lolz, jus realised that I've not blogged a lot about the holidays and am certainly not doing justice to the events that took place. The last I blogged was on my birthdae chalet which was 1 month ago, so here goes dec....
In the midst of the holidays, I started watching the replay of MVP valentine on Channel U every morning at 11am. Little did I know that it was a additive depressant.....the more u watch, the more depressed u get. lol, but i finally broke out of that, would cover it later. Would now share the little reflections I had while watching the show. Here goes.......
在球场，rejection 是被盖火锅，是一个球员的成功，另一个球员的失败。
在情场，rejection 是无限的打击，是一个人的狠心，另一个人的痛心。
但就如强强所说，“打球本来就是一件很快乐的事“，爱情也一样。
既使知道上篮会被盖，会成为失败者，但为了上篮那一刻自由飞翔的感觉，不顾一切，相信只要不断的尝试，就会有成功的那一天。爱情也如此。情场如球场，都是我们寻找幸福快乐的地方。。。
2B chalet
hmm........I guess thts all for the reflection part...moving on we have the "2B class chalet", termed as such as most ppl who went were from 2B. was it 12 or 13 ppl went, i'll try to list here. Richard, yy, xl, snl, vin, deng,zj, jx, lu, don, daniel, di hong, guang how. I guess thts about it, well...forgive me if i left ur name out.....hmm....lets start from 1 day b4, went with vin to snl's house to "plan" for chalet......shan and vin jus returned from their pri sch chalets respectively....seemingly coming back worse than when they first went....lolz...we did do some planning but most of the time we just heard snl ranting off about the opposite sex's insignificance(This is a very formal way of putting it:)) Well....the next day was the chalet itself, would not go into details, jus bringing some highlights....
In the chalet room, at 8 or 9 in the night, shan, me and 2 others playing mahjong, with shan closest to the door.
*knock knock
shan runs to open the door
Outside were 2 girls who apparently got the wrong room.
*giggles
door slammed shut
"F**k off"
the giggling stopped
2 am I believe in the morning....nothing to play, when we decided on Truth or Dare, Shan insisted that we play till he gets a dare. When he finally did, he set the dare for himself. The next moment, he opens the door and shouts, "RGS ****" (censored due to senstivity reasons) (if anione from RG passes by, dun ask me why he did that, even me and vin, his friends dun knoe the reason for such a extreme prejudice) Well......lolz, thts all I can say
Other moments worth remembering include shan's great attempt at 13 yao1 and succeeding in it. If we were playing money, we would be bankrupt by now....On the last nite, we went down to the breakwaters at 10pm and sat there for an hour i believe. lolz, might not be much to others, but I've always had a special relationship with nature, totally immersed within the serenity and gentleness. Though not much was said on the breakwaters, we were jus staring out into open sea in the pitch darkness, it meant a lot to me, seemingly to confirm our bonds with each other b4 we separate to different JCs in jan. Daniel also came on the last nite, and we chatted all the way into the morning.....Somehow, in a funny way, I knoe that I'll miss 2B in the years to come ahead....
Well thts all on 2B chalet......
Next on would be Christmas....lets start on the eve...(pls note the the first half of this Christmas entry is still basically ranting, so if u do not wish to hear, join in with the spirit of Christmas in the 2nd half)
Elitism becomes a crime on Christmas eve. B4 this, Christmas was jus any other public holiday lined on the calendar with not much significance, but perhaps after this christmas, I've understood Christmas....No, it doesn't mean I converted, rather I understand why this festival is so special. Anw, back to the main point, elitism becomes the criminal of the season as I went out with cedrick, zhiyong, hengyi to city harvest church Christmas Spectaculars at the Indoor Stadium. lol, as hengyi's church friends are mostly my age, meaning jus taken O levels and jus had PAE posting. lol, so the opening line for the day was "which jc u going"....as such i shall list some of the conversations here.
Conversation 1
"which Jc u going?"
"RJ"
*astonished, mouth gaping, shocked, awed, etc. (obviously this is exaggerated)
"not my fault rite" me trying to ease the tension and laugh it off.....
"Yeah, not your fault that u are so brillant"
Ouch!
Conversation 2
Same opening as b4
"6 points?"
*nods head cautiously
"aw, then O level no need to improve already lor"
Ouch!
Lol, perhaps its my over sensitivity to words and the elitist environment I’m used to, I have a tendency to pick up on other ppl’s words, another way of putting it is putting words into ppl’s mouth in the sense that I pick up meanings of words that they did not intend. Well… that’s me… and I am not really angry at the ppl who said the above, but well… just to make a point. 6-pointers are human on earth too, elites are humans on earth too, we are not some alien geeks living on planet Z spending their whole lives immersed in knowledge and wisdom. We are not superman nor made of steel, we just need to be treated like a fellow human…lol, speaking of such, I need to apologize to ppl around me, for my words are often laced with hidden malice and sarcasm, a by-product of 4 years of elitist education… Well…enough about words, lets move on to Christmas.
So, the group of us went to Indoor Stadium at 4pm, when the event starts at 7pm, thus stoning around becomes the norm…we even had a game of Chinese chess, a pastime that was long lost after sec 2 for me. After that, we went into the stadium. The event was rather spectacular, considering the church size, a few ten thousands I think. After the event, we went down to Orchard to join in the countdown. The whole Orchard was packed to the its fullest and most of the time we spent there were spent jostling in the crowd. Though entertainment wise there wasn’t much, but well I went there for the festive spirit and that was obviously in the air. Ppl were spraying foam and partying, a joyous atmosphere was present throughout my stay. Though after the countdown, there was a squeeze for the MRT station as only 1 entrance is open, which Cedrick commented that would make headlines the next day as “Singaporeans turn ugly at the stroke of Christmas”, the whole joyous atmosphere could not be drowned down. A spectacular sight awaited us on the steps of the MRT station as we had to walk on a platform made from spray cans to get to the MRT station. Christmas started on a high note for me. Oh, this is long overdue, but still Merry Christmas everyone.
Christmas day itself was spent indoors with my relatives coming over to visit. The dinner we had was sumptuous, sushi, turkey, ribs, ham, bacon and bee hoon and fried rice. Whole day was spent on eating and more eating Was a happy person throughout Christmas this year and for some reason, Christmas seems more special this year…
BBQ again
On boxing day, day after Christmas, or day to commemorate Boxer from Animal Farm(just jk), another bbq was in line at shawn’s house. I woke up in the morning with fever and sore throat. If not for an earlier event, I believe I’d given this bbq a miss. Well…I’m glad I didn’t miss it. We went to Richard house to gather our resources first but instead of going straight to Shawn’s house, we ended up in Giant to buy sausages and marshmallows. When we finally got to shawn’s house, we were like 1.5h late. Well… the bbq affairs were rather standard, for any place with Shannon around would be havoc… haha, just jk, lol, but to speak the truth, there was a lingering nostalgia in the air, most probably due to the fact that sch was restarting soon and we would soon be separated…L
4D chalet
I dun really knoe wat to say of this coz I was there for a total of less than 5 hours. The rest of the time was spent at richard’s house and TM. After helping them check in on the first day. I went back home and intended to return at night. After much discussion, Kevin came from richard’s house and went back 5h later. Bleah… but I’ll say that Richard’s house was much better than 4D chalet. We went at 1am to a coffee shop to eat char kway tiao. Lol, may not mean much, but its all bout creating memories, and I’ll for sure remember all my friends aka the “gay gang”. The next day, we slept till afternoon, woke up for lunch and proceeded to TM to watch Kung Fu Hustle. Really cute show…I’ll say and maybe I’m biased coz of the excessive use of dong1 hai2 yu2 ge1 in the movie. Lol, I guess it looked more like a musical than a movie but it’s really cute, a must watch, if to be rated by me. There were touching scenes too, the analogous portrayal of a painful childhood love memory must be all too familiar to some ppl. Well…I’ll say that the movie is well-balanced on the whole, not too heavy nor too light for taste of all ppl. After the movie, went back for 4D bbq. Wat more could I say, my mind is a blank…then I went home… lol, 4 D chalet successfully ranks 1st on my most unenjoyable chalet…
The tsunami strikes
On boxing day morning, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the ritcher scale hit Indonesia, causing a first wave of extensive damage. When the world thought the worst was over, the tsunami waves struck, and they hit hard and mercilessly. 2 hours after the initial earthquake, the shores closest to the epicenter experienced something strange. Water started to recede at a quick speed and the waves seem to break at the horizon. When the people realized what was happening, it was all too late. Tsunami waves going up to 3 storeys high whacked straight into the coast repeatedly…
At the end of 2004, in the last 30 mins, I bring your attention to the breaking news for while we look ahead into the new year, we must not forget those who did not make it. The tsunami came at such at time, seemingly to remind us of Mother Nature’s unpredictable wrath, for 2004 seems to a rather smooth-sailing year and the difficulties were overcame. Yet, god had to remind us that complacency was a definite no-no. Yes, the tsunami hit us where it hurt most… It was a painful reminder that even when we control our own fates, we cannot control Mother Nature… To the ppl who had died in this unfortunate event, we owe you a lifetime of debt. You had to be that painful sacrifice to remind us…
New Year’s Eve
hehe, today went to shan’s house in the morning to watch MVP qing ren finale. Hmm… why do love dramas always end happily whereas real life love dramas often see more tragedies than miracles. Is it because humans are more selfish in real life, or is it that the love portrayed in love dramas unrealistic… If it is the latter, then u can say that I’m stupid, coz I’m do not believe so.ah…well…its new year’s eve, shall not dwell on such unhappy topics. Lol, today, zj treated us to Swensons, okae- half-treated, we paid half, he paid half. Then we went deng’s house to play mahjong. Then went home to have dinner and ta-da, I’m here now. Ppl, as we wave away 2004, let us not forget what a year it was… My friends, family, RI, I salute you for making my year a meaningful one. While I look forward to the new year, I would never forget this year. Hope that you ppl out there feels the same as well…..
Friday, December 31, 2004
Thursday, December 23, 2004
I guess most of u should know the ending of RICO farm(aka Animale Farm 2), if u guess handover, u're rite. If u remember handover, then u should remember the incoherent 2000 word essay I penned with many grammatical errors. Well....after reading it again, i think i wrote enough to do justice to the flurry of emotions then...So, here goes....
Letting go.....seems easier said than done....and the truth is......who can let go?.......
23072004
What a day...an ordinary day....a day just like others....yet it hold so much significance to me. I cannot deny that this day was far more meaningful than any other I had in RI, I cannot deceive myself to think that I do not care, I do not love.....This day is handover, where sec 4s officially "retire" from the orchestra, where the new tide washes us thru. It marks the end of our journey, a beginning for the next generation...... I cannot give back what RICO has given me in the past 3 years, it is too much to be returned.
Though my path in the orchestra wasn't really smooth-sailing, it was a learning process, and I was given an experience I would never forget eternally.... Yes, today the amazing journey i took would be revealed and secrets shall be told and truth shall be known Year 2001, sep-nov, i joined RICO as a sec 1 switching from Judo to Chinese Orchestra. I was in Judo for the first 3 months, quiting somewhere in April orMay. The reason which I quit was that I could not comprehend and accept gamesmanship. I felt that there was more to life than that. A casual comment from my mum was enough for me to set my mind on quiting. After quiting, I was a "
floating body" for 6 months. In this 6 months, I've tried applying for another sports CCA, basketball, which I tot I could understand and excel. The TIC(teacher-in-charge) had promised to let me try for the team. However, coincidentally or whatever, he did not get back to me. By sep-nov, I finally realised that I couldn't go on like this. Thus, in a new environment with new friends for 9 months, I took the largest gamble- as my best friend- kevin was in CO, my brother was in band, I went to apply for CO. I have no musical background and screwed music lessons in pri sch. What I did was apparent sucide, but looking at todae, it has not turned out so.......
When I stepped into RICO, I felt remotely out of place. I had no understanding of music theory, was unable to differentiate one instrument from the other and knew very few ppl. I was allocated into erhu with Kai Hong who joined at the same time as me. Kai Hong had an advantage as he had a grade 4 or 6 piano cert. (I forgot) Soon, we went for lessons under Mr Mike Chiang, basically an extremely nice guy who oozes charm and is extremely funny. Kai Hong was learning at a faster rate and I had difficulty catching up. Not long after, we were also required to "observe" orchestral practice. It is during one of these practice that Mr Goh Yew Guan, RICO's conductor at that time, picked us up and set us to play percussion, me a triangle and kai hong wooden blocks. Yes, with my music theory at that time, u could imagine what happen. I couldn't even play the first beat of every bar(thts wat the score requires of me) at tht time. Btw, the song was Long, our 2003 SWF piece. After numerous practice and guidance from both Julian and Mr Goh, i begin to get the hang of it. RICO was in a precarious situation at tht time. We got a bronze, a big drop from gold, in 2001. There were rumours of disbanding, morale was at a all time low. I couldn't choose a worse time to join.
In sec 2, the situation continued and there was this "draggy" feeling thru out CO. Percussion had no sectionals and we(Me, Julian, Kai Hong) literally had to sight-read every practice and obviously, we would get screwed this way. Near the end of the year, there was shocking news..... Mr Goh had decided to quit. He has been with the CO since RICO was started and the reasons forhis leaving are too sensitive to quote up here, but I'll just say that it's got something to do with a disreptancy in viewpoint of him and the sch's management. A new conductor, Mr Yeo Puay Hian, took over, a fatherly figure that is kind and well-respected. Things have just started to change.....
To descibe the turning point of the orchestra, I could not leave out one very important person, our ex-TIC, Mr Lee. He contributed tremendously to turning RICO out of its decline and to what it is today. Sec 3 was an eventful year, which I would call the start of the revival miracle. SYF was on that year and our standards seemed to be indicate another disappointment in store. At the start of Sec 3, we had our late concert which ws supposed to be held in the dec the previous year. I was playing both erhu and percussion for that concert and I must admit that looking back, i was in no condition nor skill to be up on stage. I was playing crap, i think...After the concert, we had our SYF. It drew close to the march hols, we were preparing and suddenly, SARS hit Singapore. We had an extra 2 weeks hols and SYF was postpone for 3 months. 3 months, miracle happened. Mr Lee went to extremes to hire the services of Shen Guo Qing lao shi, who was given 3 months to perform a miracle on us. Miracles did happen and we worked our way to a silver award. Throughout this built-up, Mr Lee fought for us for many things, including using the hall as a practice area, employing up to 7 teachers and bonding the orchestra in a way that was never like before. I salute him and he deserves the greatest honour of making my time in CO a meaningful one.
In the final year, a hectic year, I was drafted into commitee as a Librarian, though I must say I was more interested in the organising and running of the orchestra than printing scores, thus I left most of the work to Bing Liang who screws everything. Can't blame him though, the scores and the library are seriously messy and "untouchables". Adding to that, these 2 yrs, sec3 and 4, we had 5 concerts, 4 major ones, Jit-Sin+RI in Sg, in Penang, RI+SN atVCH2003, RI+RJ+RG at SCH2004, the fifth minor one was a combined Raffles schools concert in the Botanical Gardens. Such a schedule was pure sucide if we had expected it, ironically. The cute thing was that it was after we had been thru everything that we realised that everything was so much. Dec 2003, we were thinking of songs to play for this yr's April concert, come up with Fei Tian, Long Teng, Jun Ma....these 3 were sucidal enough considering our standards. opps....correction...i think we started Fei Tian in Dec and for Long Teng, we started 2 weeks b4 CNY, plaaning to play it for CNY. obviously tht didn't work out and Shen Lao Shi was tasked with a 3 month miracle again, this time for concert.
During march hols, went to Penang for 1 wk, must say that it was the most fufilling trip as there was this spirit of togetherness that is so unique to RICO. It was the most unforgettable part of my memories of RICO. Yes, again Shen Lao Shi has this unique ability to make 3 month miracles happen. This time, the job was much harder as we were training for a full-fledge percussion based song that none of us has touched in our days in RICO. Yet, he made it happen. Yes, he might have said stuff that are not very nice, scolding us....but tht jus shows that he cares and he wants us to excel. By concert day, a decent Long Teng was ready, combining with RG perc, it made the whole thing sound more impressive.And yes, Jun Ma was finally out(as in scores) 1 month b4 the concert and we started panicking for JOTO 3 wks b4. Still, everything worked out rather good considering the amount of time we had. finally concert....I was soloist yet when I asked myself if I was playing for anyone in the audience, I realised that my answer was a no. I have always believed that music is selfish or personal if u dun like my phrasing, a musician can only meant the music for 1 person in the audience, not anymore. My parents couldn't make it and a few friends bought "Phantom tickets"(Buying and not turning up) to make up my ticket sales. I was rather troubled by the thought till I finally realised b4 going on stage that it does not matter if the person I was playing for was in the audience seats, what matter most is that I knoe that me myslef is playing for tht person. Its like loving someone and letting him or her go becoz u knoe tht he/she would be happier. When my solo finished, the applause was confirmation that i did not care for, though having the Shen Lao Shi shouting good in chinese was definitely encouraging, what i care for is that I am able to tell myself that i went up and played the best for tht one person..... And so i realised that the confirmation that we so blindly go for everytime was illusive, was so fragile and superficial.....
RICO case closed with a bit of tears, laughter and obviously memories.
p.s. I believe in everlasting memories, feelings. 20 yrs down the road, check me, I'll stil remember 23072004 and the miracles...
Signing off(This is the longest entry so far)
I esp like the last paragraph, thus block quoting it....yes ppl, enjoy....reflect and relive the memories. Presenting to you RICO farm......and the legend shall continue..........
Letting go.....seems easier said than done....and the truth is......who can let go?.......
23072004
What a day...an ordinary day....a day just like others....yet it hold so much significance to me. I cannot deny that this day was far more meaningful than any other I had in RI, I cannot deceive myself to think that I do not care, I do not love.....This day is handover, where sec 4s officially "retire" from the orchestra, where the new tide washes us thru. It marks the end of our journey, a beginning for the next generation...... I cannot give back what RICO has given me in the past 3 years, it is too much to be returned.
Though my path in the orchestra wasn't really smooth-sailing, it was a learning process, and I was given an experience I would never forget eternally.... Yes, today the amazing journey i took would be revealed and secrets shall be told and truth shall be known Year 2001, sep-nov, i joined RICO as a sec 1 switching from Judo to Chinese Orchestra. I was in Judo for the first 3 months, quiting somewhere in April orMay. The reason which I quit was that I could not comprehend and accept gamesmanship. I felt that there was more to life than that. A casual comment from my mum was enough for me to set my mind on quiting. After quiting, I was a "
floating body" for 6 months. In this 6 months, I've tried applying for another sports CCA, basketball, which I tot I could understand and excel. The TIC(teacher-in-charge) had promised to let me try for the team. However, coincidentally or whatever, he did not get back to me. By sep-nov, I finally realised that I couldn't go on like this. Thus, in a new environment with new friends for 9 months, I took the largest gamble- as my best friend- kevin was in CO, my brother was in band, I went to apply for CO. I have no musical background and screwed music lessons in pri sch. What I did was apparent sucide, but looking at todae, it has not turned out so.......
When I stepped into RICO, I felt remotely out of place. I had no understanding of music theory, was unable to differentiate one instrument from the other and knew very few ppl. I was allocated into erhu with Kai Hong who joined at the same time as me. Kai Hong had an advantage as he had a grade 4 or 6 piano cert. (I forgot) Soon, we went for lessons under Mr Mike Chiang, basically an extremely nice guy who oozes charm and is extremely funny. Kai Hong was learning at a faster rate and I had difficulty catching up. Not long after, we were also required to "observe" orchestral practice. It is during one of these practice that Mr Goh Yew Guan, RICO's conductor at that time, picked us up and set us to play percussion, me a triangle and kai hong wooden blocks. Yes, with my music theory at that time, u could imagine what happen. I couldn't even play the first beat of every bar(thts wat the score requires of me) at tht time. Btw, the song was Long, our 2003 SWF piece. After numerous practice and guidance from both Julian and Mr Goh, i begin to get the hang of it. RICO was in a precarious situation at tht time. We got a bronze, a big drop from gold, in 2001. There were rumours of disbanding, morale was at a all time low. I couldn't choose a worse time to join.
In sec 2, the situation continued and there was this "draggy" feeling thru out CO. Percussion had no sectionals and we(Me, Julian, Kai Hong) literally had to sight-read every practice and obviously, we would get screwed this way. Near the end of the year, there was shocking news..... Mr Goh had decided to quit. He has been with the CO since RICO was started and the reasons forhis leaving are too sensitive to quote up here, but I'll just say that it's got something to do with a disreptancy in viewpoint of him and the sch's management. A new conductor, Mr Yeo Puay Hian, took over, a fatherly figure that is kind and well-respected. Things have just started to change.....
To descibe the turning point of the orchestra, I could not leave out one very important person, our ex-TIC, Mr Lee. He contributed tremendously to turning RICO out of its decline and to what it is today. Sec 3 was an eventful year, which I would call the start of the revival miracle. SYF was on that year and our standards seemed to be indicate another disappointment in store. At the start of Sec 3, we had our late concert which ws supposed to be held in the dec the previous year. I was playing both erhu and percussion for that concert and I must admit that looking back, i was in no condition nor skill to be up on stage. I was playing crap, i think...After the concert, we had our SYF. It drew close to the march hols, we were preparing and suddenly, SARS hit Singapore. We had an extra 2 weeks hols and SYF was postpone for 3 months. 3 months, miracle happened. Mr Lee went to extremes to hire the services of Shen Guo Qing lao shi, who was given 3 months to perform a miracle on us. Miracles did happen and we worked our way to a silver award. Throughout this built-up, Mr Lee fought for us for many things, including using the hall as a practice area, employing up to 7 teachers and bonding the orchestra in a way that was never like before. I salute him and he deserves the greatest honour of making my time in CO a meaningful one.
In the final year, a hectic year, I was drafted into commitee as a Librarian, though I must say I was more interested in the organising and running of the orchestra than printing scores, thus I left most of the work to Bing Liang who screws everything. Can't blame him though, the scores and the library are seriously messy and "untouchables". Adding to that, these 2 yrs, sec3 and 4, we had 5 concerts, 4 major ones, Jit-Sin+RI in Sg, in Penang, RI+SN atVCH2003, RI+RJ+RG at SCH2004, the fifth minor one was a combined Raffles schools concert in the Botanical Gardens. Such a schedule was pure sucide if we had expected it, ironically. The cute thing was that it was after we had been thru everything that we realised that everything was so much. Dec 2003, we were thinking of songs to play for this yr's April concert, come up with Fei Tian, Long Teng, Jun Ma....these 3 were sucidal enough considering our standards. opps....correction...i think we started Fei Tian in Dec and for Long Teng, we started 2 weeks b4 CNY, plaaning to play it for CNY. obviously tht didn't work out and Shen Lao Shi was tasked with a 3 month miracle again, this time for concert.
During march hols, went to Penang for 1 wk, must say that it was the most fufilling trip as there was this spirit of togetherness that is so unique to RICO. It was the most unforgettable part of my memories of RICO. Yes, again Shen Lao Shi has this unique ability to make 3 month miracles happen. This time, the job was much harder as we were training for a full-fledge percussion based song that none of us has touched in our days in RICO. Yet, he made it happen. Yes, he might have said stuff that are not very nice, scolding us....but tht jus shows that he cares and he wants us to excel. By concert day, a decent Long Teng was ready, combining with RG perc, it made the whole thing sound more impressive.And yes, Jun Ma was finally out(as in scores) 1 month b4 the concert and we started panicking for JOTO 3 wks b4. Still, everything worked out rather good considering the amount of time we had. finally concert....I was soloist yet when I asked myself if I was playing for anyone in the audience, I realised that my answer was a no. I have always believed that music is selfish or personal if u dun like my phrasing, a musician can only meant the music for 1 person in the audience, not anymore. My parents couldn't make it and a few friends bought "Phantom tickets"(Buying and not turning up) to make up my ticket sales. I was rather troubled by the thought till I finally realised b4 going on stage that it does not matter if the person I was playing for was in the audience seats, what matter most is that I knoe that me myslef is playing for tht person. Its like loving someone and letting him or her go becoz u knoe tht he/she would be happier. When my solo finished, the applause was confirmation that i did not care for, though having the Shen Lao Shi shouting good in chinese was definitely encouraging, what i care for is that I am able to tell myself that i went up and played the best for tht one person..... And so i realised that the confirmation that we so blindly go for everytime was illusive, was so fragile and superficial.....
The end of the april concert signals the "coolin down" peroid for the sec 4s as we engage in our studies for the common test. Soon, the last concert went and the miracle of 2003-2004 commitee was done and the legacy of batch 2004 was passed down on the fateful day of 23072004. Goodbye seems the hardest thing to say, it seems as we both reluctantly and excitedly handed the baton of leadership to the Sec 3s. The road has been paved, the miracles have been done. Rescuing RICO from the worse was over and the path is lighted ahead. The legacy must continue.....The miracles must be made.....To all my juniors, all I have to say is that we've come so far from our lowest point, it is time to build a tradition. RICO is a relatively young orchestra, formed only in 1980something I forgot. I heard that it was formed and disbanded thrice, as such we did not have the history and tradition many school had, + the fact that our sch had 50 over CCAs meant that budget was low, membership was low. Yes, we might never be like CHS, DHS or even RGS, NY and so on but RICO still remains a unique orchestra. We might not measure up in technique or skills to them but is that what u want in ur life? Yes, RICO seems to be heading downhill again with membership with the sec ones next yr barely over 50, but the most important thing i feel is that the 50 of u all next yr would create a miracle of ur own jus like the batch of 2004 has done. Miracles are elusive by nature, the more unlikely, the more likely, how ironic. The miracle need not be SYF gold or something, it can be something seemingly trivial, but it would be etched into the memories of 50 of u all for the rest of ur life. The most valuable present RICO gave me was the eternal gift of memories. When a miracle happens in ur life, u wouldn't forget it no matter what happens. So ppl, stop comparing and start living. There are memories out there for u to create.
RICO case closed with a bit of tears, laughter and obviously memories.
p.s. I believe in everlasting memories, feelings. 20 yrs down the road, check me, I'll stil remember 23072004 and the miracles...
Signing off(This is the longest entry so far)
I esp like the last paragraph, thus block quoting it....yes ppl, enjoy....reflect and relive the memories. Presenting to you RICO farm......and the legend shall continue..........
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Rico farm 2 (aka Animal Farm 2) (Continued)
Post 1
Society has progressed to such a stage where thinking itself have become a double-edged knife
Whoa, its been more than 1 month since I've updated this place. Sec 4 is indeed a busy year and yeah, I'm not really enjoying it rite now:X(Imagine 3 months later) lol, anw, in this 6-7 weeks since the start of the year, its been rather bumpy, especially where RICO is concerned. Within this 6-7 weeks, we actually witness more contraversies and unhappy issues than during the long 6 weeks holiday. Perhaps the fact that the concertS are approaching finally sank in. Chaotic I would describe the last few wk and definitely much more to improve on. Our TIC is not being very helpful either, thus we will have to depend on oursleves. One day, the sun will shine again and hopefully we'll pull off a miracle as beautiful as rainbow.
I know its not good to be pessimistic but in my current mood and state of mind, i can't help but be so. There's only a thin line between being practical than pessimistic. Similarly, there is only a thin line between being optimistic than irrational. In only so few wks, a lot of facts hit me.
1. There is just so much to what you can do, sometimes you just can't help but feel helpless and the helplessness would eat into you and become fruastrations and the ppl around you tend to be where you vent your fruastrations.
2. Ppl are "built" differently from one another. Some are meant to play big roles, some are meant to play small roles and some are just there to wreck the show.
3. When rumours spread and uncertain information is passed around, the organisation then tends to become confused and somehow because of this disarray, its morale would drop.
4. For everything that happens whether it is within control or not, there need to be someone responsible. When something goes wrong, we always need a scapegoat.
5. Practising 10 hrs per wk can and will take its toll both physically and mentally.
6. We are so screwed up and yet some ppl still don't realise it.
lol, facts are they? observations rather but it concurs with sociology, this is the way humans behave. Still, I believe that one day it will change. Though my strength and ability will not change many, the thought still remains. It is in human nature to be romantic, to be obsessed with things that will not come true. Perhaps when one day I stop being romantic, then the society will change. Again, I'm being romantic:X
Post 2
At the speed the society progress/regress and change, our worst enemy could become our best friend and vice versa. So many ppl take things on the superficial level that it sort of eats into time and degrades them...
Reality check. Its currently 2 weeks and 2 days to our first of 2 concerts in 2 months. How do I feel? Screwed:X:X:X... Shen lao shi is coming down on Wed to "review" our standard...Once again, I'm sure we'll disappoint him and need to be prepared for another earful. Wonder if he'll get fed up with us. Still seriously looking at our dear percussion section, I think its considered a great improvement since many, many years. However, as shen lao shi said, ppl said you've improved, but thats becoz you were too lousy in the first place. lol, no one will understand what the section is going thru rite now. Its like a change that supposed to start long ago is finally starting but its members are disillusioned by the obstacles standing in front. To be able to get a percussion based piece rite in 3 months is seriously a little impossible, considering the standard of the section. Still, this memory of screwing up and hard practice would not go into bad memories, neither would it enter good memories. These are memories that we would remember and keep in our heart and it will affect our lives, the way we think, the way we view things. Like it goes "Failure is the first step towards sucess". Quoting from William Hung "I've done my best and I have no regrets."
School and CCA are just like two spheres of control of the sec4 life nowadays. Everyday, there would be pressure on u to do something, be it academic or outside ciriculam. Life becomes a cycle that we cannot break away from. We cannopt stop either, for it would mean backpedalling all the way to square one. So like boxer in animal farm, "I will work harder" to conform to such a system. Just to reflect, the 3 yrs before, I have taken from RI so much that now its like payback time, our turn to return to the sch wat it gave us. The 3 yrs were wonderful and unforgetable and would stay in our hearts forever. This yr, no matter wat happen, we will all have to move on in society and in life, so wat i feel is that results are of secondary importance, its the process that bonds us together that is truly important. I do not expect much out of life, except to live it well.
To every and anyone reading the entry, treasure ppl around u. This sound cliched but after 15yrs of my life, i have found that fact to be extremely true, that we miss ppl when they are gone and regrets then are too late. So, if there is anything tht u would wan to do, do not hesitate, coz time and tide waits for no man. Its now or never and human's greatest mistake was to ever consider and miss the chance.
"Sing as though no one's listening
Dance as though no one's watching
Laugh as though u are the happiest man on Earth
Cry as though u are the opposite
Live life as though there's no tomorrow
Live life as though there's no chance for regrets"
Post 3
Human are such strange animals. They want to be idealistic and hopeful, yet at the same time practical and pragmatic. This is not strange, this is human's unique nature to be romantic
Another one month have passed without me posting anything. Here I am again trying to recap what has happened over the past 4 weeks and trying my best to do justice to the events. First major event we had was the Penang trip. It was a wondeful and enjoyable trip and the concert Jit Sin and us put us was really very zai. Guess its the holiday spirit getting into the ppl. Seriously, I've never seen RICO at such a height b4 so I hope this will carry on to many more concerts ahead.
Speaking of concerts, the next one is a triple raffles combined concert at SCH on 24 April. Well, it will be the last major concert for the Sec 4s and somehow our chinese common test falls on that day. Still, there's this common spirit among the sec4s to just give everything they had left as we know that it would be long time b4 we see RICO at such a size and standard again. We have 33 sec4s this yr and next all of them would go and RICO would be left standing on numbers hanging just above 50s including the sec1s nxt yr.
The final 100m of the race is finally on. We are lagging behind but can still catch up. Whether we get first or not is not important, whats important is that we cross the finish line and that this memory would stay with us forever. We take away only memories with us, memories of ppl especially.....
Post 4
You raise me up So i can stand on mountains
You raise me up To walk through stormy seas
I am strong When I am on your shoulders
You raise me up To more than I can be....
Yup, back again to lament on how time flies. Its now a week away from the end of our concert. hmm... interesting thought there. I just suddenly have this realisation that this concert is not as important as how some of us see it. We put in every once of energy, strength, time whatever but have we thought that perhaps after the concert, its still not the end of things? Such scary thoughts i have, must be the romantic nature of human at work again. I dunno why but i tend to read more into things that ppl see on surface level. Arhh! talking too much nonsense again.
One more week to go, and then evaluation again.
Post 5
Its not the end. The end marks a new beginning...
It's over, just over. Strangely enough, this fact seem to only sink in after a few days. The joy and delight felt was strangely kept to the minimal. We did rather well for the concert, i may say, especially for the finale. I didn't screw up for my solo:), thts one thing coz i was like rushing thru it during rehearsal. At the end, it was just over. Like a song that has no ending, it felt rather empty, though there was relieve and happiness but overally, there was just this emptiness that ran thru i think most of the sec 4s.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
" Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. "
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
The 2 lines summed up my feelings. Many years down the road, I will remember todae, not for its success but for it significance.......
The last and final part of Animal farm 2 would be out tmr. Stay tuned till then. I promise it'll be nice:)
Post 1
Society has progressed to such a stage where thinking itself have become a double-edged knife
Whoa, its been more than 1 month since I've updated this place. Sec 4 is indeed a busy year and yeah, I'm not really enjoying it rite now:X(Imagine 3 months later) lol, anw, in this 6-7 weeks since the start of the year, its been rather bumpy, especially where RICO is concerned. Within this 6-7 weeks, we actually witness more contraversies and unhappy issues than during the long 6 weeks holiday. Perhaps the fact that the concertS are approaching finally sank in. Chaotic I would describe the last few wk and definitely much more to improve on. Our TIC is not being very helpful either, thus we will have to depend on oursleves. One day, the sun will shine again and hopefully we'll pull off a miracle as beautiful as rainbow.
I know its not good to be pessimistic but in my current mood and state of mind, i can't help but be so. There's only a thin line between being practical than pessimistic. Similarly, there is only a thin line between being optimistic than irrational. In only so few wks, a lot of facts hit me.
1. There is just so much to what you can do, sometimes you just can't help but feel helpless and the helplessness would eat into you and become fruastrations and the ppl around you tend to be where you vent your fruastrations.
2. Ppl are "built" differently from one another. Some are meant to play big roles, some are meant to play small roles and some are just there to wreck the show.
3. When rumours spread and uncertain information is passed around, the organisation then tends to become confused and somehow because of this disarray, its morale would drop.
4. For everything that happens whether it is within control or not, there need to be someone responsible. When something goes wrong, we always need a scapegoat.
5. Practising 10 hrs per wk can and will take its toll both physically and mentally.
6. We are so screwed up and yet some ppl still don't realise it.
lol, facts are they? observations rather but it concurs with sociology, this is the way humans behave. Still, I believe that one day it will change. Though my strength and ability will not change many, the thought still remains. It is in human nature to be romantic, to be obsessed with things that will not come true. Perhaps when one day I stop being romantic, then the society will change. Again, I'm being romantic:X
Post 2
At the speed the society progress/regress and change, our worst enemy could become our best friend and vice versa. So many ppl take things on the superficial level that it sort of eats into time and degrades them...
Reality check. Its currently 2 weeks and 2 days to our first of 2 concerts in 2 months. How do I feel? Screwed:X:X:X... Shen lao shi is coming down on Wed to "review" our standard...Once again, I'm sure we'll disappoint him and need to be prepared for another earful. Wonder if he'll get fed up with us. Still seriously looking at our dear percussion section, I think its considered a great improvement since many, many years. However, as shen lao shi said, ppl said you've improved, but thats becoz you were too lousy in the first place. lol, no one will understand what the section is going thru rite now. Its like a change that supposed to start long ago is finally starting but its members are disillusioned by the obstacles standing in front. To be able to get a percussion based piece rite in 3 months is seriously a little impossible, considering the standard of the section. Still, this memory of screwing up and hard practice would not go into bad memories, neither would it enter good memories. These are memories that we would remember and keep in our heart and it will affect our lives, the way we think, the way we view things. Like it goes "Failure is the first step towards sucess". Quoting from William Hung "I've done my best and I have no regrets."
School and CCA are just like two spheres of control of the sec4 life nowadays. Everyday, there would be pressure on u to do something, be it academic or outside ciriculam. Life becomes a cycle that we cannot break away from. We cannopt stop either, for it would mean backpedalling all the way to square one. So like boxer in animal farm, "I will work harder" to conform to such a system. Just to reflect, the 3 yrs before, I have taken from RI so much that now its like payback time, our turn to return to the sch wat it gave us. The 3 yrs were wonderful and unforgetable and would stay in our hearts forever. This yr, no matter wat happen, we will all have to move on in society and in life, so wat i feel is that results are of secondary importance, its the process that bonds us together that is truly important. I do not expect much out of life, except to live it well.
To every and anyone reading the entry, treasure ppl around u. This sound cliched but after 15yrs of my life, i have found that fact to be extremely true, that we miss ppl when they are gone and regrets then are too late. So, if there is anything tht u would wan to do, do not hesitate, coz time and tide waits for no man. Its now or never and human's greatest mistake was to ever consider and miss the chance.
"Sing as though no one's listening
Dance as though no one's watching
Laugh as though u are the happiest man on Earth
Cry as though u are the opposite
Live life as though there's no tomorrow
Live life as though there's no chance for regrets"
Post 3
Human are such strange animals. They want to be idealistic and hopeful, yet at the same time practical and pragmatic. This is not strange, this is human's unique nature to be romantic
Another one month have passed without me posting anything. Here I am again trying to recap what has happened over the past 4 weeks and trying my best to do justice to the events. First major event we had was the Penang trip. It was a wondeful and enjoyable trip and the concert Jit Sin and us put us was really very zai. Guess its the holiday spirit getting into the ppl. Seriously, I've never seen RICO at such a height b4 so I hope this will carry on to many more concerts ahead.
Speaking of concerts, the next one is a triple raffles combined concert at SCH on 24 April. Well, it will be the last major concert for the Sec 4s and somehow our chinese common test falls on that day. Still, there's this common spirit among the sec4s to just give everything they had left as we know that it would be long time b4 we see RICO at such a size and standard again. We have 33 sec4s this yr and next all of them would go and RICO would be left standing on numbers hanging just above 50s including the sec1s nxt yr.
The final 100m of the race is finally on. We are lagging behind but can still catch up. Whether we get first or not is not important, whats important is that we cross the finish line and that this memory would stay with us forever. We take away only memories with us, memories of ppl especially.....
Post 4
You raise me up So i can stand on mountains
You raise me up To walk through stormy seas
I am strong When I am on your shoulders
You raise me up To more than I can be....
Yup, back again to lament on how time flies. Its now a week away from the end of our concert. hmm... interesting thought there. I just suddenly have this realisation that this concert is not as important as how some of us see it. We put in every once of energy, strength, time whatever but have we thought that perhaps after the concert, its still not the end of things? Such scary thoughts i have, must be the romantic nature of human at work again. I dunno why but i tend to read more into things that ppl see on surface level. Arhh! talking too much nonsense again.
One more week to go, and then evaluation again.
Post 5
Its not the end. The end marks a new beginning...
It's over, just over. Strangely enough, this fact seem to only sink in after a few days. The joy and delight felt was strangely kept to the minimal. We did rather well for the concert, i may say, especially for the finale. I didn't screw up for my solo:), thts one thing coz i was like rushing thru it during rehearsal. At the end, it was just over. Like a song that has no ending, it felt rather empty, though there was relieve and happiness but overally, there was just this emptiness that ran thru i think most of the sec 4s.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
" Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. "
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
The 2 lines summed up my feelings. Many years down the road, I will remember todae, not for its success but for it significance.......
The last and final part of Animal farm 2 would be out tmr. Stay tuned till then. I promise it'll be nice:)
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
heheh, shall start my re-posting here. First up, from "somewhen" in sec 3, combination of a series of posts
RICO farm(aka Animal Farm 2) proudly written by me(I still can't believe I actually wrote all these)
Post1
Todae ah... let me tell u a story...based on Animal Farm. ZJ is Snowball, the other candidates for chairman is Napolean, XQ is Mr Jones, the farmers are the Exco and Ben Ang...well...is Benjamin. the other animals are represented by the rest of the CO. Well the story goes like this....The animals will rebel against the farmers in 2 weeks time and Snowball and Napolean are fighting over the leadership position that would be empty after the farmers are being exiled. THe conclusion is that Snowball convinces everyone with his windmill plan and his ideology of communism and beat Napolean to the leadership position. I hereby offer my congrats to ZJ and i will do so again in 2 weeks time
Post 2
todae is...or okay, was national dae celebrations. it also marks the handover form the sec 4 to the sec 3. played with the band without score, felt veri relaxed on stage...school ended at at 1.15, 35 min after the normal time, screwed!!! had lunch, then had the handover. got position as librarian, and as expected, zongjin got the chairman position and i'm am therefore authorised to release this blog. started on my job immedialtely, didn't feel comfortable watching the photocopy lady print scores, and just standing around, guess have to get use to it. oh yeah, kevin brought a damn cute toy dino to school todae. reaction was diff with diff ppl. Deng tried to rape it on the pretext of performing CPR, zongjin tried to get it to write( forcing it to write), boon was quite facinated by it until he saw the "made in China" tag, then he threw it back to kevin, Samuel hem, just kept turning around to grab it away from kevin. a small soft toy, so many complications, but must agree that its damn CUTE!!!!! When we were giving three cheers to dunno hu, i thought i heard smone say hip hip hulei???
had dinner with zongjin and the 2 terrorist and got back home at 9.30, great record
Post 3
Half dae???? or juz another fri????yes, thats the topic of discussion for todae. I emphasize again, its a half dae and i reached home at 8.15? maybe i could have reached home earliest like 6, but still half dae???? this can be traced to mondae Promethium Dae where Old Major declared a half dae on Fri. Discussion was on on where to g on Fri. The first piece of bad news came immediately verdict swith pigs taking 1h for the education of animals after lesson ends and refusing to budge. The second came nvt dae when one of the commandments says that practise would commence as usual on Fri. There was a shout of protest (or was there not) and for the first time after Snowball's taking the lead on Animal Farm, there was discontent among the animals. Some openly voiced their protests, some made a mental note to rebel(not to come todae), Some took it in their stride just like Boxer does as they went with the maxim "Snowball is always rite" and " I will train harder" Thus again, idealists would look at this and shake their heads once more as the communist state once again fails to become reality and "democracy" is once again compromised. Animal Farm 2 has reached a turning point, building up a steady climax. How will Animal farm 2 end up? What will Snowball do? Will the animals rebel again?? Stay tuned to find out.
Post 4
I have a dream....
Martyn Luther King Jr said that for peace between the blacks and whites in America. I say that again todae for a better future for Animal Farm 2. Whether a ideal would work out depends on its ppl. If no animal takes one more grain than it should, all animals consider others before self and that all animal believes in making Animal Farm a better place, Animal Farm would have worked out. Now that its Animal Farm 2, we have another chance, thus it's up to us to topple it or realise it. Sucess or Failure?The destiny all in our hands.......
Post 5
todae's highlight is com meeting, continuing Animal Farm 2. Todae the representatives from each group of animals met up with the evicted humans. It was a rather ironic situation, now that the animals ask for advice from the humans on running the farm, though Mr Jones seems a little can be bothered. The focus todae is on Snowball on how he would conduct this meeting. It turns out that he could not make much impact as he is too democratic. The humans have warned us, democracy would get u nowhere, communism even worst, only a capitalist farm would be able to stand on its own. We have outline our programme for the farm for the nxt yr, no matter what, we would stand by our leader, Snowball, we would rise and fall with the farm. Uncertainty lays in the path of the farm, what would happen? Will democracy or even communism work? We dunno and we are going to find out.
Ending Coming Soon (actually its already posted)
RICO farm(aka Animal Farm 2) proudly written by me(I still can't believe I actually wrote all these)
Post1
Todae ah... let me tell u a story...based on Animal Farm. ZJ is Snowball, the other candidates for chairman is Napolean, XQ is Mr Jones, the farmers are the Exco and Ben Ang...well...is Benjamin. the other animals are represented by the rest of the CO. Well the story goes like this....The animals will rebel against the farmers in 2 weeks time and Snowball and Napolean are fighting over the leadership position that would be empty after the farmers are being exiled. THe conclusion is that Snowball convinces everyone with his windmill plan and his ideology of communism and beat Napolean to the leadership position. I hereby offer my congrats to ZJ and i will do so again in 2 weeks time
Post 2
todae is...or okay, was national dae celebrations. it also marks the handover form the sec 4 to the sec 3. played with the band without score, felt veri relaxed on stage...school ended at at 1.15, 35 min after the normal time, screwed!!! had lunch, then had the handover. got position as librarian, and as expected, zongjin got the chairman position and i'm am therefore authorised to release this blog. started on my job immedialtely, didn't feel comfortable watching the photocopy lady print scores, and just standing around, guess have to get use to it. oh yeah, kevin brought a damn cute toy dino to school todae. reaction was diff with diff ppl. Deng tried to rape it on the pretext of performing CPR, zongjin tried to get it to write( forcing it to write), boon was quite facinated by it until he saw the "made in China" tag, then he threw it back to kevin, Samuel hem, just kept turning around to grab it away from kevin. a small soft toy, so many complications, but must agree that its damn CUTE!!!!! When we were giving three cheers to dunno hu, i thought i heard smone say hip hip hulei???
had dinner with zongjin and the 2 terrorist and got back home at 9.30, great record
Post 3
Half dae???? or juz another fri????yes, thats the topic of discussion for todae. I emphasize again, its a half dae and i reached home at 8.15? maybe i could have reached home earliest like 6, but still half dae???? this can be traced to mondae Promethium Dae where Old Major declared a half dae on Fri. Discussion was on on where to g on Fri. The first piece of bad news came immediately verdict swith pigs taking 1h for the education of animals after lesson ends and refusing to budge. The second came nvt dae when one of the commandments says that practise would commence as usual on Fri. There was a shout of protest (or was there not) and for the first time after Snowball's taking the lead on Animal Farm, there was discontent among the animals. Some openly voiced their protests, some made a mental note to rebel(not to come todae), Some took it in their stride just like Boxer does as they went with the maxim "Snowball is always rite" and " I will train harder" Thus again, idealists would look at this and shake their heads once more as the communist state once again fails to become reality and "democracy" is once again compromised. Animal Farm 2 has reached a turning point, building up a steady climax. How will Animal farm 2 end up? What will Snowball do? Will the animals rebel again?? Stay tuned to find out.
Post 4
I have a dream....
Martyn Luther King Jr said that for peace between the blacks and whites in America. I say that again todae for a better future for Animal Farm 2. Whether a ideal would work out depends on its ppl. If no animal takes one more grain than it should, all animals consider others before self and that all animal believes in making Animal Farm a better place, Animal Farm would have worked out. Now that its Animal Farm 2, we have another chance, thus it's up to us to topple it or realise it. Sucess or Failure?The destiny all in our hands.......
Post 5
todae's highlight is com meeting, continuing Animal Farm 2. Todae the representatives from each group of animals met up with the evicted humans. It was a rather ironic situation, now that the animals ask for advice from the humans on running the farm, though Mr Jones seems a little can be bothered. The focus todae is on Snowball on how he would conduct this meeting. It turns out that he could not make much impact as he is too democratic. The humans have warned us, democracy would get u nowhere, communism even worst, only a capitalist farm would be able to stand on its own. We have outline our programme for the farm for the nxt yr, no matter what, we would stand by our leader, Snowball, we would rise and fall with the farm. Uncertainty lays in the path of the farm, what would happen? Will democracy or even communism work? We dunno and we are going to find out.
Ending Coming Soon (actually its already posted)
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Dedicated to all who know me,
As 2004 draws near to the end, I would like to take this oppurtunity to thank all that spent this meaningful year with me. You can be a passing acquaintance, a stranger or my friend, just would like to say that I appreciate your participation in my life and I look forward to continuing my relations with you in 2005. Time passes really quickly, now the 16- yr old me would be attending JC the next year. In my 4 years in RI, I really have to thank a lot of ppl, teachers included. But first of all, my circle of friends in RI, for always being there and slugging out the 4 yrs with me in the premier institution. Special mention to the 2B ppl who really made my stay in RI really enjoyable. Surprising as it seems, I seem to be more attached to the 2B ppl than the current 4D ones. Perhaps its elitism, or maybe its just me. Just felt that in the future, the chance of a 4D guy dao-ing me is much higher than a 2B one. Aniwae, back to the point, thank you all. 2nd group of ppl who I need to thank, my teachers. Special mention to a few here. Mr Joseph Wong, for turning my SS Hist from C5 in Sec 3 to A1 during prelims and of course his jokes and experiences sharing sessions. Mr Tan Puay Hock, for making me see a whole new dimension in Chinese that I never knew in my lower sec years. Mr Lee Eng Kiat, though he already left RI, for making me believe in the CO again and showing me what is true passion. Mr Mark Wee, for his antics during class, Mrs Yau, for her beautiful best-wishes card, Mrs Lim, for her blatant theories of lions eating vitamin C tablets and all that helped me b4. Well, this signifies the end of the thank-you list within RI, but there is still ppl that I need to thank.
My primary school friends who had known me for as long as 10 years, Andy, Cedrick, Justin, Bryan, Jirong, Khairul, Izzat, Iskander and so on, would be spamming if I go on. Thank you all for making the effort to keep in contact with me and to the basketball team then, thank you all for still coming down to ball occasionally. Mr Charles Peters, whom we just met during teachers' day, thank you for your guidance. Though we may go separate ways in the future, no gap is too far for us to bridge. As long as you all give me a call, I will not dao you. lol, thts it I guess for my thank-you list for all my friends this year. Will be rounding up the year with a series of re-posts and recaps, I guess, to "relive the moments".
As 2004 draws near to the end, I would like to take this oppurtunity to thank all that spent this meaningful year with me. You can be a passing acquaintance, a stranger or my friend, just would like to say that I appreciate your participation in my life and I look forward to continuing my relations with you in 2005. Time passes really quickly, now the 16- yr old me would be attending JC the next year. In my 4 years in RI, I really have to thank a lot of ppl, teachers included. But first of all, my circle of friends in RI, for always being there and slugging out the 4 yrs with me in the premier institution. Special mention to the 2B ppl who really made my stay in RI really enjoyable. Surprising as it seems, I seem to be more attached to the 2B ppl than the current 4D ones. Perhaps its elitism, or maybe its just me. Just felt that in the future, the chance of a 4D guy dao-ing me is much higher than a 2B one. Aniwae, back to the point, thank you all. 2nd group of ppl who I need to thank, my teachers. Special mention to a few here. Mr Joseph Wong, for turning my SS Hist from C5 in Sec 3 to A1 during prelims and of course his jokes and experiences sharing sessions. Mr Tan Puay Hock, for making me see a whole new dimension in Chinese that I never knew in my lower sec years. Mr Lee Eng Kiat, though he already left RI, for making me believe in the CO again and showing me what is true passion. Mr Mark Wee, for his antics during class, Mrs Yau, for her beautiful best-wishes card, Mrs Lim, for her blatant theories of lions eating vitamin C tablets and all that helped me b4. Well, this signifies the end of the thank-you list within RI, but there is still ppl that I need to thank.
My primary school friends who had known me for as long as 10 years, Andy, Cedrick, Justin, Bryan, Jirong, Khairul, Izzat, Iskander and so on, would be spamming if I go on. Thank you all for making the effort to keep in contact with me and to the basketball team then, thank you all for still coming down to ball occasionally. Mr Charles Peters, whom we just met during teachers' day, thank you for your guidance. Though we may go separate ways in the future, no gap is too far for us to bridge. As long as you all give me a call, I will not dao you. lol, thts it I guess for my thank-you list for all my friends this year. Will be rounding up the year with a series of re-posts and recaps, I guess, to "relive the moments".
It's amazing how depression is infectious, before you know it, it overwhelms you and you don't even know it
What started out as a outing for me ended up in emotional throes....I just couldn't explain it. When surrounded by ppl faced with rejection, one can't help but just think of one's own life. When ppl starts to throw in your face what they experienced and expects you to react, one tends to be lost. At one point, i almost wanted to say something like "What's rejection? You dun understand true pain." but i stop myself, cuz i know that i cannot comment without having experienced it myself. What I have experienced was far less but i can say much more painful. Give me dissapointment and regret, i'll choose dissapointment anyday. Regret is forever, it nags at you and never goes away, subjecting you to constant sadness....
For what flutters a 12-yr old's heart must be different from what moves a 16-yr old, one cannot expect a person's emotional state to come to a standstill at 12 yr old. A person would grow mentally and this growth is human's greatest gift and terror. How I wish that I was a 12 yr-old right now still in my primary sch and yet I wish that when I was 12 yr-old, I was as mature as I was now. How I wish time can heal all wounds including wounds of regret. Regrets forces you to look back in time and break out in tears, depriving you of the right to live.
But for what I am and what I'll be, my friends and family made me strong and made me believe again. Regret has now become a window of my memories that becomes open now and then but with the strength given to me by the ppl around me, the pain becomes less hurtful.... So to my 2 friends, do not fret coz u have nothing to regret. Live on with zest and spirit coz there's hope in tmr.... Tears might well up on a few occasions but they always dry, just make sure that no scar is left on the heart. Live life without regret...
一张文章画上了句号，代表着另一张文章的开始.....
What started out as a outing for me ended up in emotional throes....I just couldn't explain it. When surrounded by ppl faced with rejection, one can't help but just think of one's own life. When ppl starts to throw in your face what they experienced and expects you to react, one tends to be lost. At one point, i almost wanted to say something like "What's rejection? You dun understand true pain." but i stop myself, cuz i know that i cannot comment without having experienced it myself. What I have experienced was far less but i can say much more painful. Give me dissapointment and regret, i'll choose dissapointment anyday. Regret is forever, it nags at you and never goes away, subjecting you to constant sadness....
For what flutters a 12-yr old's heart must be different from what moves a 16-yr old, one cannot expect a person's emotional state to come to a standstill at 12 yr old. A person would grow mentally and this growth is human's greatest gift and terror. How I wish that I was a 12 yr-old right now still in my primary sch and yet I wish that when I was 12 yr-old, I was as mature as I was now. How I wish time can heal all wounds including wounds of regret. Regrets forces you to look back in time and break out in tears, depriving you of the right to live.
But for what I am and what I'll be, my friends and family made me strong and made me believe again. Regret has now become a window of my memories that becomes open now and then but with the strength given to me by the ppl around me, the pain becomes less hurtful.... So to my 2 friends, do not fret coz u have nothing to regret. Live on with zest and spirit coz there's hope in tmr.... Tears might well up on a few occasions but they always dry, just make sure that no scar is left on the heart. Live life without regret...
一张文章画上了句号，代表着另一张文章的开始.....
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Mediacorp's release of voting results of SG idol little comfort for Taufik fans
While earlier being bombarded by the media for not being transparent enough, Mediacorp decided to come clean with the voting results of SG idol. Taufik won by a large margin, which was not surprising to me. However, this yet provided little comfort for Taufik fans who were enraged when Sly got the recording contract from BMG. Now, they are further incensed that when Taufik was the undisputed champion, Sly got an equal share of the pie, as it seems. lol, my eplanation for this seemingly unfair treatment was covered in the previous blog. For those still unconvinced, let me draw you a clearer picture. Imagine Taufik's album among others in Europe and America. Then imagine Sly's album among others in China, Taiwan and HK. Which is more likely to come off the shelves? Anyway, just got "I dream" by Taufik from me friend. Looking for Sly's version, which i think is much better. Taufik was flat throughout the song, though he hit the high notes pretty okay...Anyone got Sly's version, please send me. Meanwhile, the lyrics....very meaningful....
I Dream
In my mind
I can climb
All the mountains that surround me
My spirit's there, where eagles dare to fly
In my heart
There's a spark
That can light the world around me
An open door, where I am sure dreams are
Doesn't matter if I win
Or the colour of my skin
Cause the race is all about
Believing in yourself
And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream, I dream
If there's a time
In your life
When the odds are so against you
There's no defeat, if all you keep is pride
First or last
Slow or fast
There's a dignity that makes you
Keep driving on, when worlds have come apart
It doesn't matter rich or poor
Or the things you've done before
Cause the race is all about
Believing in yourself
And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream
I dream of a moment
That forever will be golden
When the torch is passed
Only dreams will last
That are shared by everyone
And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream, I dream
While earlier being bombarded by the media for not being transparent enough, Mediacorp decided to come clean with the voting results of SG idol. Taufik won by a large margin, which was not surprising to me. However, this yet provided little comfort for Taufik fans who were enraged when Sly got the recording contract from BMG. Now, they are further incensed that when Taufik was the undisputed champion, Sly got an equal share of the pie, as it seems. lol, my eplanation for this seemingly unfair treatment was covered in the previous blog. For those still unconvinced, let me draw you a clearer picture. Imagine Taufik's album among others in Europe and America. Then imagine Sly's album among others in China, Taiwan and HK. Which is more likely to come off the shelves? Anyway, just got "I dream" by Taufik from me friend. Looking for Sly's version, which i think is much better. Taufik was flat throughout the song, though he hit the high notes pretty okay...Anyone got Sly's version, please send me. Meanwhile, the lyrics....very meaningful....
I Dream
In my mind
I can climb
All the mountains that surround me
My spirit's there, where eagles dare to fly
In my heart
There's a spark
That can light the world around me
An open door, where I am sure dreams are
Doesn't matter if I win
Or the colour of my skin
Cause the race is all about
Believing in yourself
And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream, I dream
If there's a time
In your life
When the odds are so against you
There's no defeat, if all you keep is pride
First or last
Slow or fast
There's a dignity that makes you
Keep driving on, when worlds have come apart
It doesn't matter rich or poor
Or the things you've done before
Cause the race is all about
Believing in yourself
And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream
I dream of a moment
That forever will be golden
When the torch is passed
Only dreams will last
That are shared by everyone
And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream, I dream
Friday, December 03, 2004
Though togetherness is already impossible, your one smile still warms me, your silent protector. And while you sing in the festive seasons and cry in the slumps of your life, I will watch over you, share your joy and feel your pain......Till that day comes where you find someone who could take care of you better than I do, then will I walk away.......thats what love is all about.....
hi ppl, I'm back and I'm 16 already. A milestone of my life, a landmark on my history. Yet for a such a significant event, 24hrs seem so short and unable to match up to the occasion. There is just so many things to do, to reflect, to plan and so on....Time is a factor we are fighting against. This time round, I invited both my pri sch and sec sch friends to a chalet. A perfect reunion, one would muse, yet it ended up as a beautiful disaster. U knoe like the scene from Deep Impact, where the father and daughter stood at the beach and watched the meteorite crashed into the ocean and the tsunami approaching, then they hugged each other. Such was the feeling then. I had forgotten a important detail in my planning, that is the discriminatory slant to elitism, noting that discrimination actually happens both ways. I always tot discrimination was a one-sided affair, yet now I understood why discrimination stood, becoz ppl are unwilling to adapt, ppl are unwilling to move out of their comfort zone, and thus discrimination becomes the simplest excuse they can give to avoid the other party. And thus, the chalet party became a obvious split between 2 factions, each engrossed in what they are doing and treating as though the other faction wasn't there. Well...I as middleman was trying to bridge the obvious gap but after a while, I gave up and the beautiful disaster sets in. Why was it beautiful, you may ask. Well...for simple events such as these....My pri sch friends and I sat outside while the "RI contigent" was busy in the gambling den and we just talked for 2hrs non-stop. It has been 4 years since so many of us got together and just talk and crap. For events like.....the second barbecue....jx trying to start the fire for the second time and ended up with his face in ash...richard trying to take a picture of a cockroach...for the morning stroll and soccer and breakfast...For such priceless and beautiful memories, they are beautiful...Still, I have to apologise to those who felt left out or offended, hope that in view of such beautiful memories, u would accept this as a beautiful disaser..... My birthday closed with laughter, smiles, nostalgia and without a girlfriend....(last part was added on special resquest:X)
Singapore Idol
Yes, we have just witnessed the birth of our very own SG idol, Taufik, it seems to be have won the competition, yet these few days, the media threw up fantastical suggestions and debate on who is the real winner. One reader says that he suspect that it was rigged for Mediacorp would not reveal figures of the voting and he demanded his money back. lol, that was the closest suggestion to who really won and the rest of the articles were babbling on how taufik won and yet slyvester stole the limelight. Firstly, they are missing the point. Secondly, I suspect foul play. And thus I present to you my take on the true winner of SG idol.
HEADLINES: TRUE WINNER OF SG IDOL IS DRUMROLL.....MEDIACORP AND THE TELECOM COMPANIES
gasp*how is that possible? A Taufik fan claims incredulously. Taufik won SG idol. She insisted. Yup, I would agree that Taufik won SG idol competition, but everyone seems to be missing the point that the TV station and the telecom companies are truly the ppl benefiting from this event. Guess the idol fever haven't died done. Look, they tell us 3 million votes were casted throughout SG idol and 1.1 million on the finals. Do a bit of maths and you'll see that they add up to 1.5 million bucks for the show and 0.55 million for the finals. lol, thats assumong that they are telling the truth. Plus, viewership on the finals skyrocketed. Count the no. of commercials they put in. Considering that they charge more for the peak in viewership, count the profits yourself, not forgetting that they do have sponsors that fork out money for the event. At the end of the day, what happened? One, SG's economy gets a boost due to the sudden activity of cash transactions. Two, many parents would scream at their children when they receive their telephone bils. Three, there is no World Idol, so the competition was in vain. And finally, Sly stealing the limelight with his "equal treatment" as the SG idol.
heyhey, will just share a few lines on what i think about this equal treatment. You can't blame BMG coz they are driven by capitalism. They are bound by contract to give Taufik a contract and they'll lose lots of money if they do not. They gave Sly a contract coz they knoe that Sly would bring in much more money than Taufik and they need money... You cannot deny that Taufik's market is much more limited and restricted than Sly's. Just imagine his album side by side with all other english albums that come from Europe. Can he make an impression? Though he has a good voice, can he draw in mass appeal? For Sly, it's another story. SG idol proved that if he produces a album, it'll be snatched off shelves in a flash. He has the ability to generate public interest and public's extreme opinions, including those that hate him throughly. Yet to a recording company, when someone is extremely loved and hated at the same time, omg, its free advertisement.
"我会学着放弃你,是因为我太爱你"
hi ppl, I'm back and I'm 16 already. A milestone of my life, a landmark on my history. Yet for a such a significant event, 24hrs seem so short and unable to match up to the occasion. There is just so many things to do, to reflect, to plan and so on....Time is a factor we are fighting against. This time round, I invited both my pri sch and sec sch friends to a chalet. A perfect reunion, one would muse, yet it ended up as a beautiful disaster. U knoe like the scene from Deep Impact, where the father and daughter stood at the beach and watched the meteorite crashed into the ocean and the tsunami approaching, then they hugged each other. Such was the feeling then. I had forgotten a important detail in my planning, that is the discriminatory slant to elitism, noting that discrimination actually happens both ways. I always tot discrimination was a one-sided affair, yet now I understood why discrimination stood, becoz ppl are unwilling to adapt, ppl are unwilling to move out of their comfort zone, and thus discrimination becomes the simplest excuse they can give to avoid the other party. And thus, the chalet party became a obvious split between 2 factions, each engrossed in what they are doing and treating as though the other faction wasn't there. Well...I as middleman was trying to bridge the obvious gap but after a while, I gave up and the beautiful disaster sets in. Why was it beautiful, you may ask. Well...for simple events such as these....My pri sch friends and I sat outside while the "RI contigent" was busy in the gambling den and we just talked for 2hrs non-stop. It has been 4 years since so many of us got together and just talk and crap. For events like.....the second barbecue....jx trying to start the fire for the second time and ended up with his face in ash...richard trying to take a picture of a cockroach...for the morning stroll and soccer and breakfast...For such priceless and beautiful memories, they are beautiful...Still, I have to apologise to those who felt left out or offended, hope that in view of such beautiful memories, u would accept this as a beautiful disaser..... My birthday closed with laughter, smiles, nostalgia and without a girlfriend....(last part was added on special resquest:X)
Singapore Idol
Yes, we have just witnessed the birth of our very own SG idol, Taufik, it seems to be have won the competition, yet these few days, the media threw up fantastical suggestions and debate on who is the real winner. One reader says that he suspect that it was rigged for Mediacorp would not reveal figures of the voting and he demanded his money back. lol, that was the closest suggestion to who really won and the rest of the articles were babbling on how taufik won and yet slyvester stole the limelight. Firstly, they are missing the point. Secondly, I suspect foul play. And thus I present to you my take on the true winner of SG idol.
HEADLINES: TRUE WINNER OF SG IDOL IS DRUMROLL.....MEDIACORP AND THE TELECOM COMPANIES
gasp*how is that possible? A Taufik fan claims incredulously. Taufik won SG idol. She insisted. Yup, I would agree that Taufik won SG idol competition, but everyone seems to be missing the point that the TV station and the telecom companies are truly the ppl benefiting from this event. Guess the idol fever haven't died done. Look, they tell us 3 million votes were casted throughout SG idol and 1.1 million on the finals. Do a bit of maths and you'll see that they add up to 1.5 million bucks for the show and 0.55 million for the finals. lol, thats assumong that they are telling the truth. Plus, viewership on the finals skyrocketed. Count the no. of commercials they put in. Considering that they charge more for the peak in viewership, count the profits yourself, not forgetting that they do have sponsors that fork out money for the event. At the end of the day, what happened? One, SG's economy gets a boost due to the sudden activity of cash transactions. Two, many parents would scream at their children when they receive their telephone bils. Three, there is no World Idol, so the competition was in vain. And finally, Sly stealing the limelight with his "equal treatment" as the SG idol.
heyhey, will just share a few lines on what i think about this equal treatment. You can't blame BMG coz they are driven by capitalism. They are bound by contract to give Taufik a contract and they'll lose lots of money if they do not. They gave Sly a contract coz they knoe that Sly would bring in much more money than Taufik and they need money... You cannot deny that Taufik's market is much more limited and restricted than Sly's. Just imagine his album side by side with all other english albums that come from Europe. Can he make an impression? Though he has a good voice, can he draw in mass appeal? For Sly, it's another story. SG idol proved that if he produces a album, it'll be snatched off shelves in a flash. He has the ability to generate public interest and public's extreme opinions, including those that hate him throughly. Yet to a recording company, when someone is extremely loved and hated at the same time, omg, its free advertisement.
Monday, November 29, 2004
lol, its 1h 30mins from my birthdae and yet I am here writing for u ppl out there, how sad can I be? Firstly, thank you to all those reading my blogs and I promise you that there would be one long one after my birthday, too busy these few daes. Heres a recollection of some events.
Nike Fearless 5
Haha, a bunch of 5 ppl, from 4 diff schs, had only 2 trainings together, yet had the audacity to go up against the best in sg. Obviously, it was a futile attempt but 1 thing for sure, it was an invaluable experience. Qualifying rounds was a "Sink your Fears" competition, shooting basically. Our team "untitled" only managed a 27 when the qualifying mark was 60. lol, can't really blame us, a no. of factors was responsible as well. First, the weather, raining, ball was wet, board was wet, floor was wet. Second, they gave us a stupid rubber ball. lol, i mean u got see anyone of us there using rubber balls. Thirdly, they insistently placed us in court D, when the outside courts the hoops are larger and shorter, courts are smaller. lol, but at least we can be sure that we bagged the most 8-points shots, a little dist. further away from 3 point. Alvin, our team's pt guard, actually shot 2 in a row when we never saw anyone sink 1 in the whole qualifying rounds. The crowd was like cheering, damn shoik...So, the next day, we came back for the 3 on 3 competition. lol, after a walkover and a win, we were supposedly in the finals, yet due to some unforeseen circumstances, we in end lost the semis due to some team joining in the middle of the competition. lol, at least we beat the team Fusion, they were featured in Newpaper I think. lol, claim to be best in Marine Parade and come in jerseys yet lose to us wearing home clothes "rojak" team. haha, after that stayed to watch slam dunk comp and the first rounds of the fearless 5. The under 20 was damn nice to watch, a lot of action and pro basketball. Not to forget the girls category where the champs i think could beat many of the guys flat. They actually chalk up 95 pts for the qualifers lor.
HCCO interaction
lol, this yr, they decided to include water and mud as well. The talenttime was normal, nothing much lar. The games that came afterwards were to some extent, sadistic. Explicit details shall be left out but I must say that the organisers are really creative and okae i have to admit the games are fun, but I maintain the stance that they are sadistic. Well...in the end, my group won due to some cheating by our super-enthu group leader. We actually found like 95% of the stuff needed for the scavenger hunt. lol, last yr, my group won also. Seems as if luck is with me as I did not actually contribute much to the team's winning. Final point of interest, HC seems to be practising the billingual policy and implementing it much faster than any other institutions. Their students seem to have a keen sense of billingualism that they must flaunt their ability in every sentence, notwithstanding that it turns out as "rojak". Such intelligence must be invaluable to the ministry, with them trying every way to make ppl learn chinese and yet failing terribly.....(if u take me seriously on this point, you are more loser than I am)
Nike Fearless 5
Haha, a bunch of 5 ppl, from 4 diff schs, had only 2 trainings together, yet had the audacity to go up against the best in sg. Obviously, it was a futile attempt but 1 thing for sure, it was an invaluable experience. Qualifying rounds was a "Sink your Fears" competition, shooting basically. Our team "untitled" only managed a 27 when the qualifying mark was 60. lol, can't really blame us, a no. of factors was responsible as well. First, the weather, raining, ball was wet, board was wet, floor was wet. Second, they gave us a stupid rubber ball. lol, i mean u got see anyone of us there using rubber balls. Thirdly, they insistently placed us in court D, when the outside courts the hoops are larger and shorter, courts are smaller. lol, but at least we can be sure that we bagged the most 8-points shots, a little dist. further away from 3 point. Alvin, our team's pt guard, actually shot 2 in a row when we never saw anyone sink 1 in the whole qualifying rounds. The crowd was like cheering, damn shoik...So, the next day, we came back for the 3 on 3 competition. lol, after a walkover and a win, we were supposedly in the finals, yet due to some unforeseen circumstances, we in end lost the semis due to some team joining in the middle of the competition. lol, at least we beat the team Fusion, they were featured in Newpaper I think. lol, claim to be best in Marine Parade and come in jerseys yet lose to us wearing home clothes "rojak" team. haha, after that stayed to watch slam dunk comp and the first rounds of the fearless 5. The under 20 was damn nice to watch, a lot of action and pro basketball. Not to forget the girls category where the champs i think could beat many of the guys flat. They actually chalk up 95 pts for the qualifers lor.
HCCO interaction
lol, this yr, they decided to include water and mud as well. The talenttime was normal, nothing much lar. The games that came afterwards were to some extent, sadistic. Explicit details shall be left out but I must say that the organisers are really creative and okae i have to admit the games are fun, but I maintain the stance that they are sadistic. Well...in the end, my group won due to some cheating by our super-enthu group leader. We actually found like 95% of the stuff needed for the scavenger hunt. lol, last yr, my group won also. Seems as if luck is with me as I did not actually contribute much to the team's winning. Final point of interest, HC seems to be practising the billingual policy and implementing it much faster than any other institutions. Their students seem to have a keen sense of billingualism that they must flaunt their ability in every sentence, notwithstanding that it turns out as "rojak". Such intelligence must be invaluable to the ministry, with them trying every way to make ppl learn chinese and yet failing terribly.....(if u take me seriously on this point, you are more loser than I am)
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Back from O's, what i'm feeling is somewhat strange for it no different from a normal holiday yet ppl around me are going on and on as if they had a hormone overdose. Lol, after the last paper, went to Swensons to have a good dinner, ate fish and chips and shared a topless five, then went home to slack.
This week is a real busy one for me coz Mon i was out buying grad night stuff. Tues is grad night. Wed got PAE briefing. Thurs and Fri taking part in Nike Fearless Five competition. Lalala, there goes my first week of hols. Now I'm comtemplating between RJ and MJ. I just need the final push from anyone to completely take RJ out of the picture. The open house and their talk by their teachers and principal were bad enough, somehow they are still in the picture due to I suspect my forged relationship with RI. So, any takers?
Sometimes, not having a choice is better
This week is a real busy one for me coz Mon i was out buying grad night stuff. Tues is grad night. Wed got PAE briefing. Thurs and Fri taking part in Nike Fearless Five competition. Lalala, there goes my first week of hols. Now I'm comtemplating between RJ and MJ. I just need the final push from anyone to completely take RJ out of the picture. The open house and their talk by their teachers and principal were bad enough, somehow they are still in the picture due to I suspect my forged relationship with RI. So, any takers?
Sometimes, not having a choice is better
Thursday, November 11, 2004
In my spare time while preparing for the last 1/4 of O'levels, I took up a book and read it, titled "Sing to the Dawn". I missed the musical production by our sch and I thought it would be nice to see what the book is about.
After reading it, I was pleasantly surprised, though again like most other literary works that have themes on feminism, the message was just a tad too exaggerated. Nevertheless, it was quite a refreshing experience. Its a story about a girl who won a scholarship in her local school to go to the city to study. Her father opposed strongly against this and when he found out that his son, or her brother had came in second in the exam to win the scholarship, he tries to force the girl to give up her place to her brother. He brother was at first on the side of the father, but as the story proceeds, he was persuaded to take the side of his sister. Finally, after much struggle, the girl was able to go to the city, for the better or the worse, no one knows....
Anw, will jus type out my favourite part in the book, its rather philosophical though... Her goes: A conversation between the girl Dawan and the head monk. Dawan tries to convince the head monk to speak to her father to convince him to let her go to the city.
Monk: But he realised after a long search that no one can stop suffering; one has to go beyond it.
Dawan: How do you go beyond sufferings?
Monk: You learn to stop wanting things. First you realize that nothing that we touch, or see or hear or smell or feel will last forever. Things we perceive will only pass after a while. Flowers fade, parents die, the sun sets.
Monk:Well then, once you realize that things of this world don't last, then you also see that they are not really important. So you learn to stop wanting ordinary things, and are able to concentrate on the higher truths. You...
Dawan: Wait, if ordinary things aren't important, what is then?
The monk talks about Nirvana, the concept of the highest stage in Buddism, where man is freed from the wheel of life, of being reborn, of suffering, or pain. He experiences nothing, nothing at all.
Dawan: No happiness or joy either?
Monk: That's the point child. What's the sense of being happy? In the end you only lose the thing that makes you happy anyway. Nothing lasts forever, you know.
Dawan: Nobody was talking about it lasting forever, sir. But what is wrong with just trying to make it last a little longer?
Monk: A little longer? What for child? What's the sense of going through life always dreading the end of some fragile happiness?
I especially like the last part, evokes a lot of thoughts. Will leave you with a parting thought: Who's right? The monk or Dawan? Why?
Uploaded a new song still from X Japan, this time it is World Anthem(Prolouge), v nice also:)
After reading it, I was pleasantly surprised, though again like most other literary works that have themes on feminism, the message was just a tad too exaggerated. Nevertheless, it was quite a refreshing experience. Its a story about a girl who won a scholarship in her local school to go to the city to study. Her father opposed strongly against this and when he found out that his son, or her brother had came in second in the exam to win the scholarship, he tries to force the girl to give up her place to her brother. He brother was at first on the side of the father, but as the story proceeds, he was persuaded to take the side of his sister. Finally, after much struggle, the girl was able to go to the city, for the better or the worse, no one knows....
Anw, will jus type out my favourite part in the book, its rather philosophical though... Her goes: A conversation between the girl Dawan and the head monk. Dawan tries to convince the head monk to speak to her father to convince him to let her go to the city.
Monk: But he realised after a long search that no one can stop suffering; one has to go beyond it.
Dawan: How do you go beyond sufferings?
Monk: You learn to stop wanting things. First you realize that nothing that we touch, or see or hear or smell or feel will last forever. Things we perceive will only pass after a while. Flowers fade, parents die, the sun sets.
Monk:Well then, once you realize that things of this world don't last, then you also see that they are not really important. So you learn to stop wanting ordinary things, and are able to concentrate on the higher truths. You...
Dawan: Wait, if ordinary things aren't important, what is then?
The monk talks about Nirvana, the concept of the highest stage in Buddism, where man is freed from the wheel of life, of being reborn, of suffering, or pain. He experiences nothing, nothing at all.
Dawan: No happiness or joy either?
Monk: That's the point child. What's the sense of being happy? In the end you only lose the thing that makes you happy anyway. Nothing lasts forever, you know.
Dawan: Nobody was talking about it lasting forever, sir. But what is wrong with just trying to make it last a little longer?
Monk: A little longer? What for child? What's the sense of going through life always dreading the end of some fragile happiness?
I especially like the last part, evokes a lot of thoughts. Will leave you with a parting thought: Who's right? The monk or Dawan? Why?
Uploaded a new song still from X Japan, this time it is World Anthem(Prolouge), v nice also:)
Saturday, November 06, 2004
hmm...time for a update I guess...Halfway through the O's, more than halfway really, with most of humanities and languages done. Anw, not harbouring too high hopes for the papers esp higher chinese and english. Both because of paper 1, situational writing, but, i'll be glad with an A2 for HCL and hope desperately for an A1 in English. The rest of the paper were sort of a breeze, cept for maybe Lit. It was in the afternoon and I was damn worried as I usually hit borderline A1 for it and I dropped to A2 during prelims. However, Mrs Koh's magical lesson 3 hours b4 the paper saved me to a certain extent, esp for twelve night. Anw, she was so pro, all three topic questions of PDD were gone through in depth in her class b4. Childhood, Campsite and Crab, Embankment. We spent a lot of time on each and I'm sure that the whole class would have no problem handling them. Embankment even came out in prelims...So, yes, thank you Mrs Koh and we definitely owe you a pizza:P I am rather confident of an A1 for Lit now if my unseen section don't screw up. Guess for the most of RI, the rest of O's would be a breeze, where we get our striaght As. Maths and Science are supposed to be the male gender's forte, so jia you...The worst is over, only better things could come.
With this window of time I have here, will just try to blog out some of the events I've missed before the exams.
A Tribute to Headmaster
27th Oct 2004
9.30a.m.
Albert Hong Hall
The Sec 4s were on study break and there was no need to return to school. It was the last the of school for sec 1-3s though. On reading Bjourn's email on Tuesday and Mrs Koh's appeal, I've decided to go back to pay a tribute to the great man. For the first time, the sec 4s were treated like guests and were allowed to seat at the gallery while the rest of the school were on first storey. It was a heartwarming occasion, similar to Grad ceremony. Headmaster made a speech, followed by a few others, representing the students and staffs. Finally, Headmaster was presented with a gift and the whole hall gave him a standing ovation, taking the lead from the teachers. The whole thing was just so natural and spontaneous and I finally understood after 4 years how a school becomes a family. It was certainly a tear-welling moment I would never forget. After all that, RV sang "Amigos Paras Samperes"(Friends for life) and I never knew they sang so well, showing their range as they sang both the soprano and bass parts. Not wanting to be outdone, Mrs Lim Jee Nee and Mr Paul Lim sang Auld Lang Sang. I never knew Mr Lim could sing so well, so kudos to him. Then Headmaster started on his ceremonial departure of the school. THe whole school got into two lines, creating a pathway of glory for Headmaster as he strides off. The whole human chain stretched all the way from within the hall to the tracks to the clock tower, into the carpark and all the way down the driveway to the main gate. At the clock tower, Headmaster got into a silver sports car with Mr Chow as driver. Students were flooding him with well-wishes as we followed him all the way to the gates of R.I. There, we did a Raffles cheer and Headmaster formally thanked us and put a full stop to his journey in R.I. What a great man! I'll never forget him and his stories. What do I gain from this experience, you may ask? Well... I gained nothing much. I wanted to wish him well so I went down. Though I was the insignificant one in the whole school's population and he might not hear my voice nor receive my well-wishes, my presence made a difference, if not to him than to me. If you ask me, I was glad that I heeded Mrs Koh's advice to go down and it was a decision I will never regret nor forget....
With this window of time I have here, will just try to blog out some of the events I've missed before the exams.
A Tribute to Headmaster
27th Oct 2004
9.30a.m.
Albert Hong Hall
The Sec 4s were on study break and there was no need to return to school. It was the last the of school for sec 1-3s though. On reading Bjourn's email on Tuesday and Mrs Koh's appeal, I've decided to go back to pay a tribute to the great man. For the first time, the sec 4s were treated like guests and were allowed to seat at the gallery while the rest of the school were on first storey. It was a heartwarming occasion, similar to Grad ceremony. Headmaster made a speech, followed by a few others, representing the students and staffs. Finally, Headmaster was presented with a gift and the whole hall gave him a standing ovation, taking the lead from the teachers. The whole thing was just so natural and spontaneous and I finally understood after 4 years how a school becomes a family. It was certainly a tear-welling moment I would never forget. After all that, RV sang "Amigos Paras Samperes"(Friends for life) and I never knew they sang so well, showing their range as they sang both the soprano and bass parts. Not wanting to be outdone, Mrs Lim Jee Nee and Mr Paul Lim sang Auld Lang Sang. I never knew Mr Lim could sing so well, so kudos to him. Then Headmaster started on his ceremonial departure of the school. THe whole school got into two lines, creating a pathway of glory for Headmaster as he strides off. The whole human chain stretched all the way from within the hall to the tracks to the clock tower, into the carpark and all the way down the driveway to the main gate. At the clock tower, Headmaster got into a silver sports car with Mr Chow as driver. Students were flooding him with well-wishes as we followed him all the way to the gates of R.I. There, we did a Raffles cheer and Headmaster formally thanked us and put a full stop to his journey in R.I. What a great man! I'll never forget him and his stories. What do I gain from this experience, you may ask? Well... I gained nothing much. I wanted to wish him well so I went down. Though I was the insignificant one in the whole school's population and he might not hear my voice nor receive my well-wishes, my presence made a difference, if not to him than to me. If you ask me, I was glad that I heeded Mrs Koh's advice to go down and it was a decision I will never regret nor forget....
Friday, October 22, 2004
First demerit point?
hmm...lets start from tuesday. In the afternoon, was studying in school. About 15mins b4 leaving, decided to have a game of bridge to destress. In the second or third round, the door slammed open and a voice rang out "Put down!" In came the security guard Elangor. He confiscated the cards and started on a lecture on how cards are bad and can lead to fighting etc. After quite some time, he went off with a warning to us. No demerit point here though. The next day, day b4 chem prac, was in school again studying, again, some time b4 lunch, we started a bridge game. The door slammed open again and this time, a more weightly character stood at the door. He begined" Gentlemen, no....Children" He went by the book, confiscated the cards and took our names. From the short episode, I would say that the security guard is more worthy as an educator. He attempted to explain, identify, qualify his point that cards are bad. The other, the prefect master, was did only enough to get us put off playing cards in the classroom, yet he left us disatisfied and fruastrated. He accused us of turning the classroom into a "gambling den". fine, I was playing cards, but I did not gamble. The word "gamble" suggests much more. It is almost impossible to gamble with bridge as its stakes are too high for most of us. Cards are a sign of gambling but many poker card games like hearts and bridge are being accepted as intellectual games. Bridge involves a lot of maths. It originated from the concept of vulnerability, and it is interesting to see how ppl describe their hands through the bids, how partners try to choose the best bid for themselves and how players play their cards in their attempt to set the contract. After saying all this, I will reiterate the point that I was wrong in playing cards in the classroom, it is not allowed under the school policy (I choose not to use the word "rule")and I knew it. However, the argument above is what I see as a major problem, that ppl see card games=unproductive=gambling thinking. Intellectual games that stimulate the mind should be allowed in the top, premier and pioneering school. I shall end off by narrating the events in the LT during Chem prac lockup. A description of the LT, I would take from the prefect master, "gambling den". Cards are everywhere, literally. Bridge, Hearts, Big Two, Stress are held simultaneously UNDER teacher's supervision apparently. To add on, some of them were even gambling with real money. The irony is that no one was "caugth", no one was told off, no one had their names taken down. Is it that our school's enforcement of its policy-fickle? Or is it that as a large group, we had extra privilleges that includes breaking the school policies? I don't know. At the end of the day, I was more amused than disturbed. I wonder why. Irony? Sacarsm? You choose. It's none of my buisness anymore...
hmm...lets start from tuesday. In the afternoon, was studying in school. About 15mins b4 leaving, decided to have a game of bridge to destress. In the second or third round, the door slammed open and a voice rang out "Put down!" In came the security guard Elangor. He confiscated the cards and started on a lecture on how cards are bad and can lead to fighting etc. After quite some time, he went off with a warning to us. No demerit point here though. The next day, day b4 chem prac, was in school again studying, again, some time b4 lunch, we started a bridge game. The door slammed open again and this time, a more weightly character stood at the door. He begined" Gentlemen, no....Children" He went by the book, confiscated the cards and took our names. From the short episode, I would say that the security guard is more worthy as an educator. He attempted to explain, identify, qualify his point that cards are bad. The other, the prefect master, was did only enough to get us put off playing cards in the classroom, yet he left us disatisfied and fruastrated. He accused us of turning the classroom into a "gambling den". fine, I was playing cards, but I did not gamble. The word "gamble" suggests much more. It is almost impossible to gamble with bridge as its stakes are too high for most of us. Cards are a sign of gambling but many poker card games like hearts and bridge are being accepted as intellectual games. Bridge involves a lot of maths. It originated from the concept of vulnerability, and it is interesting to see how ppl describe their hands through the bids, how partners try to choose the best bid for themselves and how players play their cards in their attempt to set the contract. After saying all this, I will reiterate the point that I was wrong in playing cards in the classroom, it is not allowed under the school policy (I choose not to use the word "rule")and I knew it. However, the argument above is what I see as a major problem, that ppl see card games=unproductive=gambling thinking. Intellectual games that stimulate the mind should be allowed in the top, premier and pioneering school. I shall end off by narrating the events in the LT during Chem prac lockup. A description of the LT, I would take from the prefect master, "gambling den". Cards are everywhere, literally. Bridge, Hearts, Big Two, Stress are held simultaneously UNDER teacher's supervision apparently. To add on, some of them were even gambling with real money. The irony is that no one was "caugth", no one was told off, no one had their names taken down. Is it that our school's enforcement of its policy-fickle? Or is it that as a large group, we had extra privilleges that includes breaking the school policies? I don't know. At the end of the day, I was more amused than disturbed. I wonder why. Irony? Sacarsm? You choose. It's none of my buisness anymore...
Saturday, October 16, 2004
I dun where should I start, how should I start. I know not how do I feel, how do I react. In the end, I'll be wrting glibberish but well, something has to be written. Its been 2 days and I think I can put events into rationale thoughts now.
The last day of school was rather uneventful. Was an NMA, thus played bridge at 4G. Then had two lessons and poof, we attended the last lesson and our secondary school academic chapter is closed. The whole class stayed in class after the report books were given out and startrd to pose for photos. Was a nostalgic moment when we tore down the notice boards and the classroom was reduced to what it was before, whitewash and empty. The lockers were emptied, every single thing that was not there at the start of the year was thrown, taken away, devasted. It seems to be the cycle of life, of moving on, of maturing, yet human's greatest double-edged knife, love, passion, pinch at which it hurt most, parting ways. It was not without anticipation that this day would come, but the impact, like death, took its toll on me. When I stepped into the classroom the start of the year, I told myself, I had one year left to not regret my choice to come to RI and take away the most exquisite and wonderful memories of secondary school days. My sec 1 and 2s were a mess, it was only in sec 3 that i began to understand why many great Rafflesians still finds it hard to forget RI. "You reap what you sow" How true. In sec 3 and 4, I put in everything I had into my CCA, into school activities, involving in a much higher level of events than in lower sec. I was duly rewarded...with experience, with friendship, with love, with care tht is so uniquely RI. RI devasted my lower sec days and picked me up in my upper sec days. They say "Only when a man is destroyed, then will he learn. Only when he learns, then will he progress." I thank you RI, for providing me with the failures and sucesses, with the disappointment and euphoria, for teaching me how to love, how to feel and most importantly for making me who I am today...
Graduation...with a bit of laughter, a bit of tears
Sat afternoon was grad ceremony. Again I understood why other schools, even top schools cannot compare with RI. RI seeks to provide the experience, like in this instance, how many schools would provide for a formal ceremony where you receive your graduation certs like in the university. Yes, you may say its formalities, but I am sure, no one would be quick to forget the moment they had on stage, being the pride of the school, the parents, the teachers and being appreciated and sent off appropiately. Many speeches were made and they all carried blessings. We had went through 4 years to live this day, what so sigificant is not the day itself but the 4 yrs. A video was shown, capturing images from sec 1-4. From orientation camp in sec 1, to the many batch activities and daily, trivial activities were recorded. They indeed brought laughter, but along with laughter came the tears. No matter how much you deny, the Rafflesian experience had become part of us. The pain, agony, tears, laughter, euphoria bound us together. After the day, nothing changes, life goes on, we go our separate ways, to JCs and Us, but....we'll remember the day where the batch song and school song were loudly sung for the last time........together......Whether you believe it or not, I almost teared during the ceremony, esp. when Mrs Koh was on the verge of tears, her voice breaking and hoarse. and I almost teared again reliving the experience in words...but...thats the exact feeling i wanted....if I did not tear, it would mean that my choice in P6 had been a great great mistake. Same thing applies for all of u out there, if u do not feel, then it is just so sad.
Okae...graduation's over...i shall make some updates to the few days after
Open Houses
in a short span of 48 hrs, I went to TJC, MJC, VJC open houses. TJC was on the last day of school. We reached there at about 3.30 i believe. I dunno but I felt rather oppressed in there. Yes, the ppl were helpful and some of the activities were rather interesting, but its just the whole atmosphere that didn't click. The group of us who went got bored soon and went to MJ. reached MJ at about 5pm? one hour before closing. Well....they were obviously much more delightful than TJ as much as I can tell, though we got some strange stares here and there. Who says RI ppl cannot go MJ?(indignantly) The thing that caught my eye was its CO. At its current strength, it would have been all but wise to join. But, there is a very huge BUT, the diff is that the conductor is Guo Ling Qiang Lao Shi, vice-conductor to SCO. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that their instruments were brand new and the timpanis were shiny...Thus i formed up this rather fallible argument, but it sounds logical though. Why stress urself up and travel more than 2hrs each day to go somewhere where a percussion teacher is non-existant when right at your doorstep, there is a super pro teacher waiting to teach u and the stress level, entry requirements are much lower. Furthermore, the chance of a leadership position is much higher becoz of a "glorious past". I'll get more CCA points, save on travelling time, get my grades, get a better testimonial due to a better chance of leadership position, have a super zai teacher to teach you, have brand new instruments staring at you. ppl out there, offer me a reason not to go to this JC. The only one I can thinf of so far is that i lose the rafflesian prestige and perhaps end up with 10000 unwanted abortions as quoted from Xunqi. Well.. guess I got to start weighing my options. Today in the LT, Bjorn made a statement that goes "RJ is a cold heartless place, they'll slam you out of a CCA if you do not have past experience or have not met entry requirement. Contrasted with NJ (for example), they allow you to join any CCA as long as you put ur heart in it." Tell me now, which is the obvious choice?
The last JC i went was VJ. Nothing much to say,just that their goodie bag veri gd, also got free ice-cream and free Milo, veri propagandive and attractive in a way. but in any way, i'll consider MJ b4 VJ. VJ, MJ, well done on your open house. TJ, I believe you need to improve to captivate more of the sec 4 innocous heart.
The last day of school was rather uneventful. Was an NMA, thus played bridge at 4G. Then had two lessons and poof, we attended the last lesson and our secondary school academic chapter is closed. The whole class stayed in class after the report books were given out and startrd to pose for photos. Was a nostalgic moment when we tore down the notice boards and the classroom was reduced to what it was before, whitewash and empty. The lockers were emptied, every single thing that was not there at the start of the year was thrown, taken away, devasted. It seems to be the cycle of life, of moving on, of maturing, yet human's greatest double-edged knife, love, passion, pinch at which it hurt most, parting ways. It was not without anticipation that this day would come, but the impact, like death, took its toll on me. When I stepped into the classroom the start of the year, I told myself, I had one year left to not regret my choice to come to RI and take away the most exquisite and wonderful memories of secondary school days. My sec 1 and 2s were a mess, it was only in sec 3 that i began to understand why many great Rafflesians still finds it hard to forget RI. "You reap what you sow" How true. In sec 3 and 4, I put in everything I had into my CCA, into school activities, involving in a much higher level of events than in lower sec. I was duly rewarded...with experience, with friendship, with love, with care tht is so uniquely RI. RI devasted my lower sec days and picked me up in my upper sec days. They say "Only when a man is destroyed, then will he learn. Only when he learns, then will he progress." I thank you RI, for providing me with the failures and sucesses, with the disappointment and euphoria, for teaching me how to love, how to feel and most importantly for making me who I am today...
Graduation...with a bit of laughter, a bit of tears
Sat afternoon was grad ceremony. Again I understood why other schools, even top schools cannot compare with RI. RI seeks to provide the experience, like in this instance, how many schools would provide for a formal ceremony where you receive your graduation certs like in the university. Yes, you may say its formalities, but I am sure, no one would be quick to forget the moment they had on stage, being the pride of the school, the parents, the teachers and being appreciated and sent off appropiately. Many speeches were made and they all carried blessings. We had went through 4 years to live this day, what so sigificant is not the day itself but the 4 yrs. A video was shown, capturing images from sec 1-4. From orientation camp in sec 1, to the many batch activities and daily, trivial activities were recorded. They indeed brought laughter, but along with laughter came the tears. No matter how much you deny, the Rafflesian experience had become part of us. The pain, agony, tears, laughter, euphoria bound us together. After the day, nothing changes, life goes on, we go our separate ways, to JCs and Us, but....we'll remember the day where the batch song and school song were loudly sung for the last time........together......Whether you believe it or not, I almost teared during the ceremony, esp. when Mrs Koh was on the verge of tears, her voice breaking and hoarse. and I almost teared again reliving the experience in words...but...thats the exact feeling i wanted....if I did not tear, it would mean that my choice in P6 had been a great great mistake. Same thing applies for all of u out there, if u do not feel, then it is just so sad.
Okae...graduation's over...i shall make some updates to the few days after
Open Houses
in a short span of 48 hrs, I went to TJC, MJC, VJC open houses. TJC was on the last day of school. We reached there at about 3.30 i believe. I dunno but I felt rather oppressed in there. Yes, the ppl were helpful and some of the activities were rather interesting, but its just the whole atmosphere that didn't click. The group of us who went got bored soon and went to MJ. reached MJ at about 5pm? one hour before closing. Well....they were obviously much more delightful than TJ as much as I can tell, though we got some strange stares here and there. Who says RI ppl cannot go MJ?(indignantly) The thing that caught my eye was its CO. At its current strength, it would have been all but wise to join. But, there is a very huge BUT, the diff is that the conductor is Guo Ling Qiang Lao Shi, vice-conductor to SCO. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that their instruments were brand new and the timpanis were shiny...Thus i formed up this rather fallible argument, but it sounds logical though. Why stress urself up and travel more than 2hrs each day to go somewhere where a percussion teacher is non-existant when right at your doorstep, there is a super pro teacher waiting to teach u and the stress level, entry requirements are much lower. Furthermore, the chance of a leadership position is much higher becoz of a "glorious past". I'll get more CCA points, save on travelling time, get my grades, get a better testimonial due to a better chance of leadership position, have a super zai teacher to teach you, have brand new instruments staring at you. ppl out there, offer me a reason not to go to this JC. The only one I can thinf of so far is that i lose the rafflesian prestige and perhaps end up with 10000 unwanted abortions as quoted from Xunqi. Well.. guess I got to start weighing my options. Today in the LT, Bjorn made a statement that goes "RJ is a cold heartless place, they'll slam you out of a CCA if you do not have past experience or have not met entry requirement. Contrasted with NJ (for example), they allow you to join any CCA as long as you put ur heart in it." Tell me now, which is the obvious choice?
The last JC i went was VJ. Nothing much to say,just that their goodie bag veri gd, also got free ice-cream and free Milo, veri propagandive and attractive in a way. but in any way, i'll consider MJ b4 VJ. VJ, MJ, well done on your open house. TJ, I believe you need to improve to captivate more of the sec 4 innocous heart.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Okae, i'll try to keep it short today. I dun have much time anw. So just dropping back to record some of the feelings and emotions. Had a massive headache yesterday, was intending to blog, but never did and never did i complete the hw. It was only today that I found out that it was the fourth last day of school. Well..in pri sch...after PSLE, we had the 1 month together before we moved on. But now, even when nostalgia sets in, it is overwhelmed by the stress from O's, the mugging "festivity" and the dog eat dog rat race.It is just so hard to sit down as a class and realise that this is the last few moments we are going to spend together. It is even harder to engage in romantic moods in which the impact of parting is fully felt. We are so hard-pressed these days. If u wan work, there was work. In fact, there is more work than we can do and the mounting stacks of paper just adds to the painful reminder that o's are in a week. While we are so stressed out, my message to all of u is ppl, chill out. Yes, O levels are once in a lifetime, but i feel that since this world we see is made up of ppl, ppl must come b4 anything else, even grades. Grades are superficial. You can't judge a person from grades This is learnt from a painful personal encounter 2 yrs ago and i hope no one would repeat this mistake.
I'll leave u with yet another song. This time- N'sync with This I Promise You
"This I Promise You"
Ohh ohh...
When the visions around you,
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surround you,
Are secrets and lies
I'll be your strength,
I'll give you hope,
Keeping your faith when it's gone
The one you should call,
Was standing here all along..
And I will take
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
I've loved you forever,
In lifetimes before
And I promise you never...
Will you hurt anymore
I give you my word
I give you my heart (give you my heart)
This is a battle we've won
And with this vow,
Forever has now begun...
Just close your eyes (close your eyes)
Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away (no..)
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you..
This I promise you..
Over and over I fall (over and over I fall)
When I hear you call
Without you in my life baby
I just wouldn't be living at all...
And I will take (I will take you in my arms)
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong (right where you belong)
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you baby
Just close your eyes
Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away (no..)
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
Ooh, I promise you...
What defines a person is his love.
I'll leave u with yet another song. This time- N'sync with This I Promise You
"This I Promise You"
Ohh ohh...
When the visions around you,
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surround you,
Are secrets and lies
I'll be your strength,
I'll give you hope,
Keeping your faith when it's gone
The one you should call,
Was standing here all along..
And I will take
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
I've loved you forever,
In lifetimes before
And I promise you never...
Will you hurt anymore
I give you my word
I give you my heart (give you my heart)
This is a battle we've won
And with this vow,
Forever has now begun...
Just close your eyes (close your eyes)
Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away (no..)
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you..
This I promise you..
Over and over I fall (over and over I fall)
When I hear you call
Without you in my life baby
I just wouldn't be living at all...
And I will take (I will take you in my arms)
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong (right where you belong)
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you baby
Just close your eyes
Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away (no..)
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
Ooh, I promise you...
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
I really shouldn't be here today but I had really wanted to blog yesterday but my lit essay took 1 hr more than expected and so there...Yesterday made and broke many people and if you still do not knoe what I am talking about, I'm talking about grades, more specifically, moderation. Yes, I knoe I said in my last entry I'm laying off grades, I still maintain that stance, just that I was a little disturbed at how this grades moderation thingy affected others. While, Mr Mac says that moderation is based on the "paper hardness", what we cannot deny that it is all in statistics. By reducing human to mere numbers obviously has its drawbacks. Till now, I question the "fairness" of moderation. True 6-pointers lose their prestige, people get a false impression of their results. I wouldn't dare to flaunt my 6 points and compare it with other people who got theirs before moderation. Just to quote a casual example, mok got his 6 points before moderation. After moderation, I am on the same level as him if not higher due to my 9 distinctions where he only got 8. The report card we get will not show our actual marks, thus in a way, I have beat him....through moderation....Thus, I was disgusted, at how people start flaunting their moderated results as if we really deserved them. I cannot deny that moderation is a must, but the apparent message that has gotten across to us was far less encouraging. Mr Mac apparently did not get his point across, I must say, sadly...
Enough of grades, i say, Let man perish in them for all they want. Today, I met my senior again, the one currently in army. Okae, he's not really in army now, his NS was disrupted, took up a scholarship and is currently studying medical at NUS. Well, I asked him about JC choice and subject combinations. What I gathered is as follows, if you want to do arts, HC is the best, science, RJ, and he added that VJ might be a good choice because of its distance and school culture. If you are looking for girls, never go RJ as I quote "those chio one will "dao" you". May I add that he was from RJ as well doing triple science. Next, subjects combi, for science stream is obvious, if you want your options as open as possible, do triple science. For arts, econs is a must as a back-up for a good career prospect. Basically, it boils down to whether you know what you want. If you cannot decide yet, take triple science and you will be able to choose again in uni. If your path is set, then do what you want and score in them. The difference is that you might need to spend more years in uni if you decide to switch from science to arts then, for the other way, it is impossible to switch from arts to science, so if you take arts, you got to be very sure that this is the path you want to pick.
Finally, I shall point out a piece of information I sourced over the net and papers. Note: I am not 100% sure, so please do not quote me.
In striats times forum last week, there was a letter titled "Counsel Idiosyncratic Teachers". The letter is about teachers that cannot communicate well should be counselled as well. The writer draws our attention to 2 specific case studies, one in which the teacher points a middle finger at a student and ask him to laugh, the other in which the teacher deemed looking at certain parts of the human anatomy was disrespectful. I've read it and I was disturbed when the writer commented "Mind you, this is an top independent school." I thought hmm....so I went to the net and sourced information and came to conclusion that the writer was indeed refering to a teacher in RI. Gosh...I was stunned and rather amused at the same time. Anyway, my stand is that the writer was writing rubbish( jie4 ti2 fa1 hui1 would be the best chinese idiom for it) and if she had a point, she destroyed it with her excessive use of "propagandish" language and an improper tone to sum it off. In today's paper, a reader replied with "It takes 2 or even 3 to clap" After reading the article, I have only 1 thought: my sentiments exactly." Well, such issues are sometiimes worth discussing over a cup of tea...
Enough of grades, i say, Let man perish in them for all they want. Today, I met my senior again, the one currently in army. Okae, he's not really in army now, his NS was disrupted, took up a scholarship and is currently studying medical at NUS. Well, I asked him about JC choice and subject combinations. What I gathered is as follows, if you want to do arts, HC is the best, science, RJ, and he added that VJ might be a good choice because of its distance and school culture. If you are looking for girls, never go RJ as I quote "those chio one will "dao" you". May I add that he was from RJ as well doing triple science. Next, subjects combi, for science stream is obvious, if you want your options as open as possible, do triple science. For arts, econs is a must as a back-up for a good career prospect. Basically, it boils down to whether you know what you want. If you cannot decide yet, take triple science and you will be able to choose again in uni. If your path is set, then do what you want and score in them. The difference is that you might need to spend more years in uni if you decide to switch from science to arts then, for the other way, it is impossible to switch from arts to science, so if you take arts, you got to be very sure that this is the path you want to pick.
Finally, I shall point out a piece of information I sourced over the net and papers. Note: I am not 100% sure, so please do not quote me.
In striats times forum last week, there was a letter titled "Counsel Idiosyncratic Teachers". The letter is about teachers that cannot communicate well should be counselled as well. The writer draws our attention to 2 specific case studies, one in which the teacher points a middle finger at a student and ask him to laugh, the other in which the teacher deemed looking at certain parts of the human anatomy was disrespectful. I've read it and I was disturbed when the writer commented "Mind you, this is an top independent school." I thought hmm....so I went to the net and sourced information and came to conclusion that the writer was indeed refering to a teacher in RI. Gosh...I was stunned and rather amused at the same time. Anyway, my stand is that the writer was writing rubbish( jie4 ti2 fa1 hui1 would be the best chinese idiom for it) and if she had a point, she destroyed it with her excessive use of "propagandish" language and an improper tone to sum it off. In today's paper, a reader replied with "It takes 2 or even 3 to clap" After reading the article, I have only 1 thought: my sentiments exactly." Well, such issues are sometiimes worth discussing over a cup of tea...
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
The walls are closing in, I'm confunded.
All the prelim results were given back in these 3 days not only for RI but for many sec schools as well. My results are rather nice in stats, 9 dist., L1 R5: 6, L1 R5: 7. Well, my feelings throughout these three days fluctuated a lot.
Day 1
Well, we got back A maths, SS, Chem and HCL. Well, 2 A1s, 2 A2s. Well, the only depressing note was that I lost to Mok and Boon beside me for first 3 subs.
Day 2
THe climax took place. Hist, Maths and Physics, allowing 6 subs just nice to calculate L1 R5. It was 8 at that time. Then Mok and Eric went to Mrs Koh for Lit and Eng marks to confirm their 6 pts. There, perhaps I felt a little pressure at tht pt of time to perform as well. Well, after sch went to look for Mrs Koh for marks and I got my 7 with both my humance at A2. For a short while, I felt dissatisfied, I felt shattered. Yes, perhaps its the ego, its the framed perfection that was not met. But I soon realised otherwise. It was Mid-Autumn Festival and at night I went to the park that connected to the beach. It was there where I changed my whole perception of the prelims and the O's. The air was cool after the rain, the moon was bright and round. The usually queit park still held its tranquility but as one strolls through the park, occasional festive noises and laughter would be heard. Children were running around with a lantern, couples were sitting facing the sea, families were reunited ( as in chinese ren2 yuan2 yue4 yuan2). The atmosphere was friendly and held peace, I felt relaxed, like I had never b4 for the past few months. I stood on the beach, listening to the waves crashing and the wind blowing, admiring the moon in the distance, examining the length of shadows, reverting back to the natural self of man. As I looked towards the horizon, my heart told me that none of those things I have in the urbanised world counted for anything. It was a feeling that I could not understand. Therefore, I stood and marveled at nature, amazed and free at last.
Day 3
I went to school a much happier person than the day before. Got back english, bio and lit. a1,a1,a2. Thus making up all my 9 distinctions. I am no longer affected when someone tells me he got 6 pts. I do not react when someone tells me he got 74 and whine away how he lost the a1 when I got 70 and needed moderation of a whole grade to get the a1. Why? Because I've seen too much, heard too much and cannot feel that much. I've see ppl get C6 passes and they cried tears of joy, I've seen ppl get A2 and they cried tears of sadness. I've seen ppl trying their very best, slogging their hearts out and getting a pass, I've seen ppl slack through school, only to score an A1 in the end. I've seen so much that it suddenly just doesn't matter anymore. The obsession grades have caused is really too much for me to take, that I sometimes really not want to care. Zongjin has kindly helped me to appeal for my A2 CCA grade but I decided that enough was enough. I'm washing my hands off grades. I will just do my best and leave the rest for others to judge and critisize and at the end of the day, live my life the way I want it.
Only when we look forward to death, then perhaps we had really lived....
All the prelim results were given back in these 3 days not only for RI but for many sec schools as well. My results are rather nice in stats, 9 dist., L1 R5: 6, L1 R5: 7. Well, my feelings throughout these three days fluctuated a lot.
Day 1
Well, we got back A maths, SS, Chem and HCL. Well, 2 A1s, 2 A2s. Well, the only depressing note was that I lost to Mok and Boon beside me for first 3 subs.
Day 2
THe climax took place. Hist, Maths and Physics, allowing 6 subs just nice to calculate L1 R5. It was 8 at that time. Then Mok and Eric went to Mrs Koh for Lit and Eng marks to confirm their 6 pts. There, perhaps I felt a little pressure at tht pt of time to perform as well. Well, after sch went to look for Mrs Koh for marks and I got my 7 with both my humance at A2. For a short while, I felt dissatisfied, I felt shattered. Yes, perhaps its the ego, its the framed perfection that was not met. But I soon realised otherwise. It was Mid-Autumn Festival and at night I went to the park that connected to the beach. It was there where I changed my whole perception of the prelims and the O's. The air was cool after the rain, the moon was bright and round. The usually queit park still held its tranquility but as one strolls through the park, occasional festive noises and laughter would be heard. Children were running around with a lantern, couples were sitting facing the sea, families were reunited ( as in chinese ren2 yuan2 yue4 yuan2). The atmosphere was friendly and held peace, I felt relaxed, like I had never b4 for the past few months. I stood on the beach, listening to the waves crashing and the wind blowing, admiring the moon in the distance, examining the length of shadows, reverting back to the natural self of man. As I looked towards the horizon, my heart told me that none of those things I have in the urbanised world counted for anything. It was a feeling that I could not understand. Therefore, I stood and marveled at nature, amazed and free at last.
Day 3
I went to school a much happier person than the day before. Got back english, bio and lit. a1,a1,a2. Thus making up all my 9 distinctions. I am no longer affected when someone tells me he got 6 pts. I do not react when someone tells me he got 74 and whine away how he lost the a1 when I got 70 and needed moderation of a whole grade to get the a1. Why? Because I've seen too much, heard too much and cannot feel that much. I've see ppl get C6 passes and they cried tears of joy, I've seen ppl get A2 and they cried tears of sadness. I've seen ppl trying their very best, slogging their hearts out and getting a pass, I've seen ppl slack through school, only to score an A1 in the end. I've seen so much that it suddenly just doesn't matter anymore. The obsession grades have caused is really too much for me to take, that I sometimes really not want to care. Zongjin has kindly helped me to appeal for my A2 CCA grade but I decided that enough was enough. I'm washing my hands off grades. I will just do my best and leave the rest for others to judge and critisize and at the end of the day, live my life the way I want it.
Only when we look forward to death, then perhaps we had really lived....
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Whatever started it shall end it.....
Raffles Institution Prelimary Examinations 2004
English Paper 1
Duration: 1h 30 min
Section B- Functional Writing (250 - 350 words)
The prelims exam has just ended, you are now taking a break before studying for the "O"s
again. Write, as though you were writing in a "blog", your feelings and reflections during the
prelims and your plans for the next few days. Your prose may include the following:
-How the standard of each paper was and how you did.
-Your prediction of each of the nine subject grades and your "ideal JC"
-What problems you faced and how you handled them.
-Your assessment of the rationale of the prelims and your thoughts and reflection.
Hi, I'm finally back, after a long, gruelling and ardous experience. They say its the horror
movie that is filmed in all secondary schools and it is to run for two weeks. They say its the
sec 4 prelims. Let dive straight into it.
Day 1 (Physics Practical)
Standard of paper- easy
Prediction- high A1 score
After forcing myself to look at practicals over the past 2 years the day before, they came up
with something with requires little to no theory. Focal length of converging lens and ocillations
of a pendulum+basic stuff like measuring mass and volume... A big hu-ha was made about how long
is the focal length, but it turned out rather alrite..
Day 2 (English)
standard of paper- (paper 1) moderate
(paper 2) hard:(
prediction- at most low A1...
It started off quite okay as writing was expected to be hard and topic like "Walls" came
out,leading people to think about ice-cream at a "couldn't be more unappropiate" time. The compre
killed us all, with the summary resposible for most casualties. An expository on education
system, need I say more?
Day 3 (Chinese)
Standard of paper- (paper 1) average
(paper 3) easy?
prediction- A1 seems possible but it would be fatal to make predictions now as the chinese
paper is always unpredictable.
The writing part was okae, with its topic a little bit strange, "the lack of Nobel prize
winners in Sg". Paper 2 was rather easy, easiest in 10 yrs, commented TPH, hopefully the results
show likewise.
Day 4 (Chem Practical)
Standard of paper- titration-easy
QA- moderate
prediction- borderline A1 to med-high A1 seems possible
Titration was simple as i hit both the accurate titre values both time and i wasted little
time in thinking to plot for the experiment. QA is a little shaky for me as i failed to identify
oxygen in the 1st test and failed to observe a change as i did not add enough silver nitrate. The
unknown was apparently some rubydium nitrate. Transition metal salt...yucks...
Day 5 (SS + E maths 2)
Standard of paper - SS- easy? E maths 2- even easier?
prediction- SS- borderline A1 at most
E maths 2- high A1
SS structured qns were suprisingly easy but i found a flaw in my argument only when i reached
home, so maybe i would not get the level 5. SBQ was a killer, at least for me, finished in 40
mins and spending like 15 mins on the 1st qn decided if a source was more reliable than the
other... E maths was easy that i could only find 1 mistake so far....
Day 6 (Biology)
Standard of paper- 1 - easy
2 - hard
prediction- hope for a borderline A1Paper 1 was rather easy, after comparing answer only found 2 to 3 wrong, so... thats quite good.
Paper 2 was disastrous for me, spent too much time on structured that i have to rush through the
essay questions. Some of the structured questions were quite hard too...so hope they mod...
Day 7 (A Maths 1)
Standard of paper- moderate
prediction- anything from B4 to borderline A1
It was a normal paper, finishing 15 mins before time and was staring at a qn which i found out
much later on to be so simple...o_O.. The reason for the big range is becoz i have 7 marks gone
due to a stupid assumption made and 12 marks at stake in Linear Law as I wasn't even sure if my
graph was correct...
Day 8 (Chem + Hist)
Standard of paper chem 1- easy chem 2- easy Hist - moderate
Prediction- Chem A1
Hist- at most borderline A1
Chem papers were supposed to be hard according to previous prelim papers but they do not
appear to be so this yr i think due to the killer schedule (2 mugging-intensive subs on the same
day) and to make up for chem prac QA. Morale booster. Hist was next and i didn't like the
structured qns. I think i missed out the main point in the 1st qn and i was crapping for the 2nd
qn. Source- based was alright though, the all time favourte "inference qn" came back after it
presence being sorely missed in the SS paper.
Day 9 (Physics 2 and A Maths 2)
Standard of paper Physics 2- moderate
A Maths 2- easy to a slight extent
Prediction- Physics A2?
A Maths A1 i hope
Physics was supposed to be my pet subject, yet it is so screwed this yr. I got stuck at the
first qn only answering it in the last 5 mins. I left 1 two mark qn blank....my essay qn got 1
part totally wrong as i misunderstood the qn....With this kind of mistakes, the chance of an A1
is quite low, but I'm banking in on the other qns being well done to score. Hope my paper 1 and
prac can pull this up.
Day 10 (Maths 1 + Lit)
Standard of paper- Maths- easy
Lit - moderate
Prediction- Maths A1
Lit borderline A1
Maths paper 1, like its counterpart, was a breeze and a great morale booster. Till now, its
still at a 100% record:) Lit paper 1 was okae i guess. I jumped into poetry part (c) without
seeing the second part and in the end could only squeeze out 1 quote...hopefully that does not
affect my score... The prose was rather easy as it was different(hmm... this sounds
contradictory) The language was different and the symbolism and sacarsm was so strong that it was
hard to miss the point, still the qn made it hard for us to put the point into words. Lit paper
2, 12th Night. An unexpected theme threw me offguard as i scrambled an essay that was incoherent
...the given text was even worst, the second part did not have a thing to do with the text...
Day 11 (Bio Prac)
Standard of paper- EASY
Prediction- NOT more than a A1
Note the contrasting details, yeah, that means i screwed it up. Only figured everything at 9pm
at night. Yeah, for those interested... W1 has more starch than W2. S4 has most reducing sugar,
followed by S2, then S3 and finally S1. And note, i got the first part rite, yet the second part
wrong...
Day 12 (Physics 1)
standard of paper- expected moderate
Prediction- A1No more shall be said
With that 288 hrs of horror, the eposide "prelims" is officially closed.My L1R5 target would
be a single digit, which sounds reasonable to me. Just hoping the teachers will practice mercy
with their pens these few days.... Looking at the recent spade of events, i can't help having a
forum to post my self-opinionated views on these events in the blog. I shall try to keep it short
and snappy.
Case 1: The rhetorical "5-day week"
PM Lee said in his National Day rally that the civil service and schs and the army will lead
the nation to a "5-day week". This means 44 hrs for working ppl in 5 days as set by the MOM,
though it reminded of the "three-day week" in Animal Farm proposed by Snowball aka Trotsky in
Russia. For schs, a unique guideline was introduced stating that sch-initiated activities are not
to be carried out on Sats, only student-initiated activities are allowed and the emphasis on not
pushing all the work from Sat to Fri. Here there are two points of contention:Firstly, the workers are asked to squeeze their worktime into the 5 days yet schs are given the
priviledge of cutting down of syllabus. This could only mean 2 things. One, the workers have more
work to do at home and two, the cutting down of syllabus and homework are only in statistics.Secondly, the widely-contended student-initiated activity, define it. If a student initiate an
activity not approved by the sch, is it still a student-initiated activity. Going the other way,
if the activity is approved by the sch, what diff is it from a sch-initiated activity. The line
that sets them apart is blurred... Hopefully, no Boxer would be produced from this change.
Looking for manifestations within the sch...
Case 1: The apparent mystery of the Sec 4's misbehavior during Prelim peroid
Sec 4s within 1 and half weeks, were crowned as a "disgrace" to the school for some rowdy
behavior during morning assembly. Lets try to put things into perspective.On the side of the students, we do not see why we need to attend flag-raising as 1, most
annoucements do not concern us, 2, our exams were within 30mins and 3, walking in to a exam hall
sweaty and irritated by the irrelevance of the speaker during assembly isn't really the "
condusive" environment the sch so speak of to seek to provide.On the side of the sch authorities, it is a matter of policy, as we learnt in SS, since 1960s,
all schs in sg have been having flag-raising every morning and MOE states that it is compulsory
for every student to attend flag-raising. We all knoe the reasons behind this policy and today I
find myself sitting on the fence. The students have the right to be restless and talk during
assembly, they(we) were being excluded. Since the sch excluded us, why should we pay attention?
Two, with an exam so close, it is inexorable that we would feel nervous and talking is one of the
best ways of reducing fear and reinforcing ideas. Yet, we are forgetting a pertinent point, that
we are questioning the system that gave us what we needed to ask this qn in the first place. Such
we cannot deny, much less refute. Therefore, the behavior is understandable(if there is such
word), yet it contradicts ourselves. Unless like 50% of the whole cohort decides not to turn up
for morning assembly, then maybe we'll have a case, yet drastic actions are uncalled for. Thus, i
can conclude safely that this selfish, instinctive behavior by the sec 4s would gradually
diminish after the prelims though how gradual can the last 3 weeks be...
Case 2: A Case of a errant student or the failure of the CLE policy?
On the final day of the prelims, the sec 4s grudgingly strutted into the parade square for
flag-raising and annoucement. All was going well, or i thought, except the sun was already high
up and the speakers seemed to fail to notice this fact. Well...after all of us were sweating and
swearing away at the school's policy, a person of "great weight" decided to take the podium of
inform us of an incident that took place recently in the school. A apparent mysterious boy had
used a school's lock (as in standardised for whole school) to lock an ice-cream box that
contained ice-cream to be sold to raise funds for MINDs by Red Cross i believe. Now, our first
reaction is obviously humour due to our impure, sadistic mind. Thus, laughter travelled through
the parade square at the speed of 300m/s. A "this is not funny" travelled at the same speed soon
after though its amplitude was many many time larger and its tone was of anger and upset. So,
lets not point out who's right and who's wrong, rather step back and see thw whole picture.Firstly, why did the apparent boy do this? I don't have an answer but I do question the validity
of the claim that one of us did it. No evidence was shown through the process. Two, the sec 4s
were blamed for "not stopping the ""apparent boy"" in his act". Yet, they did not realise that of
the boy was to persist and bide his time, he would have found a way to do this unnoticed.
Furthermore, if the first does not stand, the second claim is "gone with the wind".Okae, now lets assume that a student did it, we need to ask why? Is it the failure of our CLE (
character Leadership Programme)? Could a student who took CLE and philosophy do this? According
to the system, no. Therefore, it could only be the failure of this system that lead to this act.
And why did the programme fail, its manifestation clearly seen in the laughing students, is the
more pertinent question, i think, rather than who did it.
JC talks
The marking days of the prelims were set aside for JC talks from the top 5 JCs in Sg. Me, as a
enthusist in propaganda and the use of language attended these talks trying to sieve out facts
from honey-lined words. Here are my accounts.
Raffles Junior College (Open House : 22nd Oct 10am-5pm)
Yes, the all so famous top JC that is affliated to the same great man that founded Singapore
and our school. The team that came were obviously extremely sure of themselves that they needed
no advertising...What they needed was(as they felt) impact, pompousity. Jargon were littered on
their powerpoint slides. Words they used were profound and sent a signal to the layman in RI, YOU
ARE NOT SUITED TO BE HERE. WE ARE ONLY OPEN TO GENIUSES. And yes, i should observe a very
sensitive trend, that they like to let their "British-like" Singaporeans to talk to us, using
heavily slanged English that had 90% of the audience stumped. However, we should applaud them for
their open policy, throwing at us all the achievements they achieved, lists after lists, item
after item. The seniors that came did not help much, after much probing, all I could gather from
their speech was RI Is not equal to RJC. At the end of the day. they had 3 hrs, 3 times as much
time as any other JC, yet as a stereotyped layman, I can straightaway tell you that my interest
in Rj had decreased proportionally to tht time they spent talking to us. However, as a observer,
this was a guarantee, that the environment would be competitive enough for the non self-motivated
and that they had the prestige. When they spoke, there's this air of superiority that I would not
deem as negative, and I believe that it is that air of "limited arrogance" that would bring a
person to greater heights. To sum it up, if you want to make it big in life, go RJ.
Hwa Chong Junior College (Open House : 22nd Oct 10am-5pm)
oh, sorry, next yr it would be called Hwa Chong Institute. The team, by far, was the most
well-prepared and came with one solitary purpose, entertain and attract, in other words,
propaganda. Thus, we were thoughly entertained by the wit, humour and the plain "spirit". The
presentation started with their GP teachers telling us 43 reasons to go to Hwa Chong, though he
was stuttering at first, he soon found his tone to produce a rousing speech that was magical.
Next, they played a video to promote their sch. They made advertisements that had a sting becoz
of one, their familiarity (ie.Henniken and HP), two, the amount of effort put in. I was rather
moved by the fact that they actually prepared so much for us when most of us had already made up
our mind where to go. Yet, this was trivial compared to what happened next. The humanities
teacher, I forgot his name, who started the humanities programme I think entertained us with a
witty speech laced with humour. The physical appearance wasn't exactly pleasing to the eye yet he
had a unique charisma, an ability to attract and capture attention. He often made digs at Mr Mac
by referring to RJC as "the other institute", sprayed insults at us and yet make it sound funny.
Then came the students, by which a few commented that was the only team who brought girls to
speak to us. We were reassured numerous times that we would feel like "family" within HC, making
me wonder if this is all but a self-fufilling prophecy. Still, they spoke convincingly and their
happy-go-lucky attitude contrasted with the RJ team, allowing them to score even higher. At the
end of the presentation, I think Mr Mac, worried that RJC had lost its appeal to us, requested to
say a few words. He refered to one of the GP teachers reason that a certain teacher was the most
handsome in HC as being the exact reason why he would not go HC. Oh, then he so light-hearted
atrributed the humanities' teacher reference to "the other institution" was due to "his lack of
vocabulary". He made one final dig, at their student concil pres, a certain female by the name
Faith I believe, that RI students respond well to "Faith"(Double pun!!!) in reference to an event
where a RI student toned down and used a high pitched voice to respond to her. The unintended
victim of the circumtance stood up to protest but was duely cut off so aptly by Mr Mac. Mr Mac
then left the room with this "triumphant" look on his face and I left the LT, totally tickled by
the events and reaffirmed my "faith" that English is such a wonderful language.
Temasek Junior College (Open House : 15th Oct 10am-5pm)
This one is rather cold, if you get what I mean. If you don't, read on. When I entered the LT,
it was dark and a video was screening. I sat down, watched the video and when the lights came on,
a vivacious young lady who claimed to be a former Rafflesian came out. I thought that was rather
normal, but...I was wrong. The first ominous signs came when she took on the phrase "vibrant
culture" mentioned by one of us as an aspect o JC we would look out for, and pun it with
................................guess.......................active bacteria in a microculture(
applause) the whole Lt suddenly felt very cold and i thoght eddison was bad enough...She then
went on to tell us how the sch won a NoBell prize (no, there is no spelling error), indeed as
their sch bell often not ring due to certain defects and how this causes lesson to be BOring, (
hokkein "BO" means no) Again, the temp in the LT dropped. When I left the LT, I was effectively
thawing...
National Junior College (Open House : 16th Oct 10am-3pm)
Nothing much to say about this. They were pretty formal and therefore so were we.
Victoria Junior College (Open House : 16th Oct 10am-3pm)
hmm...This seems like a toned-down version of HC's presentation. The principal was one funky
one, a female somemore. It appears that she could relate perfectly to us teenagers although with
her not so perfect singapore accented English. The wonderful display convinced me to add VJ to my
list of considerations because of its proximity to my house...
Well. folks, in a few days the prelims results would be back and then I would really be able
to set down my choices for JC. On an ending note, I've added a tagboard due to demand from snl
and I'll leave you with a song, the one playing in the background now. X- Japan------Tears.
ps. I think I exceeded 350 words and the midi file really doesn't do X-Japan justice, so if u
like the song, go find the real version.
TEARS
doko ni yukebaii anata to hanarete
ima wa sugisatta toki ni toi kakete
nagasugita yoru ni tobidachi wo yume mita
ikoku no sora mitsumete
kodoku wo dakishimete
nagareru namida wo toki no kaze ni kasanete
owaranai anata no toiki wo kanjite
Dry your tears with love
loneliness, your silent whisper
fills a river of tears through the night
Memory, you never let me cry
and you, you never said good-bye
Sometimes oue tears blinded the love
We lost our dreams along the way
But I never thought
you'd trade your soul to the fates,
never thought you'd leave me alone
Time through the rain has set me free
Sands of time will keep your memory
Love everlasting fades away
Alive within your beatless heart
Dry your tears with love
nagareru namida wo toki no kaze ni kasanete
owaranai kanashimi wo aoi bara ni kaete
Dry your tears with love
nagareru namida wo toki no kaze ni kasanete
owaranai anata no toiki wo kanjite
Dry your tears with love
Dry your tears with love
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