, with guys dreading it, girls looking towards it. And how everything changes when the girls father tries to rip off the boys hand, and when he sees the most beautiful girl ever. This serves as the contrast for the "prom" Troy and Gabriella, giving the movie a sense of surreality whilst still maintaining a connection with the audience.

Can I Have This Dance, is pure beautiful. Everything, from the lyrics to the choreography explored the light and fairylike touch to things, a dreamy dance, ballerina moves, slow music, romance, nothing left unexplored. The splitting into two parts was a nice touch, reflecting the different roles a partner takes up during a dance, and how it mirrors life and its up and downs, and how you have someone there to help you through.

The Boys Are Back is another song others have argued as stupid. Perhaps if you recall the first two movies, about how Chad and Troy mentioning how they are good friends since preschool and all that, but it has never really been explored. This song shows us how far back they truly go, and also presents another conflict Troy faces during his final decision, a factor he has to consider into his choices.

Just Wanna be With You explored the new relationship of Ryan and Kelsi, their common passion for the performing arts, although it was left hanging even at the end of the movie to my disappointment. However, this song also served as a beacon for Troy and Gabriella's straining relationship.

Scream is clearly the most heavy and emotional song in the trilogy, which practically screams out at the audience what Troy is going through without being overly expressive and cheesy. Once more, imagine this

"I want to go somewhere near Gabriella. But wait, my dad will be sad. Chad will be sad. What to do now?"

"Ask OCBC"

Touching on this point, the fact that Troy and his Dad have always been going to Red Hawk games since he was young, as well as his dad being an alma mater, puts more sense into the second movie, about how his rejection of Sharpay's offer was much harder than just singing a song in tight black shirts and punching the ground.

We're All in This Together was played once again, albeit much slower and more dreamy. Like a ghost haunting us, this links the first movie to the last, and it reminds the viewers of their entire journey with the cast, evoking emotions of sadness that the curtains were about to be closed soon.

High School Musical was the curtain call for the cast, similar to that in the original We're All in This Together, where all the cast could come out and bow one last time.

I almost forgot Walk Away! It was a sweet song which is similar to Right Here, Right Now and Scream in its purpose. It also creates dramatic irony, where the viewers know what is going on before anyone else knows.

"I'm going to go away so walk home Troy, so I can move away quickly without you knowing"

As for Rocketman and Tiara Gold, well it was a fairly accurate representation of juniors in schools, with a rare few sucking up to you like some sort of leech so that they may have a better future when you are gone, like Rocketman, and others ousting you even before you leave, to ensure that they are the best not only during their year but as well as the years to come and the years before.

So thats it, if you wanna counter the points, just Cbox it. I'm sure I could counter it in a convincing manner. Kthx

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3

2008-10-24T23:48:00.000+08:00

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 IS HERE!

WATCH IT

NOW

I watched it today with a huge group of friends at Plaza Sing, and I was all jiggly with excitement while waiting for it. The trailers before the movie were awesome, especially the one about Bolt, where the hamster did some really cute High School Musical stuff.

And then, it began.

The songs, the cast, the many faces, all came flooding back to me. The first song started, Now or Never, although I was really expecting more of the acting for that song, but alas it wasn't up to my expectations.

HOWEVER, the rest of the movie was awesome, and you should totally watch it, again if u have already watched it. The new songs were still as awesome as the previous ones. I actually wept a little inside during the movie, not so much for the plot going on, but rather that my journey with High School Musical was about to come to an end. Like the plot of the show, I did not want to let go, and I guess that was the purpose of the structure of the trilogy, and the very reason I was drawn into it, about how it made connections with my very own school life.

About the friendships, the separation and what not, it is an experience one does not explain but rather experience for yourself.

I quote the cast when I say, "Life is much easier when you can sing and dance about it".

And that is why I enjoyed this whole series so much, about how I want my school experience to be as good as this, and the very factor which sparked my interest in the performing arts. This eventually led to my not so successful stint at Centerstage, and the much more better Language Arts Festival Musical.

Therefore, you must watch this movie, and immerse yourself in its wonderful goodyness. My offer to join me in my quest at staging a HSM theatre series is still open if anyone is interested in committing your passion for it to another level.

I shall not share this post with any other information, even about my last day at school, for this is now my most treasured post on the blog.

WATCH

HSM

Zzz

2008-10-23T23:52:00.001+08:00

So...tired and exhausted, I can't even play WoW properly, accidently running into elite mobs because I lapsed into semi-sleep for a period.

12 more hours to HSM 3, will post more tmmrw

Post Examination

2008-10-21T20:04:00.000+08:00

So, the exams have been over for a good portion of a week, and classes have gone into the post examination mood, meaning mass sleeping, gaming and generally mucking around. If you recall my earlier posts, or click the archives, I gave a runthrough of my marks I expected for my total scores. For those interested in reading numbers/getting a sense of achievement in beating me, continue reading, if not skip this section and avoid the little trivialities.

Thankfully, I have failed nothing, not even core math, passing by a 58.8 for end of year alone.

Overall

Advanced Math = 68.1 (5 points)

Biology = 70.3 (6 points)

Chemistry = 76.9 (6 points)

Core Math = 64.5 (5 points)

Chinese = 65.7 (5 points)

IHS = 86.1 (7 points)

Language Arts = 75.2 (6 points)

Physics = 69.0 (5 points)

Total = 38/45 points

Thank goodness for term 3, with project points saving me in every subject

Normally when people look at their results, they always say how they are going to study even harder for their next exams, but personally I know I will be unable to do it. So there is not really much point, although the motivation is much stronger now considering year 4 is a pivotal year in preparing for the large plunge into IB years.

I read Mr Doctor Professor Nalanji's report book comments, which skimmed along the lines of being more confident in yourself, and I find much truth in this statement. Many people have excellent grades, topping classes and what not, but there are even more who are but a tad bit behind, grasping for second or third place. What matters is that you see what you have done, and not be bothered by the fact there are people in front of you. It is through this will you then find the courage to overcome the obstacles which prevented you from a higher grade in the first place.

Take for example, many people find writing philosophy essays difficult. Why? Because it is out of their comfort circle, where they have not seen enough or experienced enough to have a reference point, to know that where they are stepping is in the realm of conformity and acceptance. As such, people who usually have that innate spark of creativity find it lost amongst their words, worrying more about whether what they are doing is "right" rather than pen down their inner most thoughts, which is the whole point of philosophy.

If you have been in a conversation with me before which included people asking how to write their essays, it only proves that people strive for conformity even in such unnecessary regions of study. And as such, my answer to such questions are,

"Imagine you are f%^*ing Einstein"

I know Einstein may not have been a philosopher, but he is the paragon of genius. And the word before Einstein is not a verb, so get your mind out of the gutter.

-----

AS the holidays draw close, so does many new activities, amongst them, the Industrial and Business Attachment, which involves us getting jobs for work experience.

Since last year, I had imagined working with my close friends at any place, but the harsh reality is, the real world is not that kind. Even know, I may have found a job post despite much difficulty, but I will be alone in this cruel world we call the work place.

Right now I dread its coming, but it cannot be denied that this does indeed give good job experience, and hopefully it would be all over soon enough. I am not allowed to post anything about my company I am attached too, so I shall leave my posting anonymous as of such period.

-----

And so, the countdown begins.

DAYS

HIGH

SCHOOL

MUSICAL

I still don't understand why people scorn it, it is a great effort to put up such a movie. In case you were too dim witted to notice, musicals take much more effort than movies of the same plot, considering the recordings to be made, songs to be composed, scores to be recorded, dances to be danced and what not.

I am not asking for much, just support their effort by watching it, you will not regret it.

And I have also discovered that Mr Doctor Professor Nalanji can cry on whim, something I hope to achieve one day.

Dungeons And Dragons

2008-10-14T20:02:00.000+08:00

Rawr, I have always wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons before, but it's really expensive, and you actually need other people who are interested in it. Before you begin, you require miniatures, books, rulebooks, character sheets, maps and lots of other stuff, which make the price skyrocket.

So, unless I can get together a gang of fantasy loving nerd-people and afford the many bits and pieces of the game, I don't think I may ever be able to play it. And this is why I have WoW.

On another note, here is a really nice song I found about D&D.

Checkup

2008-10-14T14:58:00.000+08:00

Ponned school today to go hang with my crew at the skating park in Orchard Road.

By crew, I mean my mum, and by Orchard Road, I meant hospital.

Its been slightly more than a year since I broke my arm, maybe around 8 months free of a cast or armsling. But before I dive into a long narrative of boring recaps and flashbacks, lets go through what happened today.

The whole visit to the clinic took around 3 hours, wherein I fell asleep 7 times, took 2 X-rays, ate 2 sandwiches and talked to the doctor for 5 minutes. Clearly the system isn't perfect, considering how it took me forever to see the doctor, and paid $50 for him to say.

"Your arm is ok"

I could have paid Kirby 50 cents to say my arm was ok. But still, ponned school and missed a really boring day, so thats a thumbs up.

FLASHBACK TIME!

Those unfamiliar with the entire arm breakage story, I broke it in September last year. When people ask me how I broke it, I say I tripped on a rock and broke it.

Yes yes, in essence it is correct, but I "forget" to mention that I was traveling with increasing acceleration, coupled with the effect of the gravitational field strength of 10 newtons, as well as the increased elevation upon which I tripped upon the rock, which provided my body with a high Gravitational Potential energy mgh, which converted to a higher kinetic energy through the action of the fall, 1/2mv^2. I was also carrying an extra weight of books (that stupid stupid math book) upon my back, which therefore increased both the action of gravity upon my collective body, as well as an increased GPE, and thus KE.

Assuming that air resistance was negligible, and that the only surface where my body came into contact with the ground was my palm, the force exerted by the resultant force by the ground on my arm, divided by the relatively small surface area of my palm, gave a high amount of pressure upon the internal structure of my left limb, and as such causing it to shatter both the radius and the ulna.

I remember my physics very well, thank you very much. Perhaps a question "A boy falls from a hill and lands on his left palm, and the arm breaks. Describe in detail the effect of the forces on the arm which caused this," will come out for next year, and I am gonna ace it.

And if you were too lazy to read all that above, I fell from a hill which had a rock which I tripped on, and I fell on my left arm under the full weight of my body as well as my bag.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was on my way home, having crossed over to the opposite bus stop from school, scaling a flight of steps to get me a packet of peanuts. Theres this little path way thing sloping down from the hill, and as I descended it, a 74 passed by, and I tried to hurry up, shoving the peanuts into my left pocket with my handphone, and tripped.

I was in shock at first, thinking it was just a normal fall, feeling no pain at all. Then I looked at my arm. It looked like this.

I I I I I

I was thinking, "Aw crap not again." having just recovered from a recent head injury. I felt like I could not shout, and I stared up from the hot cement floor to the eyes of some IB guys, imploring for help, but the nutwits just ran to the bus after looking at me. THANK GOODNESS, a teacher passed by and noticed, and called my parents. But there I was, feeling no pain in my arm, only the heat and brightness of the sun, peanuts in the pocket pinned to the ground, and unable to remove my bag, which was slung in backpack fashion. Then Han Jie and some other people came along and saw, and yay I wasn't bored no more.

The ambulance showed up not long after, and 3 people came out, I think there were 2 females. One of them gave me some funky gas, which I thought would have no effect at all, considering how chinese dramas always depicted the gas as a lousy method for showing off poor acting skills in passing out. But it worked, and I felt really surreal, like I was dreaming, voices were far away, I could not see clearly, and it felt as though my spirit had been knocked out of me.

Then their pulled my arm straight. With a nice crack crack crack sound.

They splinted it and pushed me into the ambulance. The gas ran out, and I suddenly found myself in horrible horrible pain.

Even in the A&E department, I had to wait for a long time before anything was done, and I was enduring the pain as best as I could in the hall, seated in a wheelchair. But it was too great, and I got jabbed with painkillers.

I was eventually placed into a cast, a long and extremely smelly process. And it stayed for well over 3 months. Bathing, eating, sleeping and even playing WoW was a problem, and it was really really itchy inside. I remember using an old paintbrush to dig inside to ease the itch.

Ew.

Well it stayed even when the school year ended, throughout the final year examinations, as I took exams in a special room with Mr Jarret Kahn(sp?), given extra time for the handicap. And I remember explicitly doing a graph for homework once, and I had to use my face to hold down the ruler, and it was not comfortable one bit.

And when it came off, I found my hand really really weak, and flaking very badly. But it eventually recovered, albeit slowly, and is now all healed up! Yay!

If you ever read this Bynes, don't believe the time the doctors say your fracture would heal, they told me mine was 2 months, it took a year.

And I think I'm getting too much hormones lately, so I am getting into rampages and tirades of shouting with lots of people. So forgive me if I do, because everything I do right now is in unexplainable rage, and I just feel like caving heads in with a huge wooden club. Right now I struggle to keep my blog PG by not including vulgarities, but it is tough, so I shall stop now.

Mama Mia

2008-10-12T12:37:00.000+08:00

I watched Mama Mia yesterday and Shaw Towers or whatever it is called. Guess I still cannot resist the siren call that are musicals. I have to say that Mama Mia was a different kind of musical I am used to, aka High School Musical. The songs were blended into the movie more naturally, and of course, more humorously. If I am not wrong, there was great use of Greek comedy throughout the movie, which promoted a mood of relaxation, connection, and fun amongst the audience, more than most of the movies I have watched recently. The songs were also awfully nice, with many hits of ABBA belted out every five minutes.

I give this movie 4.5/5, so go watch it.

------

Another thing is that I am still planning to work on a costume of the Lich King. Those unfamiliar with this entity, here is a short description.

In essence, the Lich King was some orc shaman in Warcraft (thats a game, in case you enjoyed only the company of books), who made a deal with a demon man, but tried to give up halfway and was thrown into a freezer and put into an ice cube, resembling that of a chair, thus the Warcraft III expansion, The Frozen Throne. The chair, containing the tortured spirit of the orc shaman, was cast into the world of Azeroth, in the land of Northrend.

There, the orc shaman discovered he still had a massive influence on the inhabitants on the world, and his necromantic powers swept across the planet, creating an army of undead known as the Scourge. Amongst one of those influenced was a human Prince, and Paladin, Arthas. Being obsessed with murdering the evil Dreadlord Malganis, who had long tortured the civilians of his nation, Arthas had chased him down to Northrend, where he met a midget who told him that a magical runeblade, called FROSTMOURNE could help in their battle.

Upon finding FROSTMOURNE, the midget found that it was cursed, but Arthas PMSed and grabbed it anyway, a shard of ice ejecting from the pedestal and stabbing the midget, spawning ReZ, I mean killing the midget.

However, FROSTMOURNE was a means for which the orc shaman, now known as the Lich King, to control Arthas. Slowly eroding away at his already strained mind, the former Paladin fell to the evils of the Lich King, and became his highest ranking officer, returning to his homeland, with runeblade in hand, and murdering King Terenas.

Thus, one of the main oppositions of the Scourge was removed, that of an authority controlling the spread of a plague to corrupt more beings to undead, and the Alliance had lost one of its core constituents. But the Horde was still there to kick their ass, which is why the Horde is MUCH better than the Alliance.

However, moving on, Arthas returned to Northrend when the Lich King called for him. Fearing that the demon whom he had backcrossed years ago, he recalled his greatest champion, to fend off the demon's newest minion, Illidan. The Lich King discovered he was losing his powers when he thrust Frostmourne out of the Frozen Throne, and in essence, Arthas kicked Illidan's ass, and combined with the orc shaman spirit and became the new badass Lich King.

And the last guy is who I am dressing up as.

And, here is my first piece of my costume!

Yep, its a huge cup, for when I go on a coffee break during the con!

Dreamy

2008-10-12T12:27:00.000+08:00

So...I just had another one of those dreams which I actually could remember, albeit skimpily when I woke up. Forgive me if it does not sound exciting one bit, but since dreams are usually visual concepts, it can be rather difficult to express in word form.

This dream was probably influenced by my recent trip to the cinema to watch Eagle Eye, and here is how it all began. The government was killed by an insidious plot cracked by some person I knew, but I cannot remember at the moment, with the help of a super computer which could access all data networks.

Many people were killed, and those who were left had to flee into hiding, and me and my family had ran to the back stairwell of some library, where there were a few other groups, most notably a group of friends from school. Yes ReZ, that includes you.

Eventually we were running short of water and we went to see the new evil ruler person, and true a complicated and barely sensible dialogue, it was provided. And somehow my High School Musical Edition of Kid's Company tore here, before we went into a lift or something. Oh, and the person had this roof platform which floated on top of the rest of the building on water, causing it to rotate and rock gently, and apparently it was on the ninth floor, despite it being taller than most of Singapore's skyline.

Long story short, some werewolf guy came and had super powers to reduce the effect of technology around him, and we killed the evil tyrant lady person thingy, but the computer escaped and still ruled the nation as a tyrant. Then my mum woke me up.

Yes yes, I know my dreams aren't exactly a Star Wars saga, but it still provides some entertainment when I am asleep, rather than the usual blackout.

Till next time!

Exams Are OVER

2008-10-09T11:58:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the long hiatus my few and faithful readers! But I bring you a chunkalicious blog post today packed full to the brim with lots of updates in the boring life of myself!

So first on the list would be, of course exams. So for those unsure of my subject combination, or those who are random strangers who stumbled upon this blog, I take triple sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Scientology. Wait I mean biology.

Well, here is a rundown of my papers,

1) Chemistry was easier than expected, and I am aiming for a 7 pointer ^^
2) Biology, as usual had too much stuff to study and the night before was torture. Didn't finish the paper due to overspamming in the earlier sections
3) Physics was just like chemistry, much easier than mid-years, more time for doing the paper, and less calculations
4) Chinese essay wasn't too bad, managed to finish the paper, but the actual paper itself found me short for time
5) Cmaths, I am going to die
6) Amaths, surprisingly easier than cmath
7) Language Arts, I wrote papers which had a 50/50 chance of me either scoring really high, or really low
8) IHS was fun

And that was the rundown on all my papers, hopefully I pass all of them and never ever have to step into Concentration camp HELL. For those unfamiliar with that term, read up my former posts on my rants on it

-------

Oh, did I mention that I got the chance to watch the F1 Grand Prix on Friday? I have got to say that the track was amazing, and everything fell into place perfectly, although the race itself was really boring after awhile, just standing there watching the same cars do the same thing over and over again. Things like these are definitely much better when you're watching in the comfort of your home. I did manage to snap some pictures, but considering my phone is 4 years old, and that the cars were really fast, don't expect much of it. I will upload them when I find out how to

------

Fast forward to the less boring stuff like exams, considering its now OVER! Of course, I do hope for good marks, but considering I am not exactly a hardworking student, passes through all the subjects would truly be a blessing. Now... where was I, ah yes, the day after the final paper.

I went out with a couple of my friends, David, Sean, Bryan, Justin, Bob, and other people we met at Cineleisure. We watched Eagle Eye, and I found it quite intriguing, albeit slightly cliched, considering this plot has long been the focal point of many a work of fiction. Ah well, the ending of end of years should always be a momentous event.

-----

Now on to the first day of our break from exams, Wednesday, 8th October.

And guess what, its Sean's birthday! I remember last year when it fell on the final days of examinations, and I gave him some toy sword before assembly. Well, lucky for him, it fell after exams this year, and we went out to watch the House Bunny. He ran off after the movie when I was buying a cake for him, and so the rest of us just went over to my house. Oh and David got bracers, which looked great on him.

Well thats all for now, there's some random guy on WoW thinking I'm a female, and is hitting on me. Till next time

Cmath

2008-09-29T21:00:00.000+08:00

I'm good as screwed for my core math papers, with at least 30/80 lost in paper 1 and 50/80 marks lost in paper 2 today. I just hope that my term 1,2 and 3 are good enough to cover it.

Even my WoW prepaid time ran out. The day is just pure BAD.

On another note, watch this little video from some old movie about some old song. Just skip to 2:30 if you aren't into that kind of stuff and see some good ol rocking out. No siree, the headbang is just too uncool for these two girls.

Examinations

2008-09-28T22:01:00.000+08:00

Stranded adrift in the eye of the storm once more. The weekend is finally here, and 4 papers have finally been tackled down, and this may be causing me to celebrate prematurely, but it feels......GOOD.

So heres a rundown of my thoughts on the papers so far,

- Language Arts I probably wrote a paper which has a high risk factor in it, you either win it all or lose it all
- Cmath Really hard, don't piss me off
- IHS Not too bad, managed to finish writing the essays in time
- Chemistry I liked it, it was simple and not too wordy.

Yay

Dream Sequence

2008-09-27T17:32:00.000+08:00

I just had the most surreal experience ever!

I was dreaming about Sean leaving his phone in my house accidently dressed up in some really nice formal suit.

And then I dreamt I fell asleep, and I woke up and he was back and took his phone home.

Then some unrelated stuff happened, including possible solutions the PAP may employ to spread out the population rather than concentrate it in one area if the time requires.

Then I really woke up and my mum said Sean called, and i called him back.

He sounded exactly like he had in my dream, so woah.

For the first time, I did not know for sure, in my entire life so far, whether I was awake or dreaming.

It is a very nice experience.

Thanks Sean

Last Minute Posting

2008-09-24T22:29:00.001+08:00

The last few moments before exam fever sweeps us all into its terrifying vortex of death and disappointment.

Good Luck!

2008-09-22T00:34:00.000+08:00

I'm worried, I'm taking exam matters too lightly, and I can't concentrate.

I keep thinking of what I wanna do after it, and here is a kewl list that you can follow:

1) Play Wrath of the Lich King till I'm too tired
2) Make a Lich King outfit for Cosfest
3) Watch HSM 3
4) Convince people to join me to make a HSM adaptation on film
5) Watch HSM 3
6) Excercise
7) Watch HSM 3
8) Go to LA and meet the HSM cast for the premiere of HSM
9) Watch HSM 3
10) Cosplay as the Lich King to Orchard Road with a group of my friends
11) Cosplay as a ghost in pacman
12) Get people to do "What Time is It" on the last day of school
13) Watch HSM 3
14) Do serious stuff involving SJAB
15) Watch HSM 3

Its not in chronological order, but meh

Now or Never

2008-09-16T23:09:00.000+08:00

The exams always prompt me to think of something unsettling. No not just my results, but the thought of moving on wards to another year, another class. More new faces, more friends to make, more experiences, and yet I have to leave behind those I made this year, just like I did when I moved up for 2.11 last year. It is a saddening thought, and no matter how much you resolve to keep the relationships that strong, it never works that way, and eventually everyone starts drifting away.

My year 2 friends will drift even further, and several of my year 3 ones will slip away into my memories. All part of the painful concept of letting go I guess.Out with the old, in with the new I guess.

But what if you don't want something new, like how I felt when I first entered year 3. I still remember clambering into an empty yellow level classroom the year before, table, chair and armsling in tow. I looked around and I felt scared, I barely knew anyone in here. When the 3rd school year finally started, it was a long and tedious process for me to finally get to know more people, perhaps something which I regret now, as our time together is nearly up.

Another frightening thing for me is that Year 4 is the year where committee responsibility comes into full swing. The very notion that my every action and word will be amplified in the lives of many cadets scare me. My committees performance will determine if they would come to love and embrace SJAB as a CCA for the next four years, or turn away from it in disgust every time the name is mentioned.

Furthermore, with Year 4 comes the final year where I compete with my team in the SJAB First Aid Competition, and if luck would have it, the Singapore Malaysia First Aid and Footdrill competition. The former holds for me very strong emotions, my one and only distinguishing feature in the mundane that is school life. One more year, and it will all be over, I don't know how I will take it when its gone.

So in light of all this, I present to you a little song called "Now or Never" from High School Musical 3. It reflects the situation I am going to face in but a short lapse of time, as does the bulk of the entire movie itself. If you worry about these matters as I do, sit back, relax and enjoy the song.

Lyrics

16...16...16 minutes left better get it done
16...16...16 more minutes get ready GAME ON!
16...16...16 minutes left running out of time
16...16...16 more minutes seconds on the line
16...16...16 minutes left gotta get it done
16...16...16 more minutes till we're number one!

Let's go team!

Gotta get it together
Yeah pull up and shoot! Score!
Are you ready
Are you with me
Team...Team...Team
Yeah!
Shake'em with the crossover (WILDCATS)
Tell me what we're here for
To win!
Cause we know we're the best team
Come on boys...come on boys...come on!
The way we play tonight
Is what we leave behind (thats right)
It all comes down to right now its up to us (LET'S GO)
So what are we gonna be (gonna be)
T-E-A-M TEAM
Gotta work it out turn it on! (come on!)

This is the last time to get it right
This is the last chance to make it our night (yea)
Gotta show what we're all about (TEAM!) (WILDCATS!)
Work together! (GO!)
This is the last chance to make our mark (SHOOT!)
History will know who we are
This is the last game so make it count it's
NOW OR NEVER

W-I-L-D (Atta boy!) WILDCATS GET UP COME ON
W-I-L-D WILDCATS COME ON COME ON
West High Knights
Hey!
Yeah we're doing it right
Oh yea!
W(YEAH!)-I-L-D WILDCATS NOWS THE TIME

Gotta get an inside down low
In the paint now shoot! Score! (DEFENSE!)
Gotta work it together
Gimme the ball...Gimme the ball...Gimme the ball! (FAST BREAK)
(Gimme the ball Get the ball in control)
Let it fly from downtown (THREE MORE)
Show them we can do it better (NO WAY!)
GO! GO! GO!COME ON BOYS!(WILD CATS)

The way we play tonight (YEA!)
Is what we leave behind (thats right)
It all comes down to right (West High) now its up to us (LET'S GO)
So what are we gonna be (gonna be)
T-E-A-M TEAM
Gotta work it out turn it on! (COME ON!)

This is the last time to get it right (GO!)
This is the last chance to make it our night (YEA!)
Gotta show what we're all about (TEAM!) (WILDCATS!)
Work together! (GO!)This is the last chance to make our mark (HOOPS)
History will know who we are (who we are)
This is the last game so make it count it's
NOW OR NEVER

Right now I can hardly breath
Oh, you can do it just know that I believe
And thats all I really need
Then come on
Make me strong
Its time to turn it up
GAME ON!

WILDCATS GONNA TEAR IT UP
GO WILDCATS
YEA WE'RE NUMBER ONE
HEY WILDCATS WE'RE THE CHAMPIONS
GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO TEAM GO!

West High Knights
Hey!
Yea we're putting up a fight
WILDCATS!
We never quit it! What? Gonna win it! What?
Let me hear you say
HEY!

This is the last time to get it (oh!) right
This is the last chance to make it all (yea!) happen
We got to show them what we're all about (TEAM!) (WILDCATS)
WORK TOGETHER! (Troy!)
This is the last chance to make our mark
History will know who we are (who we are)
This is the last game so make it count it's
NOW OR NEVER

Hi

2008-09-14T02:09:00.001+08:00

3 days after that little episode of forced insomnia and I'm still feeling the effects of it. The next school day was a torture, with me still being high on coffee and sour stuff, everything slowed down

I walked faster a tad bit, I spoke like a freaking cliched cartoon squirrel on crack, and sitting down in class felt difficult. As if the situation wasn't bad enough, the caffeine wore off after around three lessons, and I felt like I had been drugged up by someone trying to kidnap me. Everything slowed to a crawl, and I could hardly keep myself awake in. Needless to say that day was horrendous.

And today I just fell asleep watching my friends play the Xbox. For 2 hours.

Well enough with the boring stuff I guess, lets dive straight into the juicy details of my first ever parade as a senior.

Lets see, first of all the parade planning and stuff was kinda rushed, considering we just got the details the day before, not to mention the limitations of having a parade right before exams being present. So in the end, we just kinda gave a long talk to the year 1's and 2's, followed by a nice little drill session to warm up those stiffened bones.

The parade started on a rough footing, with very little cadets turning up due to the Walkathon being on the next Sunday. The cadets were disappointingly lacking discipline, fidgeting all over the place. Be glad it was before the exams, if any of you read this, else I won't hold back kay?

And I conducted my first pumping session ever. It wasn't easy on me at all. Remember how in secondary one, when you first came into a UYO and you seniors pumped you? Then you would think about how you were going to have so much fun doing it when your time came?

You were wrong.

Pumping and yelling at people feels unnatural and awkward, and to be honest I felt embarrassed yelling and shouting my head off at the people who not long ago been my peers in terms of going through the same torturous events. At least I pumped for a good reason today.

And if you are wondering you my lucky first pumpee is, its Isaac.

Just a few comments on the parade. It felt very natural when the ball started rolling. It just fell into place, even when you were giving talks despite knowing your just supposed to be dragging the time longer. Year 1's are much better in their attitude than I thought of before, but year 2's were, how should I put it....

....TERRIBLE

Oh well, I guess thats why my committee is here for, to put so much pressure on you guys till you crack and go insane

I mean improve

All Nighter

2008-09-10T23:02:00.000+08:00

I am about to embark on a wonderful journey of epic Mugging. Tonight I shall attempt my second ever all nighter, and first ever study related all nighter. I have my coffee, my sour stuff, food and what not by my side, and with any luck I will make it through tomorrow half alive. Wish me luck!

_______

It is now 12.30, and I have already gone through 1 and a half cups of coffee. My supply of it stands at half a cup, but I am still wide awake.

I have done finish the Congruent Triangle CMath Homework and am halfway through the textbook on Redox Reactions

______

1 am and my coffee supply is but a few sips away from oblivion, still on Redox Reactions in the textbook, making good progress

______

1.15, my coffee has survived till now, and I have finished reading up on redox in the textbook, and am doing revision questions. The sleepiness is creeping in.

______

1.22, and I have finished with redox entirely in the textbook. Onwards to redox in conceptual learning.

______

1.43, I have finished conceptual learning, but I am feeling more and more tired. Blargh.

_____

2.12, my coffee is in dire straits, and I am feeling the backlash of the lack of caffeine. I have decided to move on to binomial theorem to try and keep things interesting

______

2.27, Binomial theorem is a headache but at least I understand more now. Taking a short break by surfing the net

______

2.33 Back to studying

______

2.59, I am finally approaching my record for staying up in almost a year, and it's not easy staying awake. I finally read finish the first part of binomial theorem and can finally start doing a worksheet on it.

______

3.13, passed my normal biological clock settings and its not so bad. I guess maths does keep your mind sharp. I believe I swap to biology soon

______

3.28 Still on Amath Binomial Theorem, finished half the worksheet already. I'm wondering how I am going to survive tommorow

______

3.42 Have given up on completing the last two questions, have to remember to ask Kong for help on binomial and linear law. Now on to bio!

______

3.56 and everything is getting unbearable. Just a few sips of water and my bladder gets full, my method to keep awake are slowly failing, and I'm bored of studying. To counter this I shall take another break!

______

4.30 and nothing much has changed. I'm just browsing through the Bio book for key concepts, trying to memorize facts now would be a lost cause.

______

4.38, and I have finished all but 4 chapters in the biology in terms of reading. This will make my actual revision on the subject in the future a breeze. This lack of sleep has given rise to my lack of motor skills, typing has become a chore with all sorts of typos appearing over the place. Just 1 and a half more hours before this is finally over. I need a medal for this.

______

5.02, this torturous journey is about to end, but the next one is about to take flight. School is in 3 hours.

______

5.37, my mum may wake up anytime soon. Considering the amount I got done today, I say it was worth it, although I'm not gonna pull off another one of these, I don't think I can handle it. TIme to catch some z's!

Lazyness

2008-09-09T23:46:00.000+08:00

Well, I'm getting lazier to post something interesting, so I might as well just spam my POD essay up here. No copying kthx.

In the world of philosophy, the process of knowledge gain is but a mirror of other subjects, be it science or math. It is not through the answers that we learn, but the questions, the catalyst, which provokes our personal thoughts. At this point we can see philosophy strives for a less materialistic goal, an object of self learning. By writing this essay in its essence, I have already immersed myself into the topic, given free reign over my choice of thoughts and knowledge. Even a mere reflection on philosophical subjects prompts the human mind to delve into the complexity of the situation, and question the correctness of the evidence and assumptions others present to us. Without the presence of definite answers, we ponder upon how we can search for the truth and in so learn many new lessons along the journey.

Then one might ask what point is there in having philosophy lessons in school when nothing definite can be presented to us. The answer lies in the fact that many ponder upon philosophical concepts at its base level, lacking the sufficient hindsight to tackle it at a greater level. Take for example myself, since my nursing years I have wondered if my body is truly part of me, or perhaps just a shell my brain inhabits. Perhaps my brain is part of this shell, a visual concept imposed upon me from the distant libraries of biologists. And this then brings about the question, how do I know others, and myself, are real, not just visual images my mind perceives. I recall myself pondering this question as I lay upon the sidewalk, my senses which I had relied upon until that point numbed, arm broken under myself. Yet despite my experiences, I was unable to go deeper than “Am I real”? It was only though philosophy that provided me with two opposing camps of thought, and from it developed my idea beyond just a question, into a conclusion that brought around even more questions waiting to be answered.

Then perhaps another question comes to your mind after reading about my circular experiences, getting more and more questions by trying to answer previous ones, how does that help? To most, questions are but a hindrance to their gathering of knowledge, an admission to lacking what they seek. But it is my belief that knowledge can be split into 4 distinct categories.

The first category is what I call “Things I know I know”, meaning the information that you already know, and you know that you possess the knowledge of it. The second would be “Things I know I don’t know”, the stage where you know you do not possess such information of a topic. This second stage is where questions arise from and I will elaborate upon it further at a later stage. The third step would be “Things I don’t know I know”, a stage where your subconscious mind rules over, giving you innate abilities you may not have discovered as of yet. The final stage is “Things I don’t know I don’t know”, the stage where you do not even know that such a question exists, let alone seek answers.

The crux of this structure of knowledge is that a vast majority of the knowledge in the world lies in the fourth category, with only 1% and 9% lying within the first two stages of our learning. An example would be “What is the name of the 43rd poorest family in Japan?”, a simple question that until this point you did not know of. But by posing this question, the knowledge of this presence has shifted you into the second stage, where you now know you do not possess the answer, and you ask yourself questions in order to find out the answer. And it is only through this process does the knowledge finally shift into the first stage of our learning process, where we finally know the answer.

Therefore, it is clear that the key to learning new things are convert that huge chunk of 9% into our 1% is by asking questions, which we ponder upon and find out more on. Thus, philosophy is but the firestarter on the path to knowledge, providing us with the materials to create the key moulds.

A more recent interaction I had with philosophy was when I was on vacation in Malaysia. Perhaps in Singapore, our government is doing a good job in cushioning the impact of the recent price inflations, but over there the effect was much more obvious, affecting even the smallest establishments. This made me reflect upon David Hume’s ideas on causality, which eventually made me find the root of the problem, our overdependence on oil, so much so that it has developed into a new form of “supercurrency”, limited and valuable. It was from this experience that I learnt of the more down-to-earth side of philosophy, shattering my misconceptions of the topic being an idler’s pastime.

It is clear that philosophy is a very crucial topic in a students’ life, one of the few topics, which look beyond examinations into the futures outside on institutionalized learning. In honouring the tradition and core tenets of philosophy, my essay will not be with a definite conclusion, merely a catalyst for your further insights into this idea. Perhaps this will be the spark that finally sets you free of our human bonds, to finally see the truth.

Novena Church Duty

2008-09-07T22:57:00.000+08:00

Ah, finally home after such a horribly long day. Fate is indeed cruel to deal such a tiresome day to me upon the final day of the school break.

The reason for my shortage of posts the past few days was because I paid a visit to Malacca, days which brought back the wonderful memories of past visits, especially the ones during the OEP trip with all of my friends. But that story is for another day, when the bones in my body do not shiver so from fatigue.

On to today, the Novena Church Public Duty. Many people have the misconception that public duties are just one day events where SJAB members show up and stand around. Well you are awfully wrong. The process is usually split into a 3 step process

1) Finding out the details

2) Getting people to come

3) Doing the duty

For me, step 2 is the worst. Everyone has this or that on public duty days, unwilling to commit time to a seemingly useless event, much less an event on a Sunday, dragging from 2.30 till 9.30. Just a small number of 20 were needed, a number we could not reach despite trying for over a week. But now as I lounge in my chair, it feels as though this burden is lifted.

So why am I feeling so tired? I can safely say this duty has been my most tiring one so far, with many stretcher cases. The event was some massive prayer session of some sort involving a good three thousand strong crowd, packed with elderly and the ill. Not a very safe environment, considering they had to stand for over 4 hours. So we rushed around, running here and running there, dragging stretchers around with us, to fetch those who finally succumbed to the fatigue of their bodies. But that was okay, the effort made me feel useful and they even thanked us for it.

What really cheesed me off was the behaviour of a certain individual from a certain school (i Shall noT nAme it). my team of dedicated first aiders just arrived at the medical teNt for a gooD few minutes, when a seRgEant from this particular school ran up to us and said "Oi, some guy need stretcher lah, stop dreaming." Well, 1) HOW WERE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT WHEN NO ONE TOLD US 2) MY FRIENDS ARE NOT FOR SHOUTING AT, WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE YOUR CRAP 3) I'M A SERGEANT TOO AND YOU SHALL SHOW ME THE RESPECT OF A PEER

So the next time you decide to fling your unreasonable demands at my comrades, you better watch your back. Just go take this (39 - 0) score and suck it.

End of rant and post.

Teacher's Day Part 2

2008-08-31T22:46:00.000+08:00

Ah, picking off where I left off last time. Lets see, I wanted to discuss about my trip back to Tao Nan (my primary school if you were wondering).

Well, I can conclude that the trip back there this year was almost completely a waste of time. Perhaps if I still malingered in the East side of Singapore I wouldn't have minded so much, but now that my geographical location of home has shifted towards the other extreme end, the trip there and back is strenuously long.

At least I got to explore my school again, and catch sight of three of my teachers, as well of a couple of ex-classmates and pals. I've got to say, in this short period of 3 years, the school has been changed so much. Long gone are the old vending machines which offered refreshing liquids at an affordable price, now replaced with state-of-the-art ones, which even ACS vending machines can't compare to.

The whole canteen has been painted a nauseating pink, and I just can't think of any reasons behind that arrangement. There are now three 42 inch (I think) flat screen televisions hanging from the ceilings, something even my current school doesn't possess. The once useless rooms on the ground floor have now been revamped into heritage centers, as well as certain strategic chokepoints leading from one block to another. I can't comment on the food anything past its still dirt cheap, since most of it was sold out by the time we got there. And of course, I had to check out the Young Entrepreneurs Club Skoobli Bookstall. That Bookstall held fond memories for me, being the first time I had participated in a CCA, as well as my batch being the pioneer group to initiate the CCA. I still remember clearly the days maintaining it, discussing about it, feeling special about being the Sales Manager, the money we managed to earn. And then I remembered how I felt just as I was about to leave the club behind, about how I saw the next batch foolishly spending our hard earned cash on projects doomed to failure, and I was right. The bookstall is no more, and the club will never be remembered amongst the archives of the school.

Alas, I admit to forgetting most of my teachers back there in Tao Nan. The only thing I remember about them is me just before the last day of school, crying myself to sleep, telling myself to never forget my years in the school. Time heals all wounds, but it hurts more when you find the scar.

------

On to more things less emoish! Well not really, I just wanted to discuss online in a politically correct manner online my thoughts upon the schools policy on failure. Just briefly, what we stand to lose if we fail the final year exams include disciplinary action, removal of holiday time by attending a full day study camp for many weeks, re-exams, a $250 fee, possibility of expulsion, redoing the former academic year, being denied a chance to do the Industrial Business Attachment amongst many other scary possibilities. Now, I recall some wise sayings from my mentor back in Mindchamps, and this was one of them.

As a baby, what do they get the most? Encouragement. When a baby falls down, his parents encourage him, support him, shower him with wonderful words. Yet as the baby grows up, those words turn into harsh tongues, canes, scoldings and disappointment. Imagine a baby falling when learning how to walk, and the parents scold him angrily, signing him up for tuitions, caning etc etc etc.

How does this differ from what the school thinks about failure? I've played with Australians before, and it is clear that our overly success oriented society is getting to our heads, making us sad shells of what we could be. I'm also fairly certain that the school would be able to hound my blog like dogs, so I shall not risk myself stupidly to exercise my FREEDOM OF SPEECH whilst still under the discriminatory label of STUDENT.

Go think about it, how many times have YOU been denied your full human rights just because you were wearing a school uniform or looked the part of a student, as compared to when you stood next to your parents. Just thinking of this makes me angry and want to cuss and swear, but I shan't fall into that trap our institution has set up for us all.

-----

I can't stand all these bad vibes just before I sleep, so I guess I'll shift to peaceful and happy gear now. So lets talk about food! I got the privilege of going to Kuishin-bo for the second time, and I'm still heartily in love with the food. Sushi, sashimi, soup, dessert, everything Japanese, all up for grabs for a set price! Oh the joy, when I first saw my favourite sushi being offered in limitless quantities, the delight when I saw the selection of delicately delicious desserts, the tempting sashimi in bright and fresh colours. I would recommend this joint for those with a deep pocket as well as hunger for Japanese cuisine, and that means you ReZ.

And now I feel happy again! :)

Teacher's Day

2008-08-30T00:54:00.000+08:00

Ah, the annual event of teachers' day has finally descended upon the year of 2008. For our little gifts of appreciations to the teachers of 3.10 Nehemiah, Bynes, Charles and Weiyang baked a nice little cake, so kudos to them. And we gave them mugs from Ikea, and learnt something out of our dear Chemistry teacher.

About how he likes mugs, and tea, and how his tea can sit by his table for over an hour as he sips it slowly.

Perhaps in younger years it wouldn't have been easy for me to truly appreciate teachers, and I don't admit to being able to fully do it yet. But after going through all these job selection courses during school time as part of our career guidance program, there is no doubt that teachers deserve our respect and admiration. Not only do they bring us up as people, shaping our characteristics through classes and CCA's, but they are also concerned for our well being.

One of the off-the-bat examples I can think of at this point of time would be our Advanced Math teacher, Mr Kenneth Ong. I believe he represents what teachers stand for, commitment. He turns up in his form class during his free periods, sacrificing his break so as to be with the students. But what struck me the most was his willingness to stay back after school 5 days a week in order to carry out remedials. So it is upon this note that I express my sincere gratitude for all our teachers, past, present and future.

No Teacher's Day is complete without a concert, and it is without a doubt that this year's was the best I have seen so far. I shall leave out the nitty gritty details in this blog post to continue holding your attention, but I was really amazed by the Dance Venia performances. They were very smooth, fairly coordinated, and appealing, bringing me back to memories upon my days as a tap dancer way long ago. Perhaps one day, I may receive the call of dancing once more.

It will be only a matter of time before this is made known to much of the student body, so I might as well keep my small handful of loyal readers informed first, no? Today, we discovered that someone had broken the ceiling of the St John's Room once more, just barely over a week after we had done a complete cleaning of the place. The room is now in a devastating state, and it is fortunate that we have eye witnesses who claim to know who climbed within the hollow region between ceiling and roof, and fell right through it. No doubt I wish to exact my own vengeance upon this aforementioned individual, but I am certain that he will receive his just punishment when school reopens.

I just thought of a new theory upon why my blog is so dreary and boring, its basis being me entering posts when I am in a state of extreme boredom, dread and sleepiness.

So in order to save the good stuff for a better time, I shall halt upon my posting of my visit back to Tao Nan School (my primary school), as well as about my thoughts about the school policy on failing exams.

Till next time

Ouroboros

2008-08-26T18:46:00.000+08:00

So, I recently read something about Ouroboros on the net today and I find the concept quite intriguing, but I just reread my recent posts and found they have taken a far too serious and philosophical outlook, so I'll just put this picture of the Ouroboros here.

And yes, this is my first picture on the blog, so bear with the poor formatting.

It's pretty hard for me to think of anything people would actually want to read about, rather than junky POD stuff, and as such I have decided to try the rest of my post in a manner most bloggers follow.

OMG today was so totally awesme, and liek schl was quite fun tdy and what not. Then during Cmaths, Justin Erh made a complete joke of himself and I was all like L-O-L kay? Our teacher was talking about how she felt sick then she was going like

"My son is down, my husband is down"

And then Justin said "Husband?". I was ROFLMAO-ing and LOL-ing and OMF-ing!

End Poor English Theme.

Start New to Blogger and Totally Boring posts.

I brushed my teeth this morning. I took the MRT to school. I managed to get a seat. Then I got on the bus, and there was some advertisement for Great Eastern's 100th Anniversary. I was like, wow. They were offering free rides on that bus. But it was crowded so I took another one to school.

End Boredom Reincarnate Style

Start Act Cute Style

Then today during cmath something happened in our class! Justin made a remark at our teacher which suggested adultery and I was like omg! XP! But then everyone laughed at him and I felt bad for him. Awwwww. I saw this huge butterfly on my way home today and it had so many prettyful colours and I chasered it all around till it flew away.

End Sickeningly Cute style

Initiate ReZ style

REZ IS IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!1!!shift-1!!one!!exclamationmark!

Till next time folks

KOTO

2008-08-25T00:17:00.000+08:00

Yes, I know this blog has stagnated in terms of posts for quite a bit, but I finally got off my tush to place this post up.

And so another week has come and gone, and the end of years loom ever closer. Yet I can't take my mind off more pressing matters such as the Knowledge of the Order test for SJAB. I remember how in year 1, Swami would teach us all about it in preparation for the test in a most fascinating manner, and how I aspired to be able to do that once I got the chance. But after that horrible way I taught the fresh new faces of SJAB, I felt I really let myself down. Everything felt so rushed, so chaotic. The fact that us as a new committee had not established our impressions amongst the juniors yet did not make matters much better. I guess this incident would serve as a warning for me to do my utmost best in this small window period of being "in-charge".

The way I addressed the people in SJAB as juniors seems very weird and unnatural. For almost all my life, I have been tagging along as a junior in all aspects of my life, even amongst my peers, owing to my stunted status. Yet now, placed in such a position as a senior makes me feel insecure, as though there was nothing left to cling upon. My decisions would create a lasting impact upon the 100 odd members in the ACS SJAB corp, whether or not they would come to feel a common passion for it or loathe the very mention of its name was up to me. Considering how my seniors before me have not let me down in this, I find it hard to actually believe that I have what it takes to be in such a seat of leadership. As others look upon me for leadership, who do I look to? After 15 years of being a follower, this mantle of a leader does not rest easy upon my shoulders.

Sure, being the leader of my FAC team may seem to have prepared me for all this, but that is totally different. In that, I have my fellow friends and members to count upon, their understanding and support is what enables me to at least sufficiently lead a small team of four. But now, I face a much larger unit to handle, and not everyone of them would be able to be as understanding as my wonderful teammates. And then I think back upon this years March Camp, where I finally got the chance to become the faction I/C. In the two years before, I looked upon the I/C's as symbols of perseverance and dignity in the corp, yet as I reflect upon my performance during the camp, I don't see any of this. I did not show concern for my bunk mates, I did not lead my faction to greater heights, nor did I learn to control my actions in order to build a better impression. If I were a member of my faction, I would remember me as an uptight, overbearing, selfish, uncaring, ruthless person with no sense of leadership whatsoever.

Let alone now, as CSM for this next year, how will I fare? It is such fortune that is bestowed upon me that I may flourish my vocabulary in sentences I find refuge in, but I have never been able to verbalize them. My actions have all been thought out, but performing and verbalizing them will be entirely different, a spark which may lead the corp to greater heights or a destructive ending. Everyone always jokes about wanting to pump others when the time comes.

Yet as I stood in that exact position to allow me to do this, even with a justified cause, I felt it impossible. The many I knew amongst them, how I imagined they would look upon me as I ruthlessly and mercilessly beat them down upon with poorly constructed sentences as their bodies strained to keep up with the brutality of the punishment. I felt utterly embarrassed upon the very thought of punishing them.

Another vital lesson I have learnt from being in the committee so far is the difference of watching others plan and carry out something, and actually doing it. Suddenly, what seemed a simple task suddenly erupts into a mammoth event which one strains to carry out. So far, our plans have barely moved forward, and I wonder if I have the capability to contribute to my fellow committee members.

Hopefully these lessons would be all I need to progress in the committee in manner I would be happy with, yet it is with heavy heart I know untrue.

Let this be a warning to all, especially all the new committee members of the different groups in ACS, things are never as simple as they seem.

First Aid

2008-08-19T22:17:00.000+08:00

Ah, a few days of recollecting has allowed me to gather my thoughts once more. After watching Money No Enough II and seeing a bus crash into a car(the aftermath), it makes me wonder. If I saw a man lying unconcious, bleeding, fractured, beaten and broken, would I dare to approach?

Apart from the lack of Good Samaritan Laws in Singapore which protects first aiders, the very fact that seeing someone in great duress lying before you, his lifeline seeping away as the seconds pass, how would I cope with the stress of it all?

I'll pose to you the same question, would you treat the injured man lying before you, assuming you had all the skills necessary?

Before you answer that, I want you to consider this.

I wore an armsling for half a year.

I forgot how to tie one in a MOCK first aid scenario.

Now, do you think you would be able to treat the patient calmly?

It is after considering this entire complexity of the issue that I have come to respect the work of Accident and Emergency doctors and paramedics. Many of us think of them as some sort of medical "booty call", that they would magically stand before the casualty and chant magic words to heal their wounds.

It might be surprising, but Doctors are not the same as MMORPG healers. They deserve the respect for willing to expose themselves to such high stress situations for our sake.

Money No Enough

2008-08-15T23:42:00.000+08:00

So today I went to watch Money No Enough 2. Considering Jack Neo's previous shows, I expected a campy movie without any depth. I was utterly wrong about the second point, although the camp element was evident to varying degrees throughout.

I would have to say that this movie would have to be one of the best by Neo I've seen. If I'm not wrong, the topics of filial piety and not being too calculative was breeched before by previous movies, but I would have to applaud this one for so touchingly portraying a mothers love for her offspring. I wouldn't want to spoil the movie for people who haven't watched it yet, but this movie is definitely an improvement in terms of provoking viewer thoughts from its predecessor. Rather than focus on a lack of money, Jack steered the plot around it and built themes upon a common ground, where the viewers of the movie would be able to sympathize with the characters.

However, what I did not like of the movie was how people reacted to it. Sure, Jack used humour as a tool to keep viewers hooked, but it was occasionally overused.

SPOILER WARNING:

The bit when the mother's medical condition was sliding backwards was especially bad. I was disgusted by how the viewers laughed at an old lady unable to control her bowels due to her illness, it just wasn't the right thing to do.

But I was touched by her as well as the 2nd brother's wife. Their sacrifices were what contradicted the campy and stereotypical actions of the main characters.

SPOILER END

I had so many thoughts back than in the cinema, but my mind has flickered after a long night slaving away at A math Tutorials, so it would be awhile before I can regain these. The annoying thing is that the opportunity for thought development was great today, by having talks with seniors over our aims and objectives in the committee of SJAB, as well as what kind of senior we would like to become. But alas, the burden of human frailty has pulled me back from expressing these wonderful notions. Even right now as I type, I find it tough to continue.

Ah yes, I wanted to talk about something about the human mind. If we think through it carefully, the human body is but a shell protecting the mind, the real essence of who we are. I remember how when I broke my arm and injured my head, my mind was an oasis of calm amidst the mess of deformity. So in this case I agree with that random important philosopher discussed during POD about how the mind is separate from the body. This thought was brought back to mind once again when I watched the movie today, where the mother's thought processes failed. Woe be the day when one loses the respite the mind provides. The notion of losing my sanity one day is even scarier than death.

It is indeed unfortunate that my body refuses to cooperate with my body to place down more of my thoughts, but this is one I must share. There's been a lot of talk about charity recently, especially after I attended SYINConnect and Matthew's insistent begging for purchase of notebooks for charity. So I was thinking, since I like High School Musical, why not stage a drama performance adaptation of it in order to raise funds. I like this idea very much, and the workload doesn't trouble me at all. The only problem is to rally a team together to start discussions, a mammoth task considering students of ACS probably have developed a hatred for the series. But of course, if you are interested, no matter which school you are from, please tag on the cbox. Thanks!

Just keep Swimming

2008-08-13T22:35:00.000+08:00

Today marked the beginning of swimming lessons for PE in school, and it sure does bring back certain memories, some painful, some joyful.

To think two years back I was so thrilled to be placed in the B category of swimmers, and yet now I have to bear the brunt of this horrific category, one which stretches a guy who doesn't get out much to his limits. And then a year ago, watching Darren Tay torment the guys changing in the free changing area in an uncomfortably strange routine. Glad to see that the guys are using the female toilet cubicles now rather than tempt the hidden wrath of him.

And then there are those painful memories, physical ones. The start of the swimming course is also the same period of time where an excessive amount of bodily harm came unto me. First the nose bleed, then the laceration of the scalp, and finally, the breakage of my radius and ulna. How I remembered the time spent during the remainder of the swimming lessons sitting by the poolside with a cast and sling, bored to death. Hopefully there will be no repeat of such incidences.

The saddening truth is, I got diarrhea today, coinciding with the minor injury of a nose bleed. Call me superstitious, but I believe this period is unfortunately very unlucky for physical well being. Therefore, I would have to take extra care to avoid any more of this nonsense.

Time to go for a check up with a doctor for my arm! Hopefully I remember.

Batman

2008-08-12T09:38:00.001+08:00

The past week has been packed tight with so many tiring events happening one after another. The National Day weekend has given me but a brief reprieve from the numerous Math Worksheets and Biology Projects.

Lets see, there was Wednesday. I went to watch High School Musical on Ice and I have to say that I was impressed. The music quality was undoubtedly good, the special effects were awesome, and the skating itself was full of excitement and talent.

Yet as a fan who has watched the show so many times, as a fan who has studied the shows intensively in order to make adaptations, the thing that appealed most to me was the accuracy of the costumes. Almost all the costumes used by the skaters were picture perfect, with some modified to suit the need for movement space. I was just thrilled to see that. The downside was that everything that was sold there was overpriced. A hat cost $30, but I could not resist, I bought two, and my sister bought the T necklace.

On to Thursday, Charity Cafe day. Cotton Candy and Xbox games, our source of income for the day. Our marketing campaign involved the classic posters spammed all over the SAC. But I decided to give it a little kick this year. So I donned my Optimus Prime costume to public for the second time, and did marketing for extended periods of time in the uncomfortable suit. The first hour was not too shoddy, with all questioning looks, curiosity abound, and even girls asking for a picture together. Then, things got ugly and boys decided to whack me all over the place whilst I was temporarily incapacitated, trapped in a twisted orgy of corrugated plastic and paint. The fact that we didn't even break even made the matter even worse, making a loss of over $90. So unless I get hit in the head so much that I suffer from a memory loss, I doubt I would wear the suit to ACS again.

JUSTIN ERH BROKE MY AXE

On to Friday then. National Day celebrations were in order, and we formed a huge Singapore on the Astro Turf, wasting over an hour for almost nothing at all.

So then David, Sean, Clement, Shahdan, Bob, Justin and I decided to finally get off our butts and watch Batman : The Dark Knight. The first two and I went off to JEC first to play some LAN while waiting for the others, meeting Mr 'Cripple von Crutch' Bynes along the way. And then we headed off to Lot 1 for the movie.

I'm no Batman fan, but I have to say I was impressed by the show. Not by its strong cinematic effects, but the depth the Joker - Batman relationship brought forth. This relationship reflects so many events in our lives. Like without the sun, there is no moon, like without Yin, there is no Yang, the relationship of seemingly opposing forces chasing each other round and around, each cycle strengthening the other side, forming an inescapable bond for both sides. Having just read about the lore of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor from Magic the Gathering, two lands similar yet very different. The landscape, the people were all the same, each plane existing alongside each other, one land a land of eternal light, another eternal night. The denizens would not remember residing in the previous world with the passing of the Great Aurora, an event which changed the plane at the time. And this once again reflected this relationship present in Batman.

During the long weekend break, I had time to reflect. I remembered the term "routinization to violence" from a book I had read about the Third Reich. Most gaming webcomics featured how gamers were seen as violent, and being a semi-hardcore gamer myself, I thought back to the time before I started gaming to find out if it was true.

And it was.

Having the privilege of being young enough to remember my pregaming days, I remembered the first time I played Warcraft 3. It was a custom map, and I was fairly young at that time. I remembered being afraid of the many death related items and objectives of the game, of the undead, and of the constant fighting. Fast forward to today, and I find myself playing WoW, killing monsters and fighting alongside the undead first-hand. I remember being scared of watching South Park, yet now I laugh at it for hours on end. These words upon the computer screen do not hold much for you, but for myself, it holds much memories and feelings.

Who knows, maybe after doing National Service, I may not know fear of blood anymore.

David!

2008-08-05T16:13:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday David! Hope you like the cake and present!

And that marks yet another reminder the speed of time. It seems like only yesterday were we at my house doing our History project, with Justin Gwee bringing leftover cake from his mum.

The lapse of 365 days is just too short, too short.

SYINC and ROD

2008-07-27T10:32:00.000+08:00

Well it certainly has been an exciting end of week, with two thought provoking events passing within the proximity of 24 hours.

The first would be the Relief of Duty Ceremony, which meant that the current committee would step down and us year 3 people would have to take up the mantle, all the responsibilities and difficulties included. We had planned the ceremony for a week, and it was certainly a challenging task, with the mammoth logistical requirements looming overhead for the entire week. Tokens of appreciation, videos, quizzes, speeches, invitations and decorations, all time consuming and tiresome. So it was with a sense of relief that the ceremony passed with nary a hiccup in the itinerary.

And I got promoted to a Sergeant, so yay!

________________________________

After the post parade game of soccer, I headed for the Festival of the Arts drama performance. It has been fairly clear cut that my interest in drama has seen a hike in the recent year, so I went to the performance very excitedly. It was undoubtably a great performance with much effort placed into it. A seventeen dollars well spent indeed.

_______________________________

Saturday, and I grabbed the first aid kit and went to some far off polytechnic in Woodlands to do public duty for the SYINConnect event. I found out when I went there that it involved something about social enterprise and the likes, and so I kept my ears open to see what I could learn. And in fact the prospect of doing social work and volunteerism peaked my interest, and I blasted my mind to think of the many possibilities. In fact, just a few moments of deep thinking would bring up many ideas for the betterment of our society.

As for the Plenary speakers, there were many well established social entrepreneurs, such as the Director of the World Toilet Organization, as well as the founder of 77th Street. And what struck me as common amongst them was their.... lack of humility. Perhaps it might have been a wrong interpretation on my part, with them just wanting to share their experiences, but it brought my mind back to a recent POD lesson. I remembered how a certain philosopher had once asked the Oracle of Delphi who the smartest man was in the land, and she said it was him. He rebutted saying how he was very stupid, and she replied that this was why he was wise. Not to complicated a concept at first glancing, but if we take it and applied it to humility, we would find many contradictory points to our human nature.

If someone acts humble, he knows that people would acknowledge him as being humble, and as such he has indirectly allowed people to inflate his ego, which would have been his purpose in the first place. The opposite is true if you declare your humility, and people would doubt that very fact, thus making them unable to acknowledge this fact. And because of this inability to allow people to acknowledge it and allow them to title him with humility, the person is truly indeed humble.

A good example would be Reepacheep from Narnia, go watch it, its great.

Birthday Post

2008-07-14T23:00:00.001+08:00

And so my birthday comes to an end once more, another year come and gone in my history, the mark of a decade and a half. Yet I ponder, how fast the days and years fly by. But enough with philosophy and what not, that's what adult blogs are for, time for the non-sensical reporting of my daily events which have no effect whatsoever on anyone who reads it.

Being a Monday, the timetable for the day was horrendous. My energy was still sapped from the previous day, and I had to roll out of bed before going to school later than usual. Triple Science and Double Math, everyone must love days like this. But alas! 2 teachers reported missing for the day and class passed with relative ease and comfort.

I then went with my family to a restaurant to eat my favorite kind of food...

PIZZA!

And it was nice and filling, I can still feel it sloshing around in my stomach. And my gifts were wonderful :D A nice deck of assorted cards worth much in currency from my sister, and a lightsaber from my parents, another weapon to add to my prop list.

Not many people wished me, BUT I AM SO HAPPY!

Birthday Birthday Birthday Birthday Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2008-07-13T23:59:00.000+08:00

YAY ITS MY 15TH BIRTHDAY!

Bday!

2008-07-13T23:37:00.000+08:00

A long day has finally passed, the National Competition is finally over! 4th Overall and Best in Footdrill came as a surprise to myself, considering I had done 2 cases, 2 footdrill sequence and not a single Transportation of Casualty.

I could tell you straight in the face what happened, but noooooo, I am going to experiment with many different writing styles now.

Over observant

Today I woke up. The air conditioning felt a tad warm and my nose felt slightly runny. The dust descended upon my face, it was annoying. I shuffled out of bed. The door knob felt cold to the touch. It was silver. I turned it with an approximate force of 12.4 Newtons. The toilet smelt damp, and my toothbrush was pink. I squeezed the toothpaste out, and it was all smoogly.

And I gave up on that after the first style. It's just unnaturally boring. So on with the proper blog post.

I woke at 6.00 to get ready, dragging myself out of bed only after long minutes of dread and fear over the competition. Clearly lacking sleep, I dragged myself into the shower to stay awake and then it was off to school!

The normal pre competition jitters was clearly present amongst all, and after shuffling into our uniforms, we blasted our minds with all that we could remember, only to forget minutes later in nervousness. Ascending a parade of taxis, we were hauled away to Guang Yang Primary School for the competition.

I could post the happenings of every single minute of the competition, but it would mostly just be "We stared into blank space", so to cut a long story short,

Footdrill: We got champions, and I was surprised, considering my timing was worse off than b3n ch3n during St Johns Day. Even my shoe was falling off

First Aid: We forgot how to tie an armsling, 'nuff said.

TOC: The route was relatively short and of normal difficulty.

All in all, I liked the judges this year. Almost all of them were exceptionally friendly, nice and encouraging, removing much of the dread present in these competitions. I would also like to say I am proud of the Ambulance Cadet team for doing well in their first national competition.

But a fact's a fact, my team is going to top nationals next year.

Tired

2008-07-05T00:04:00.000+08:00

Another week has come and gone, and so marks the beginning of the Model United Nations.

Representing Serbia for this week, I was initially excited over the whole prospect of a political activity taking place in our school. The briefing was very impressive, with important protocols and information about the United Nations being provided. In fact I was looking very much forward to the rest of the week, until the period of resolution making started.

A massive orgy of chaos erupted as "delegates" ran across the room, everything a mess, which slightly shocked me due to the fact that the teachers had placed so much emphasis on a high standard of discipline during the introductory talks. However the part which irked me the most was the very fact that Kosovo was inside the United Nations, as well as the Security Council, whilst Serbia was not.

If you had no idea what I just said, there is always wikipedia. I highly recommend reading about the Serbia - Kosovo issue as it provides very unique points of views for us to consider. What stood out most for me was the very fact that Serbia had no particular reason for wanting Kosovo back, just a vague series of nationalism and greed propelled them to engage in a tirade of arguments within the international community.

It's late and I'm tired. The next update would be less serious, I promise.

Revival

2008-07-01T19:52:00.000+08:00

6 months have come and gone, and I am mildly surprised that this blog still exists. 2008 has been a fairly eventful year so far, and several events have affected my mindset about life.

First and foremost, the St Johns Ambulance Brigade Zone 4 First Aid and Footdrill competition 2008. The details are etched somewhere in my unconscious memory, and I shall do my best not to bore with the nitty gritty details of it all.

In essence, my team lost. To our junior team.

When the results were released, my mind screamed in agony. A whirlwind of emotion flooded through me. A part of me wanted to be glad that the results were this way, to cheer silently in my heart for them, yet seeing my team mates break down into tears, something painful welled up inside of me.

Yet this has long passed, and I am glad that they have won. After all, there is always next year to try again. Just 2 weeks away from the National Competition has made me think over this issue time and time again, and hopefully our juniors would make us proud, to fly the flag of ACS high in the ranks of St Johns Ambulance Brigade.

More importantly, I recently had the privilege of attending a costly course known as Mindchamps. 9 weekends I returned faithfully to the meeting place, each week growing and growing, learning more controversial techniques which aided learning. However, despite the practical benefits of this, the most empowering thing of the entire course was the 2 day "Empower U" course.

The course came as a package, and so I went for it on a Friday evening, joining my sister who had won a scholarship to re attend it free of charge. I was very skeptical at first, with some Australian man bursting up on stage, talking about how this could change your life.

I feel that posting the contents of the entire course would do it no justice, but I have to say, it did change me in so many ways. The parting message the most powerful I have ever heard.

....

Imagine if all the people in the world could look strangers in the eye and say "I love you" from the bottom of their hearts, and the other party accepting and reciprocating this action. Even better, a world where hugs were common place. The world would be a much better place, and from then on I knew that the course was just part of a greater crusade by the instructor of the course, Mr Brent Williams, to change the world into a more positive state.

So it is here I appeal to you, spread the love. Give 30 hugs a day to different people, and notice how everything seems much more happier.

I look forward to learning of your own experience in Mindchamps should you choose to join it.

New Year

2008-01-03T21:57:00.000+08:00

So 2007 has come and gone, yet my heart still longs for it. School has started again, and like every other sane student in Singapore, I have mixed feelings about it.

The most obvious emotiong would be DREAD.

Clearly, school would mean less freedom, and more things to absorb. Less time to yourself, the works.

And next would be NOSTALGIA

I have no idea if I am using it in the right context, but I miss my 2.11 classmates awfully much. The only thing that dragged me to school last year with at least half a smile on my face were my classmates, and now without most of them, the memories of 2007 keep replaying in my mind

Finally, there is FEAR

Fear of my new classmates, new teachers, new subjects, new timetables, and everything else. I don't readily adapt well, and this year would be harder, with me still clinging on with dear life to my memories of 2007.

Not to mention March Camp and the Zone Competition coming up.

School has been alright so far, I am a peer support leader, so I just lead secondary 1 students around their activity camp, effectively allowing me to relax slightly for at least 4 days, although I do have to stay back much later. Quite a few changes have been made, with two new stalls being set up in the SAC, and also the renovation of the old block toilets. Not to mention getting used to being secondary 3, the longer timetables, and having all the other seniors wear long pants. As for the nostalgia thing, I am not holding up well. I keep poking around to find 2.11ers, and yet I still long to walk into the class to see all of them there. I don't think I will survive first term without breaking down once.

So good luck with your new school year everyone. Peace out

Cosplay

2007-12-17T01:06:00.000+08:00

I know, I know, I haven't posted in an extremely long time. So many things have passed since the last post, EoY's exams came and went and somehow I managed to scrape through with average marks. I was posted to 3.10 Nehemiah for year 2008, and I will surely miss 2.11 Asher 2007. I admit, this class was the best class ever, and I love all you guys!

I shifted to my new home at Lakeshore, and I am loving it. Come by sometime.

Anyway, the main point of this post out of the blue is about a really big event that I went to, a cosplaying event at Singapore Expo. I went as Optimus Prime whilst Jon went as some cat ninja man. I thought my costume was good before arriving, but then I saw the quality of some of the costumes there and was properly ashamed. Since we were here with costumes, we decided to go in anyway, and I liked it. I was surprised that anyone even wanted a picture with me, but a good number did. My camera still needs reviving so I can't post any good pictures I took of others nor myself, so I am shamelessly taking a picture from the sgcafe forums and posting it here. This picture is definitely not flattering as I had just changed and was barely ready, but oh well, at least it's something. Here you go, I will post more soon.

National Competition

2007-07-10T21:27:00.000+08:00

A lot has happened since last time. The Sinma flag returning ceremony is over, St John's Day has passed, IP symposium has come and gone, and the National First Aid and Home Nursing Competition has concluded.

The Sinma flag ceremony first. Basically, we went through a short ceremony to return the Singapore flag to Proffesor Lau, and then a couple of us went to Hao Kiets house to play some sports, which made us all sweaty. This was the day Sinma 2007 was officialy dissolved.

Next is SJAB day. We had I believe 6 tedious trainings to prepare for this, but I screwed up on the actual day, because I was timer :( My marching timing was off, and I think I tried to shout so loud that I squeeked. But at least the teachers didn't eat all the food at the banquet this time, so we got to delight our tastebuds with a amazing variety of food.

The IP symposium started last Friday, and our theme was something along the lines of Environmental Conservation. We had a field trip, and got to see a scale model of the entire Singapore, which was extremely cool. We had a elective, mine was Song and Dance, and a flea market. For the Song and Dance, we wrote a musical about three musketeers, which was eventually selected for presentation, which was really cool. I quote Joon Kiat "Ow my face." That was PURE GOLD! The flea market was a failure, because our class earned half the amount the rest earned, mainly because we had so little stuff to sell. We went to go buy 50c items from the teachers stall, and sold it at ours for double the price, and because of that we managed to scrape through.

Finally, the National COmpetition. I will never forget this date, 8-7-07, the first time I observed the National Competition. I made a flag, mini-flags and goggles to support our school on that day, and I met many Sinma people there too, even the officers. I didn't take part because my team got second place in the Zone Competition, where Trevor's took first, so his team represented our school this year. I disrupted their case accidently, when I lifted my flag too high and the fan hit it, and there was a loud noise. I got a mouthful from some officers in the area. In the end, we got 8th place for the Cadet category, bringing in a best in Footdrill, and second place for the Adult category. We did well overall as a school, and I am very proud to call myself part of the ACS SJAB Family. We celebrated at Edwards house, and he even cooked for us, which was superb.

My that was quite a chunk don't you think? My birthdays coming this Saturday, so until then, see you!

Singma PARTY WHOOO!

2007-06-22T23:02:00.000+08:00

Hola Amigos and Amigas,

It has been a week since Singma was over, and the school term is once against peering round the corner. What do you do in the last week of the holidays? GO WILD! And then do all your homework and regret why you didn't do it earlier, thats what!

All the Singma people were supposed to go for a BBQ party at Dr Dennis Ngiam's house on Tuesday, but a couple of us decided to meet earlier and go bowling. I decided to dress up on that day, but could not think of what character to dress up as. Then Eugene said the attire was the orange Singma shirt, and then I got an idea, to dress up as Puss! In boots! So I bought a cowboy hat and folded it accordingly and bought a cane and did some work on it, so it looked like a rapier. Conviniently, I could use these things as props for my History project too, so it was a win-win situation!

So basically, I wore a hat out onto the streets with what looked like a rapier in my hands, and I even bowled in that. Suprisingly, barely any one stared, all the better though. We later reported at Clementi MRT to be fetched to the house, and Mr Tan came in an ambulance to fetch us there. Woohoo!

When we reached the house, we ate quite a bit, got a talk from Dr Chen, watched a nice slideshow, and played some basketball. And then some people drank wine and their face turned red, especially Cheryl and Samuel. And then after that, I just dropped into the pool, and with the help of Hao Kiet and later on the rest of the guys, we got most of the people into the pool, except for those hiding in the house.

I went home quite early that night, just after Cheryl puked. I even learnt from John later that even Vernissa puked, and I wouldn't be suprised if there was anymore puking. That nice was superfun!

The past two days have been training for SJAB day, which means hours of drill. Somehow I hurt my back because of that, and now I can't sneeze without feeling the pain. Mr Seah also gave a talk to the FAC people going for the national competition in two week's time, about how we have to be more serious. I think this song is familiar to you, and I really think the lyrics are applicable to us. Here it is, and by the way, I don't own this song in any way, please don't sue.

We Are The Champions
Written by Freddie Mercury
I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I've come through

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the endWe are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruiseI consider it a challenge before
The whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fightingTill the end
We are the championsWe are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions

Adios Amigos!
¿Dónde está el baño?

Singma

2007-06-12T11:53:00.000+08:00

At last, I am finally back in Singapore. Why was I overseas in Malaysia you ask? Well it was for the 26th Singapore Malaysia First Aid and Home Nursing competition! I have been training with my team for quite awhile as their number five for quite a long time, and all the trainings culmilated into this event, where we pitted ourselves against the best that Malaysia had. Just in case you are not familiar with the competition numberings, a Number 5 is the reserve.

We were defeated by the Malaysian team, which came from Johore. They have been together for four years and went through 4 competitions together already, while we haven't been into any competition together before, being from different schools. Eugene and Samuel are from Hwa Chong, while Hao Kiet and Chong Bin are from Peirce. Well, at least we put up a good fight. In the end, Singapore took home 2 trophies out of a possible 4, all thanks to the Nursing Cadet and Nursing Adult teams, wheras the Ambulance cadet and adults lost to the Malaysians. No sweat though, in 2009, I will come back to compete again, and then we will take all four!

After the competition, we had a mini party at Dr Ngiam's room, and then followed by another in Hao Kiet's. We had a tonne of soft drinks to finish, and ended up playing the drinking game throughout the night. It was heck load of fun, and we managed to finish everything, although forgoing the entire night of sleep. We had lots of fun in Malaysia, and we all bonded together in a relatively short period of time. Till next time!

Its over

2007-05-28T19:16:00.000+08:00

Long time no see everyone!

The exams have been over for quite awhile now, and today is the first day of the holiday! Many things have happened since then and now, such as my escapedes as the New Goblin from Spiderman 3! After the last exam on Friday, I went to watch spiderman 3 again with my friends, except this time dressed as the New Goblin! It was really fun, and it greatly improved the movie experience.

Recently, we've been training for the St Johns Day Parade after the holidays, and its kinda tiring.

And today was our IvP(innovation Programme) seminar, where we had a presentation of our products. My group's is something called a D-lock, which allows you to change worn out soles for new ones quickly and easily. Later, we had our audition for the IvP skit presentation, something which our group had been rehearsing for quite awhile now. Drawing inspiration from the Spidey movie, we made a spoof of it, called Spiderman 3.14. Turned out that we were the only group with costumes, and hopefully we get selected for it, and then we won't have to make those lousy posters. Bleugh.

T-T-F-N

Spiderman 3

2007-05-01T18:49:00.000+08:00

Hi all!

I got to watch Spiderman 3 today, on the day it came out, at cineleisure no less! The movie was exciting, and had 3 villains in all! A tad long though, 2 hours plus, but still fantastic. It departed from the comic book storyline slightly as far as I know, and a plus point to this movie was that it showed us the emotions and duress the villains were going through, not only Spidey. Also there was a nice twist to the story near the end, but revealing it would be just plain mean for anyone still waiting to watch the movie, so watch it yourself.

I rate this move 9/10
Mushiness Factor 2
Tear jerking factor 8

Enjoy the movie!

Halfway through

2007-04-30T18:38:00.000+08:00

Hi there! No posts in a long time because of preperation for midyear exams. Several things have happened from then till now.

The total collections we recieved for SJAB flag day, is over 8k! WOOHOO! We got the highest collection in Singapore, and as a result we got 2 hours plus off SJAB parade the other day. And that parade was super fun too! I got to judge CPR for sec 3's and it was way fun!

Wish me luck for midyears!

SJAB

2007-04-11T21:09:00.000+08:00

Nothing interesting has happened in the past few days, so there is nothing to post. So I decided, "Hmm, since I talk so much about St Johns, why not talk about it more in detail!"

How do I feel about St John? Truthfully, I find it extremelly fun and exciting, and I actually look forward to Fridays every week, not only because the weekends are just around the corner, but because of SJAB! It is the truth. Hard to believe, but it is true.

How did SJAB affect my life? AS you can tell from my blog posts, SJAB is one of the main things in my life. It is extremelly important to me, and I love it so much. It even affected me so much that when I watch Chinese drama I think about SJAB. Why is this so? Because Chinese drama always has characters coughing out blood, no matter the injury. I remember once the guy got hit in the knee, and he coughed out blood and died. I even find enjoyment in answering first aid questions on Yahoo Answers! This year's Commonwealth Essay I wrote was centered around First Aid too!

Now you know how much SJAB has affected my life. I really can't imagine living without having SJAB to look forward to on Fridays during the long and tedious school days. Perhaps now you think of me as weird, but that was established long ago wasn't it?

March On

2007-04-04T19:39:00.000+08:00

1st March, 2007. A normal day in everywhere else, except ACS. Thats right, Founders Day was today. I was supposed to march together with the other SJAB cadets, and also alongside all other UYO's. This year's guard of honour was the NCC Land, Sea and Air units. Oh I do hope so much that I will be in school long enough to watch SJAB take the post as GOH. Anyway, we had many tiring trainings before hand if you have read my earlier posts, and it all culminated to today.

Everything was done perfectly, and eveyone was so glad when it was over. Hurray!

Ok, that was the first thing I have been wanting to post. Hmm, next up is the March Camp!

Because we did not have any FAC stayovers, the seniors decided that FAC members would have the stayover 1 day before the camp! We reached school at noon, ate some food, and then started training. Later, Sir Edward came down and thought us more medical stuff, like how to approach a concious casualty. After that, we all went to Clementi by bus, and walked through the place, looking for an open basketball court. The first one had a bunch of people who were just sitting at the sides playing guitar. When John B asked if we could use the court, I believe they asked if they could play. Not wanting to spoil the FAC soccer game, he refused, and the dudes started doing things like drunkards. We left and by a stroke of luck, we found an empty court! We played like crazy, but I didn't do much. Why I did that, I do not know why. Maybe it was lethargy, or conserving energy for the camp, I'm not sure which. After a hearty dinner, we went back to school and we did fun stuff in the room, like playing fun games (Polar Bear), although we did not get to watch the Land Before Time as planned. After a fun day, we went to sleep, preparing for the March Camp.

We woke up early and assembled downstairs. I carried the bunk flag, which had a ridiculously long, thanks to me. My I was in faction 4, Tango. We had the most FAC members of all the factions, our IC Trevor was one, AIC Nick Ngiam another, myself, Christopher and Niraj. Woot. I can't remember the bulk of what we did during the camp, so I shall just highlight the important bits.

Early in the day, we got to teach sec 1's drill! I had four of em, including Matthias, which I shall describe in greater detail afterwords. We had an "Amazing Race" on the first night, which meant we had to go around in groups doing things at stations, such as cheering, eating wasabi, rolling in mud, and guessing riddles. It was both mentally and physically tiring. And everyone just fell asleep in our two bunks. Except me and Nick Ngiam, we were on the first shift of sentry. The first night passed without much incident, except the NPCC dudes playing a prank on all of us. They basically screamed fire, and someone thought they weren't joking, and we all lost a half hour of sleep.

The second day was the worst of all three. We started off in the morning with PT, and at the end we attempted to do a very long dragon push-up. We didn't do it. Afetr that, AC2 got to teach sec 2's TOC, and it was really fun. After that, John Ang thought us alot of technical stuff for Cardio-related diseases, for example, Ventricular Fibrillation. We had a Nightingale afterwards, where we did a mass triage, a extremely long case, and a drill test. At night, we had Stand By Bunk, which meant that seniors would check our room for dust and we would have to pump for any found. It isn't fun, I assure you of that. We had 4 groupd of seniors coming in, each with a bunch of pumpings for us. The last group was with John Ang and John B, and that was quick a nice one. After the pumpings, we sang "If we hold on Together", and then took turns talking about our thoughts about the camp. In the end, we did around a thousand push-ups, and saying 2000 wouldn't be pushing it too far. Nick Ngiam and I took the first shift again, and I could hardly keep awake. We had another shift later at night, and just when shift ended and I had managed to fall into a light sleep, FIREDRILL! Oh my pong! BAD BAD TIMING. In the end, Nick Ngiam and I got very little sleep.

The last day was the most funnerest. War games were scheduled in the morning, and we had to throw water bombs at the other team's flag person to win if you were the offensive team, or to defend the flag person as long as possible. I was the flag bearer for our faction. We got lucky as we had some kind of gel at the bottom of our bucket given to us to fill our water bombs. It made the water a nice pinkish hue, which would definately scare the pants off some people. Our first match was an offensive one, so I just had to stand and watch. We losed because all of them died out there. Second match was a defensive one, so I had to be prepared to dodge. I had watched previous matches where the flagbearers stood defenseless to attacks. One was so vunerable that before the finishing blow was dealt, he paused so a picture could be taken. Here it is:

Ehehe. It was a hilarious moment. So I decided to learn from experience, so I grabbed a water bomb whilst waiting for a fool to come over and smack me with another. One had managed to sneak past, so I smacked him with the bomb. I got another one, but this time they came in twos. I hit another, but got slammed in the stomach by the second guy. Then Vasu comes along, not knowing they won already, and throws one at me, smack center at my balls. Ouch. By the way, this is me with the flag:

The seniors tricked us afterwards, saying that there was going to be a second SBB. Deep down I knew they were joking, and even if they weren't, well they were doing their job, but the grumbling of the sec 1's got me kinda pissed too. Turned out that they just wanted us to clean the place, no second SBB.

So we went to the LT, and Mr Seah started giving a talk of sorts. Then it was prize-giving. Best faction? Faction 4! Best in Drill? Faction 4. Best in case? Faction 4! Best Yr 1 Cadet? I don't know! Best Year 2 cadet? BEETAT! WHEEEEEEEE! Here he is:

Best Year 3 cadet and top score for First Aid Test? Nick Ngiam! DUH!

Finally, random facts I forgot to put in!

-I got 63 for the test

-Matthias is a jerk. He insults people, and complains about everything

-I don't want to go up the Clock Tower EVER.

-I lost my voice

-I lost my flag

-I lost my sanity. Wait, that never existed.

-I no longer like people who can't eat much. Because those people caused our whole faction to eat mixed up leftovers, including chicken bones! YUCK! But it was an exciting experience. I mean how often do you get to eat garbage?

I know this post has been extremely long, but I shall press on! Last event! FLAG DAY!

We went around with tin cans and stickers, trying to collect money. I went with Andrew Lim's group to City Hall, and had to walk around a whole lot. We walked from Raffles City to Suntec, back, Capital Building and then the Singapore River. Man, Singapore people are STINGY! But at least it thought me to be more generous. I've been donating quite a bit each day to the charity going on in school these days.

Well thats it!

LONG LIVE FAC AND SJAB!

Final FACtasy

2007-04-02T19:33:00.000+08:00

Hello readers!

2 Saturdays ago, 24th of March was the date of the Zone 4 First Aid Competition. Today was at last the day where AC2 of 2007's fate was decided. We headed to Paya Leba Methodist Girls School, the venue where the competition was to be held. After a uniform check, we were sent to the waiting room, and our whole team was nervous and jittery, this being our first time participating. Even worse, our team number 5 Andrew was made a steward, and our team lost a moral backing.

Our team in the competition was called AC1, and when the marshal called for us to go for long case after waiting for a long time, my heart jumped, just like during March Camp, when a senior came in for SBB, but thats a different story.

We walked to the location of the long case, and the case history was provided to us. It was a road traffic accident, and the guy was eating ROTI PRATA! Oh my goodness! For so long during trainings I had pretended to be the prata man during cases, pouring hot curry to burn the casualty, and stuffing them with prata to revive their pulse. The irony!

When we entered the room, there were two casualties, one male and one female. I followed Nick Ngiam to the male casualty and I started checking for vital signs. When I had confirmed that the casualty had weak vital signs, Niranjan called for me to do CPR on the female casualty. I went to her, and checked her vital signs, none that I could feel. I checked for neck injuries, and quickly rushed over to the dummy, carrying out CPR. It was tough, because my gloves were oversized. But the vital signs were soon restored. I called out to Niranjan if he had done the body check, and he said he did the upper body. I checked the lower body, finding no injuries and later left to help Nick Ngiam with the male casualty. At the end of the case, we were briefed on our mistakes and asked several questions, which Nick Ngiam breezed through. Later I found out from Niranjan that he did not check the female casualty's chest, but I guess thats understandable.

We waited in the room for quite a long time again before being called for footdrill. Once again, we headed down to the parade grounds, and stood at the side, preparing ourselves both mentally and physically. When the judge (Mr Fehdaouz or however it is spelt) called us to start, Nick Ngiam stamped, and shouted out "Sekuad, SEDIAH!". Our first stamp was not good, and perfect bangs were rare throughout the things, but we covered it by tensing ourselves, and following the armswings of other team mates. I timed as loud as I could, hoping that is might cover some bad stamps. After we completed our sequence, the judge called forward to tell us our mistakes. He said Nick Ngiam was howling, and I still don't get what he meant by that. I can' remember what he told Niranjan, but he told Beetat not to bend his wrists while marching. He didn't tell me anything, and I can't tell if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe he just missed me out.

Short case seemed easy at first, but we made a tonne of mistakes. There was only one casualty and he obviously had a penetrating chest wound. We merely covered the wound with a bandage without removing the shirt, something we did not practice in FAC trianings. I later found out that the casulaty had diabetes, and totally missed that. And the judge pissed me off, I asked for pulse rate and he thought for like 3 seconds before I repeated, and he checked with the other judge, and just said "Err.. got pulse... got pulse" Argh. Maybe if he told me the pulse rate, then Nick Ngiam would set his humoungous mind thinking and recall it as a sign of the casualty having diabetes. ARGH.

Finally, it was time for the last component, Transport of Casualty. I personally hoped that the casualty was light, and when the judge came over, he told us of the obstacles. One short wall, a tunnel, and a narrow path. Nick Ngiam told us to go for speed instead of stability and safety. And we did. The casualty was around John Yu's weight, and we grew quite complacent. We placed the ground sheet under him wrongly and rushed through the obstacles, which were easy compared to the ones back in trainings. We neglected safety, always forgetting to check stability of obstacles and going legs first instead of heads first. But at least we got a fantastic timing, which actually didn't count for much as the judge was more of a safety guy.

In the end, we all went to the air conditioned hall, and waited for our results. John Ang's team smacked the competition away in the Ambulance Adult Category. Just moments before the release of the AC results, I was hoping deep in my heart that through some form of miracles we would get first place, despite knowing that Trevor's team would most probably win. In the end, Trevors team did win, our team losing to them by minimal points for all categories except for short case.

You may be wondering why I post this so late, more than one week after the event. This is because this is very important to me, and I needed to sort out my thoughts, whether I was glad or dissapointed. I can tell you that I am glad that we did better than expected, but unhappy that our team will have to break up, after going through so much together, whether it was doing the iFAC TOC route non-stop, or struggling for answers together during a case.

After the competition, we went to Sir Edward's house, which was huge. We ate 8 pizzas. As I mentioned, I have many other things to talk about, like March Camp and Flag Dat, but I wish to reserve a whole post for FAC itself, for its impact on my life is possibly one of the greatest.

Before FAC

2007-03-23T21:43:00.000+08:00

The day before the First Aid Competition. It all may end tommorow. Our team of five, Nick Ngiam, Niranjan, Beetat, Andrew and myself will disperse. Our fate is decided tommorow. Win, and we continue to the nationals. Lose, and thats the end of the road for AC2 2007. I know I have not posted in a long time, and I have many things to say. But for now, I am in no mood to do so. Wish me luck for tommorow.

Now. Victory. Us.

Congestive Cardiac Failure

2007-02-05T17:08:00.000+08:00

Greetings roti prata.

Ok, that was a stupid starting, even for this blog. I know I haven't been posting regularly, mainly because the exams are around now and the FA Zone Competition is very very close. The last SJAB non-FAC training sucked, because all the UYO's had to train for marching on Founder's Day, and we wasted alot of time waiting for other contingents to get ready, and we were tired at the end. But, that wasn't the end, because Mr Seah thought our whole contingent marched horribly, so we had to do a half hour more of drill. To tell the truth, I couldn't hear half the commands, I blame the band.

The next day, we had FAC trainings, and Sir Edward came down to teach us advanced medical stuff. I didn't understand half of what he was saying. Later, we had to locate the pulses on a partner, and the first few were okay, but then we had to look for the femoral pulse, which is located on your inner thighs, very close to the *ahem*. The whole process what quite sick and I shall not delve into the details.

I just completed my Chinese common test. Hurrah! Oh, and before I forget, there were a bunch of *censored* in the canteen today. Basically, I was queing for prata, and when I reached real close to ordering, some *censored* came and shove his way in. Ervin, who was standing in front of me, basically asked him to scram, and that jerk, together with his tall Year 4 friends laughed at him and called him a "emo whiner", and when I asked them to scram, they called me a fat *censored*, which is quite through, except you don't have to spell it out. However, the stall owner even let the guy order, and thus I was stuck at the same spot for more than 10 minutes, because other people started cutting too. I bet those imbeciles fail their Chinese and skip UYO, what a bunch of indisciplined pieces of rat feces. Gah, I'm pissed.

Bye

Long

2007-01-31T20:58:00.000+08:00

It has indeed beena long time since I posted, due to my hectic schedule. I have CCA's from Monday to Saturday, excluding Tuesday. Thursday is for Health and Fitness Club, and the rest are for St Johns FAC trainings.

The FA competition is drawing closer and closer. Our team has been struggling to improve, hoping to finally win. However, Andrew has switched to Number 5 and Niranjan to 3, due to Andrew's playful nature. However, this could be quite risky as Niranjan hasn' t timed before for drill. I really hope we can win this.

I forgot to mention that Taiwanese students came to our class for 2 days not long ago, and Andre has just recieved a love letter from one of them, and we all laughed, because the contents were read out in class, in the presence of a teacher too.

Thats all for now.

Malacca

2007-01-18T18:52:00.000+08:00

Hi guys! I have just arrived back in Singapore from my OEP trip to Malaaca. Heres a summary of what I did there.

Day 1:
We went left Singapore quite early in the morning, headed for the Muar Agro-Tourism Park. We stopped by Yong Peng for a rest stop and finally reached the place after hours of travelling. The place had a few water features, namely a lake and some small pools, filled with coffee brown water and grey coloured mud. We swam in it, kayaked in it, and even built split our class in two to build a raft. My group called our raft SS Dave Tay, using Hann Lam's T-shirt as a flag. WE went further and the raft survived the whole time, beating the other group's raft easily. Later, we checked into Jalan Puteri Resort, and I shared room 215 with Hann Lam.

Day 2:
We woke up at around 6.30 today, and had to go down by 7.15. Those who were late were punished by doing push ups, something normally not done in school, excluding UYO. We visited a Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum, where I started feeling unwell, which turned out to be a fever. I ate Panadol and felt better, despite maintaining a temperature. We got to do Batik Art later on and went to Jonker Street at night, searching for items to purchase. I bought a buzzer in the shape of a lighter, which sent a shock up your arm went you pressed it. We went to play cards at Darren's room.

Day 3:
Today we went on a treasure hunt, and we were lucky to have Hann Lam in our group, because he was a Malaysian. We later went to Salvation Army to do CIP, where we were scolded by a teacher because he forgot to tell us what to do. We ended up tearing off plants from the fence. Later on we went to a shopping center and walked around abit, playing hide of seek with Joshua Goh, Bryan M (cough stick-up-arse cough) and Bryan Wee. Ahaha, Yeehai and Titoni.

Day 4:
A Peranakan Chef acting in a sitcom came today and gave us a speech and demonstration on how to cook Peranakan Food. We got scolded by our class teacher today because she taught we broke a handle and a curtain thingy which was quite impossible, and had to clean the bus. We went to Mahkota to buy ingridients for the cooking contest later on. I wanted to do the chicken pong teh recipe my auntie gave me yesterday, but since I have no say in anything, we ended up cooking a weird shrimp dish. Once again, we played cards at another persons room, like every other day.

Day 5:
Last day, I felt quite sad leaving the hotel, because now if we want to play cards, we have to travel a long distance to play. I will miss punishment poker and taiti. We went D'Paradise and saw a few ostrich and deer, and many other plants. Well, at least we got home.

Leon has got me interested in Guildwars, and I can't wait to purchase one. I even created a build for the game. I also wish I could buy 4 Panglacial Wurms, 2 Journeyors Kites and 4 Orochi Hatchery from Roxy Square. Till next time.

Oompa Loompas and the sort

2007-01-08T19:20:00.000+08:00

It's blogging time!

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I had been elected to become the vice-chairman for 2.11 Asher. The best part of being a vice-chairman is that you do very little work, because teachers would rather say chairman, rather than chairman with a vice in front. :)

Good news too. I have finished the ENTIRE first comic strip for my webcomic, including words, touch ups, and the title. I have finally decided to call the comic Guineamon, like everything else I do.

My cousin arrived some 3 days ago to tour shop in Singapore, along with his friend. On the third day here, which was a Sunday, we went together to Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice stall, a stall my family patronises at least once a week. The food there is superb, and is quite affordable. For those who do not know where this amazing stall is, it's just opposite Tiong Bahru Market.

If you do go there, I suggest you go in the morning. A dish I highly suggest you try would be their pork chop, thinly coated in bread crumbs. Ask for sweet and sour sauce to dip the meat in, and you will understand why this place is so famous. As for rice, pour curry and black sauce over till it is semi wet, mix it up, and taste the rich flavour of the curry, which takes three days just to make.

Some other dishes that are good would be their cabbage, fishcake, and prawns. Try out their other dishes too.

I just completed Electroman II, and feeling really happy now. But, just thinking of the Height and Weight measurement tommorow makes me feel kinda down. I shall go and do last minute excersises now, bye!

Happy New Year to yeh

2007-01-04T17:18:00.000+08:00

Greetings faithful readers. Once again, I do notice that I haven't posted in quite a long time, even though I have lots of stuff to say. Right now, it is the second day of school, and I am missing the holiday period really badly. Well, here are some of the things I did and experienced between then and now.

During one of the FAC trainings, we found a dead bird rotting at the door of the St Johns room, making the room stink to the high heavens. The bird had probably came in through the many holes in the roof to take cover from the heavy rains Singapore has been experiencing these past few weeks. Up till now, there is still a blackish stain where the bird was.

During the last few days of the holidays, Jon Tan invited me and my sister to go out. We headed for Parkway Parade first to play at Time Zone, which replaced Ezone if I'm correct. Following that, we crossed over to Roxy because Jon wanted to buy cards for his new deck, spending over thirty dollars on it. However, I beat him with my brand new Black orochi deck, something I had not done since Primary Six, where my healing spirit deck manage to outlive his blue control deck. I have to mention something quite intriguing at this point, I came up with the idea of a black orochi deck from a dream I had, interesting isn't it?

Later, we travelled to Tampines Mall, where we were supposed to watch a movie. However, my father had asked us to get back home by 6, so we played the Sangokushi Taisen game at Century Square instead, the game I had introduced to Jon. I forgot to mention in my earlier posts, but I was actually the first person to play that series of games at Century Square, because I had waited over 2 hours for it, the time I went out with Mr XYZ.

Jon has now been addicted to the game and has surpassed me both in card rarity, quantity, game knowledge, and rank. I personally feel that the game is kind of costly, but if you play correctly, the fun can last for quite a long time.

As you know, we have just entered the new year, leaving 2006 in the past. On New Years Eve, my family went to Marina Square at around 3, sitting in Long Johns Silver for hours. Not much of a problem to me, for I read finish most of my holiday book assignments there, and also drew some pictures on my Tablet PC. Later, my father booked a seat at a Japanese dessert house for the viewing of the fireworks. It was quite costly, but we got prime seats to watch the fireworks, despite the food being quite bad. However, the rain dampened our spirits for we were seating in the open. We quickly finished our food and braved the rain to watch the fireworks.

Also, I have been quite interested in Dungeons and Dragons after reading so many Order of the Stick comics, but I don't really know how to play, and I found out the items needed to play are quite costly.

Recently, I have been honoured by being appointed as I/C 2 for First Aid for the Melacca trip soon to come. I have a sense that this would be really exciting and a chance to help my friends.

Finally, an announcment to make. My first webcomic is complete, however it does lack words, because I am unsure of what font to use. Even if I do know what font to use, I will not be releasing it till a later time, when I have finished at least 6 comics, to make it more interesting. So look forward to my webcomic in the future.

Till next time!

Hit my head why don't you

2006-12-26T14:13:00.000+08:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted for so long, because I was too lazy to do it :)

Hmm, firstly, I went to NUS to see a concert my sister was in. I met Chong Jiat's parents there, and my sister danced good. She got to keep her costume except for the hat(which I liked) and the wrist band.

The next day was her birthday, and we went to Tampines to watch Eragon with Mr XYZ. He was telling us about what happened later on in the story during ther movie, so I silenced him. First I slit his throat, got rid of the bo... I mean I asked him to keep quiet. Yes, I didn't kill him, not at all. Later we went to the arcade at Century Square and I saw them installing in Sangokushi Taisen machines. I had always wanted to try the game because it seemed really fun. By moving cards on this surface, soldiers will move accordingly in the game. But to play a game, we had to wait for 2 hours, and Mr XYZ was complaining. In the end, I bought a starter pack and played a game, all in all, it costed 15 dollars. My melee units were crap, but my archers can own anything. I have a 100 per cent win ratio.

My sister later found out she was posted to Chung Cheng High School Main (or CCHSM as my sister made VERY clear). She said she hates the school, so she applied for transfer to Crescent Girls, no results so far.

Then when we went for the school registration thing, I saw SOME people, namely a prefect dude from Tao Nan, an infernal spawn of a mushmum, and some snot-nosed rat person. For those who don't know what I am saying, just ask.

I just built finish a Gundam.

I almost forgot to mention, on the opening day of the Courts Megamall, my family went there and found out you had to queue to enter the building. We found that incredibly stupid, so we went to Ikea and they gave us free water and a plushie. We went to Courts later on when the crowd died down and I personally feel that there is nothing special about it, just a really big stall.

School's gonna reopen, but I haven't done something yet.

Journey to tha North

2006-12-14T16:12:00.000+08:00

Hello peops. I didnt post for so long because I was in Malacca to walk around and eat and eat and eat. We were there for three days and we stayed at my aunt's house. We met her dog called Benji, and he was really cute and smart. He likes corn flakes.

We ate alot of food there, the same food we eat whenever my family goes down to Malacca. Taiwan Mee, chicken rice BALLS, satay chelup(I don't know how to spell this weird thinggy), charsiew rice and lots of other junk. I found out that the guy who sells the taiwan mee wanted to start up his stall in Singapore, because he studied at Chung Cheng High, somewhere near my house. He had a reason but I forgot about it.

I will be going to Malacca again with my class next January, and we will probably go to all the same places I have been to. Bah, I bet I know where stalls that sell the best food are better than the tour guide person.

Oh, I also got a wheel from Mahkota. Im gonna use it and build a perpetual motion machine, that is if I can get my hands on the other materials and I don't get bored halfway through.

If you guys read my cbox right over there >>>>>> you would notice that I mentioned the 360. Guess what, I got the Xbox 360, hurrah! I started playing DOA4 straight away after the machine got plugged in, and now I have finished the game, or I would have if the cinematic for Helena didn't jam at the same part over and over again, so I gave up trying. Viva Pinata was kinda fun, especially when you whack the NPC's with a shovel.

This be the third time I'm mentioning my planned webcomic, if you have read my earlier posts. Somehow I lack the determination to do it, but I will try. Hopefully my webcomic will be as successful as the Order of the Stick and Ctrl+Alt+Del webcomics. I love those comics!

Thog believe thog can fly.

Did he say the "f" word?

2006-12-07T18:30:00.000+08:00

Hi people!

I watched Open Season two days back and it was kinda nice. I liked their improvised fighting scenes, albeit short a little. The most memorable line(s) from the movie are the ones below:

Boog: " We're gonna fight for it!"
Porcupine person: "Ded he say the f word?"

That was really hilarious.

We just finished our last FAC training for now, and during TOC, I fell and injured my knee, AGAIN. It made my previous wound worse and it bled for quite a long time. Since then, all I have been doing is basically slacking, and I am really bored.

Nothing much to write now, but I decided to put down all the games I have completed not long ago, just for fun and bragging purposes. XP

PSP Games:

-Popolocrois(thrice)
-Legend of Heroes II
-Dungeon Siege Throne of Agony(2 normal mode) (Once elite mode)

Warcraft III Custom Games:

-Green TD (3 versions)
-Day of the Cow TD
-Element TD

A few more I can't remember....

Till something interesting happens, bye.

Crap

2006-12-02T21:22:00.000+08:00

Wassup soul brothers (and sisters)! Hehe, that was random. Well, the results are in, and they are quite dissapointing. For the internal first aid competition, AC2(my team) lost to Team 1 overall, due to our poor first aid performance. However, we got first for drill and TOC, which was really suprising. I got ti command for the drill, and I believed we could have done better if not for the errors on my part. I forgot to hentah kakih and report the second time, so we probably lost quite some marks because of that. For everything, we got a bag of Mars, Twisties and Cheezels, which my team shared. Jing Teng got the highest individual points, and John Ang told me I lost to him by 0.1 marks:) So i guess my team will have to brush up on our first aid now. Oh, and remember I said I fell? Now I my knees hurt really badly when you touch it.

And I played Bnet with Lester, Nicholas Tan, Andrew Tan and Trevor. I typed that I was Ben_Tan, and said "diam", and Andrew screen shot it. Even worse, I suggested playing Poke the Angry Andrew, so I am gonna die really painfully on Monday. Hurrah!

I forgot to mention, but my auntie and cousin came down to Singapore from Malaysia a few days back. they are staying at our house instead of a hotel, just like my family does when we go over to Malaysia.

Thats all for now!