that love i give returned to me

2007-07-01T17:48:00.000+08:00

it's july already. wow.

life has pretty much settled into a routine, and for better or worse, i will be stuck with it for the next 1.5 years. just hoping that there will be no major surprises.

it has been of recent observation that rafflesians are very adept at certain methods of making their voice heard, and i shall leave it at that.

anyway, it's hilarious how rufus wainwright thinks brandon flowers tastes like potato chips.

2007-06-11T09:59:00.001+08:00

it's actually quite a fine feeling to be able to spend my birthday at home by a twist of fate that is the ndp. anyway, thanks everyone for the presents and the company; they are greatly appreciated.

in lastest developments, i will be posted out to clementi camp soon-ish, which i reckon would be a change for the better. other than that, it is still this same old boring life, and there's nothing i can do to help it.

2007-06-03T15:13:00.000+08:00

sigh it has been far too long since the previous update (isn't that always the case?). anyway much have happened since. completed my course in signal institute and now am currently in 8 sig bn, which is still based in stagmont. hoping to see a couple familiar faces when the freshly-minted corporals from bslc post in.

oh yes and i'm involved in ndp this year, as part of the marching contingent. oh well, not too excited about that but we get mondays off, so that's not too bad.

congrats to all who made it out of uni apps successful. at least now there is something to look forward to beyond the dreary 2 years.

it is rather scary how life would play out from here on out. scary, but at the same time immensely exciting.

i am goona wear
a pink tux to the prom
live without a care
what could possibly go wrong?
when you're the president
of the breakfast club
and you're not hesitant to fall in love
to throw it away
to fall in love with the 80's

relient k's in love with the 80's (pink tux to the prom)

cheesy (in a we-will-grow-out-of-this kind of way), but oh-so-true.

2007-05-06T17:47:00.000+08:00

hmmm a long overdue update.

just returned from guard duty this morning. if there is one thing horrid about stagmont it has to be the guard duties. scheduled for 4 of those for the duration of my 8-week course. speaking of which, i will be passing out in 2 weeks' time, and there is still the remotest possibility that i may end up in 8-to-5. hoping for the best.

anyway, a*star was kind enough to make me an offer, so after hankering after it for the longest time, i can finally say that i will be attending brown in the fall of 2009.

wow all the mind-blowing hard work filling up forms and writing essays actually paid off.

i want my freedom back.

2007-04-15T12:59:00.000+08:00

booked out twice the past week for an assessment centre and 2 interviews. i shan't talk too much about them here, but i will bitch about it to the appropriate persons at the first oppurtunity.

got called back for a*star final round, which means meeting the (new) chairman. and it's tomorrow.

it seems like there is nothing left in my life worth mentioning.

2007-04-08T11:34:00.000+08:00

the obligatory weekend post.

2 weeks have passed at stagmont, with 6 more left to go. whoever said signals is slack is only half-right. believe it or not, signals is mentally taxing, in a physics-revisited kind of way. you deal with abbreviations you don't understand, and study about things you don't find particularly interesting. but still keeping my fingers crossed for a decent posting.

have 2 back-to-back interviews scheduled for this coming wednesday, first a*star then moe. speaking of which, i haven't actually went for an interview in ages. hoping that i have enough substance to tide myself through.

have decided that i will be going to brown (in fact the decision has been made like 2 years ago. go to the entry dated 15.12.05 for proof.) if i do get a scholarship. if i don't, it will suck really bad. at junyi's suggestion, i am soliciting for sponsors in the event the scholarship falls through. my contact information can be found on this blog.

(joking.)

2007-03-31T00:52:00.000+08:00

finally some assurance.

life as stagmont has been placid. ps is god-sent and it's basically like going to boarding school. my signals course lasts till mid-may, after which i will get posted out again. and whoever said tekong food was the best in the entire saf is obviously lying. food at stagmont rocks.

just heard from the united states. rejected by penn but accepted by cornell, chicago and perhaps of most personal importance, brown. am "just" a scholarship away from flying off, but taking nothing for granted.

i am tired.

2007-03-22T23:45:00.000+08:00

i'm back! lots have happened since the last post. results were out and the frenzy that is scholarship applications began, which is horrid because being in tekong means that you only have your precious weekends to churn out essays and stuff.

some have expressed surprise (even disdain) that i will not be applying for medicine. you see the thing is that people just assume that triple science equals medicine. while this is by and large true, as exemplified by a vast majority of people, medicine is not something i can bring myself to do. i have no satisfactory reply to the question "why do you want to be a doctor?".

reason being, i don't.

those who know me intimately enough will know what i really want to do, which (i hope) is inching closer to reality. just had some promising news from cornell, but nothing definite just as of yet. then there are the scholarships, and the highly menacing prospect of being trampled under the competition. no scholarship means no united states of america.

anyway, passed out yesterday in a moderately celebratory mood. and i finally found out what vico-coco is, but i till can't tell the difference between it and milo.

posting will be out in about 10 hours. and the worst thing is that you have absolutely no control over it.

just submitted my application to nus, albeit half-heartedly. i really don't know what to do there. it's more of a taking my chances thing.

dim sum outing tomorrow!

i want my grey's anatomy back!

2007-02-11T15:44:00.001+08:00

this blog has obviously been neglected for far too long, and i'm going to blame the service for it. anyway i have cleared most of the bullshit that needs to be done in tekong, so from now it's basically just pt and route marches, peppered with lots (and i do mean lots) of coy admin in between. 21st march cannot come sooner.

and random memories will resume as soon as i have uninterrupted access to the computer (i.e. after pop).

anyway rumours are flitting around that results will be out on the 15th. which is not too bad because you get cny to do whatever needs to be done in your quest to become the next big thing. you also get to do the polite thing and wish your teachers a happy new year.

and that means we book out on wednesday (valentines') night.

survivor is on for its 14th season, and i amaze myself with my constancy towards the show.

went for my brown interview last weekend which was pleasant. now i'm pretty sure where i'm headed (if they will have me, of course).

argh results.

2007-01-21T12:51:00.000+08:00

just returned from field camp ravaged by sandfly bites and am suffering from an outbreak because of the camou cream. oh well at least it's another hurdle passed in bmt.

pop ahoy!

2007-01-13T21:52:00.000+08:00

a very long time since i last blogged, and the reason is of course sadly obvious. shan't bore you with the details of life at resort tekong.

have a field camp up this coming week. please pray with me that it doesn't rain.

an open invite to all to watch the phantom of the opera with me at the esplanade this coming much.

2007-01-02T09:48:00.000+08:00

everyone seems to be bitching about adult fares.

just another hard slap from reality.

2006-12-31T22:16:00.000+08:00

ah. here i am in front of my computer in the dying moments of 2006, trying (and failing) to be contemplative. random memories flit in and out of my mind, inertia keeping me from any sort of serious thinking.

it seems somewhat strange contemplating the fact that i will not be going back to school come january 3, for the first time in god-knows how many years. no longer can i take refuge in what is familiar, what i know to expect, and in a subtly perverse way, what i had come to enjoy.

at least i hold out in the hope that i will be back at the books soon-ish. those who have enlisted would know the high frequency at which planes fly over tekong from changi. sometimes i stare up at those planes, imagining one of them might just be taking me to jfk or o'hare, doing what i'd much rather be doing, in a place i'd much rather be.

but as of the present moment, all of these remains fragments of hopes and fears, waiting for reality (or the people at the admissions offices) to give it its stamp of approval. then there are the eagerly anticipated a's results. and then the scholarship apps. and then... some more.

uncertainty seems to be the theme of 2007. let's hope we all make it through, and in the process feel happy with and for ourselves. i know we will.

happy new year.

2006-12-22T15:17:00.000+08:00

look who's back!

ok i over-rate myself but i survived 2 freaking weeks in tekong. anyone who wants details may feel free to ask, if i can be any sort of assurance to people meeting their impending doom.

was pleased to be able to call some people from tekong. in chronological order:

1. nash
2. alan
3. zee
4. junyi
5. glen

missed out on much of the christmas festivities, but am glad to be able to celebrate it. another year bites the dust, and life moves on.

2006-12-07T16:17:00.000+08:00

yes yes yes.

my applications are done!

and two of my three references have reached the states.

fingers crossed.

2006-12-06T00:41:00.000+08:00

random memories is on a temporary haitus.

anyway yesterday was prom (coz it's past midnight). and i'm staring at my monitor not knowing what to say.

ok let's start with the easy stuff first. prom was fun. we had a chinese dinner, which was rather unexpected because we had western at ritz-carlton 2 years ago. the food was good, and they changed the plates after every course, which in my opinion is totally unnecessary. looks like a nice place to have a wedding though.

and, i won a prize in the lucky draw, for the second time in 2 proms. this time it was a hamper from the cocoa trees. i'm not terribly crazy about chocolate but i guess it's better than nothing at all. 3i won the $500 dining vouchers which we are all going to enjoy as a class, probably after results next year.

anyway it's sorta refreshing to finally realise i don't have to worry about school for a very long time. being in school has become part of the grind that now it feels almost foreign. anyhow i'm pleased to take a break, even if it's ns in replacement. that said, learning is an indulgence, and i plan on making this last as long as i possibly can.

prom for me didn't turn out to be an emotional mess, safe in the knowledge that this is but the beginning of what's going to last a long time. and today, i finally laid one of my ghosts to rest. to lips of an angel, it was time to let go.

nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved.

there is so much to be said, yet nothing can make its way out. that the future is uncertain is an understatement. i have no idea what i will be doing this time next year. i want so desperately for my dreams to come true, to assure myself that i'm good enough, to live the life i want to live, to fall in love... again.

let be. let be.

to all that have shared my life for the last 6 years, my sincerest gratitudes. raffles had been a hell of a ride, but sometimes goodbye though it hurts in your heart is the only way to destiny.

i never quite figured out what destiny meant. would someone please enlighten me?

2006-12-01T20:09:00.000+08:00

and the countdown continues...

random memories from the year 2002:

1. me mistakenly thinking that our classroom has moved up to the 4th floor.

2. being supremely excited that we got mrs. ng (and not "someone else") for maths.

3. the exceptionally designed class noticeboard, which inexplicably only came in third.

4. the opening ceremony of the class noticeboard during lifeskills.

5. coffee and tea.

6. yihern's old major mugshot.

7. the survivor director presentation.

8. the animal farm revision webiste.

9. ling xin jing.

10. being shoved with pictures of endau rompin by gary lit.

11. cheng chai wearing (and damaging) my man u tie during drama feste.

12. ryan's striptease during titanic.

13. murder at oakbridge.

14. the inexplicability of neither of the above-mentioned productions winning on english day.

15. potlatch.

16. the victorian we.

17. winning 3rd prize at destination imagination.

18. 2a setting off the library alarm.

19. vision comm.

20. gregory goh.

21. linear and quadratic graphs.

22. the totally disgraceful performace at humanities quiz.

23. composing a song at chinese cultural camp.

24. finding out that rosemary's real name was mina.

25. mrs. koh taking over as year head.

26. going out to watch x2.

27. nizar's farewell poolside party and the ridiculous candle dance.

28. getting chased out of class by elangor, and subsequently seeing him get bitched by ms. kelly.

29. ms. kelly's birdpark wedding featured in cleo magazine.

30. ms. amanda and the utterly useless thingy we had to attend as part of d&t.

31. being made to display our names during the first history lesson with mrs. mathews.

32. fiona chong being inducted into true files.

33. my out-of-this-world geography notes.

34. the violent incident at the band room.

35. my neck my back.

36. making namecard thingys with photoshop during art.

36. answering that amazing race question during guitar camp.

37. the subject combination talk, where glen asked headmaster a question.

38. sara-ann beaver.

39. callie sui-yong, and the health benefits of eating perpiah.

40. watching survivor: thailand at my house after the last paper.

41. playing the weakest link while running around bishan.

42. sybil birling.

43. the world cup during the june hols.

44. shopping at courts for drama feste, with cheng chai being extremely late.

45. meeting ms. heng and ms. grace at plaza singapura's foodcourt.

46. beasts of england, beasts of ireland.

47. performing in my first-ever public concert.

48. shooting weird things in class with the lights off.

49. there's a light in my eyes, it's too bright to see.

50. the second year at raffles.

2006-11-30T22:43:00.000+08:00

and the countdown begins...

random memories from the year 2001:

1. the first day in school, and one of the first few through the orange doors.

2. yucky chee cheong fun for orientation breakfast.

3. 1a sat round the tree next to the hall and introduced ourselves with an alliterative adjective.

4. healthy living, and leftover breakfast at the design centre.

5. thinking periods the last period of alternate thursdays.

6. third lang and frequent trips to macs.

7. the intercom system in the music lab and the tackily-designed music book.

8. scoring full marks for the history of ri test.

9. cheng chai's "i donch know sir" fiasco.

10. samjo calling nash "mashed potatoes" and nash subsequently complaining to ms. kelly.

11. zee the first rafflesian.

12. zee's mdp poster being slammed by mdm. cheah.

13. chua lay lay and her amazing memory.

14. my new guitar, which is now sadly demised.

15. old toh, and the not-so-apparent fact that he was quite useless.

16. 5 people and an albino monkey.

17. kelwyn ng screaming at harshil.

18. the eyes otto fong always drew before a science test.

19. otto fong's first lesson and the mountain he drew.

20. london!

21. soup dispensed from a vending machine in the uk.

22. igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic.

23. di4 qiu2 zhi3 you3 yi1 ge4.

24. ms. heng and her blue bag, pvc dress and portable microphone.

25. mohenjo-daro and harappa.

26. stigma of legalism.

27. tints and tones.

28. watching drama feste, the only time in the capacity of an audience.

29. agressive behaviour during class debates.

30. sharing music of the night with the class.

31. adolescence.

32. the count casino "dog ate my homework" project, which i still possess.

33. losing a discus during pe, searching for it, being late for lit and getting scolded by ms. kelly.

34. porn-surfing computer studies teacher.

35. over the mountain, bye and bye.

36. cup noodles at cafe delight.

37. going to timothy's house for mdp.

38. progress reports in the lavender-green folders.

39. always sleepy during jap lessons.

40. watching the first rage concert in lt1.

41. psgm on friday afternoons.

42. zee desperately wanting to get into band.

43. many guitar people in 1a. (was it 7?)

44. headmaster saying "mac is no only a computer" at the very first headmaster's assembly. (or wtte)

45. commontown.

46. being fascinated by i-learning.

47. samjo's horoscope paper cuttings.

48. the eagle breeds a gryphon.

49. thinking that the institution anthem sounded really nice.

50. the first year at raffles.

2006-11-28T22:28:00.000+08:00

ok now that i have settled down somewhat, i shall blog about the entire a levels so that there is something to remember this part of my life by.

first of all many always say that you associate a particular song on the radio with a particular time period. this never happened to me, and it is during the a's that i made the decision to switch to class 95 from 987fm. in the spirit of the memories of history past, is shall categorise my reasons.

push factors (in order of descending importance):
1. the quality of music is going in the gutters. some songs just irritate the hell out of you.
2. the period of dead air between 10am and 4pm. contrary to many others, i do like to listen to someone talking from time to time.
3. carrie chong sounds infused with helium.

pull factors (in order of descending importance):
1. i came to the realisiation that many of the current songs i like are on class 95 as well. and even the songs i don't like are not half as irritating as say, tokyo drift.
2. themed weekends! soft rock was the best; a weekend of pure bliss.
3. vernetta lopez is hilarious.

anyway back to the a's. the main papers were ok with perhaps the exception of physics. i have this nagging insecurity partly because i bombed paper 2, and paper 3 was like an essay paper.

but the most juicy stuff by far had to be the s papers. chem was frenzied and bio had some really nice questions. hoping for the best with both of them.

vivocity tomorrow after lit s!

2006-11-27T22:23:00.000+08:00

aha i'm finally done.

ok that's it.

2006-10-31T21:47:00.000+08:00

happy halloween to all prowling the net. back to your books!

2006-10-29T01:25:00.000+08:00

vivocity has got to be the best place in the world. the whole place just seems like an endless abyss. went there on friday and it was pure fantasy. it's not like ngee ann where there are many shops, but those you don't dare to go into. go there if you're feeling stressed. i think it's the ultimate therapy.

bought a piece of clothing from gap which i'm immensely satisfied with, which means i'm in a good mood, which makes the prospect of exams a little more bearable.

we'll carry on. we'll carry on.

2006-10-14T22:13:00.000+08:00

farewell assembly went without a hitch, and it's very strange the ora people were behind soliciting for us to join. ok, they weren't really soliciting because everyone flocked to them. i think people (myself included) just join for the sake of being in ora.

anyway the class went to bk, and the people there actually treated us to ice-cream, probably for our extended patronage over 2 years. took a picture with the cashiers.

sigh i'm too tired to reminisce.

2006-10-10T16:26:00.000+08:00

have more or less settled into a routine. i really don't mind studying, but studying the same stuff again is rather depressing. The same notes with the same fonts with the same corny jokes meant to spice up lectures, but have since lost their purpose for existence, save to irritate the hell out of you.

hmmm took lots of pictures on the last day of school. don't think i'll be going back. seeing people hard at work stresses me out. i still love my own room the best. farewell assembly tomorrow. see how it goes.

watching survivor and the amazing race on youtube makes me feel extremely intelligent, like i've outsmarted channel 5.

2006-09-27T06:37:00.000+08:00

i love love love love youtube.

thanks to the dude who uploaded the clips so that i can have my regular dose of reality most painfully denied by channel 5.

2006-08-31T21:18:00.000+08:00

presenting to you the rjc biology s prelims questions (i'm allowed to do this right?), followed by personal commentary.

1. discuss the extent to which technological advances in equipment and the development of experimental techniques for studying cell biology have contributed to our understanding of the cell structure and function.

don't understand it? neither do i.

2. write an essay on the tertiary structure of proteins.

looks deceptively benign, but i would struggle to think of anything besides haemoglobin.

3. discuss the convergent evolution of quadrupeds.

i stupidly fell for the word play and did this question. compare with "discuss the convergent evolution in quadrupeds." makes a world of difference. anyway, i don't really think that quadrupedity evolved convergently. all our limbs are homologous what. very puzzling indeed.

4. explain the role of microorganisms in our search for an alternative energy source to fossil fuels.

one of the token biotech question. copying straight from the e&i notes can only get you that far.

5. evaluate the impact of biotechnological innovations in third world countries.

bio s meets gp. my second attempted question with a dearth of biological concepts. used the phrase "abyss of misery" in this essay.

6. describe the ways in which gametes are adapted to perform their functions.

a gem if you bothered to study reproduction. bascially just listing.

7. discuss the conservation efforts related to endangered species in south-east asia.

incredibly narrow. what do you know in south-east asia that is going extinct?

yups that's it. rather traumatising and needed a good sleep to get over my stupidity on question 3. and the rest of the prelims loom.

2006-08-26T13:27:00.000+08:00

perhaps my last reprieve before i slip into the unforgiving world of perennial mugging. it just seems very surreal that it's all climaxing soon, and after that it's the low after the high.

am trying very hard to convince myself that i am of at least some good, good enough to get me where i want to be. this is the worst time for insecurities to get to you, but i guess you can't really help it.

thanks to all who took time to proof-read my essays. haven't acted on the comments though. going to wait until after prelims.

ah prelims. ah how it sucks. gp for starters, is the sort of thing that is so disconcerting. i know i can get my grades, then feel extremely bummed when i don't. my essays don't like being produced under exam duress. then bio s on tuesday, which i am busily surfing wikipedia for so that i have knowledge to pass off.

all these as we mourn the demotion of pluto after 76 years of planetary status. it seems very arbitrary, but i guess this is the way things work. your self-worth is more often than not validated by others.

2006-07-30T20:56:00.000+08:00

am feeling postively maligned about the "you're wrong because i'm right" thing. they just refuse to believe that the rainbow rice thingy is called hundreds and thousands.

2006-07-16T20:19:00.000+08:00

am feeling positively miserable right now. i hate the flu.

it's interesting to note how blog entries (mine included) have evovled to be more contemplative. i guess its the whole "bye-till-we-meet-again" thing, coupled with the stresses of a national examination looming in the horizon.

the prospect of mugging (as opposed to learning) for the whole of next semester is not exceptionally appealing. we are all in hot pursuit what eventually (in the rest-of-your-life sense) won't matter at all.

i guess it's everything put together that's makes this so trying, and the uncertainty is damn not helping. if it's only the a's then probably it wouldn't be so bad, but it's not only the exams.

then in situations where you have to guess, then second guess, then third guess, it sorts of takes the joy away.

oh man.

they say it's not going to be easy, but i don't recall hearing anything about how much it sucks.

(p.s. this isn't depression-me. just thrashing out thoughts. chill people.)

2006-07-07T19:10:00.000+08:00

is it any wonder?

went for yet another class outing post-cts, probably the biggest turnout by far. it was settler's then steamboat. i think the people at settler's are really cool and into their job. must be really fun being around board games all your waking hours. actually managed to get a 2 bucks discount for steamboat at marina south because we had so many people. nice youth day spent.

dawn to the dust.

ct results trickling in. nice-feeling and all, but whatever for? i'm sort of at a point where it feels like it doesn't matter at all.

or maybe i kid myself.

pm lee was in the news talking about biomed and the economy and what-not. it irks me that science has become a means for mercenary purposes.

how am i to know? you never told me.

is it any wonder?

incoherence takes over.

2006-06-23T22:36:00.000+08:00

aha. feeling particularly inspired to blog today, probably because school's (i.e. cts) are gonna be in. am sitting with my medical biotech notes in front of me telling myself for the nth time how much i hate the option.

anyway i sorta made good progress with mugging, given that i had nothing to do for almost the entire month. bit by bit everyday does it i guess. except that you struggle to remember everything at crunch time. suddenly got interested in a jodi picoult book picked up impulsively at borders about a month ago, which is wrong timing. but it does offer some good distraction.

grey's anatomy is getting so good. the christmas episode was like the best.

oh and was in kl and cameron highlands for 3 days last week. weather atop the hill was perfect, although the bus ride up wasn't. enjoyed myself reservedly, with bio notes in tow for good measure.

and i apologise for the mopey mood the last entry. just grant me the birthday right.

have been thinking and came to the conclusion that it's always good to have a plan for your life.

and marvel at how actuality differs from it.

2006-06-11T18:04:00.000+08:00

the road home.

been thinking a lot and it still feels really strange. i have no idea why i'm so ill-disciplined in maintaining this blog, but that's besides the point.

went out yesterday (yeah!). a real pity some couldn't join us. shan't talk about the details, but it was breakfast, shopping, x3, and then dinner at kenny rogers. went on a croc witchhunt and laughed at those poor souls.

it occured to me that the only person you really have to live with is yourself, so we should learn to enjoy it.

=)

2006-05-31T18:40:00.000+08:00

the holidays are here. rejoice and be glad!

in theory at least. went back to school on monday for the irritating as hell pae. what do those tests measure anyway? doing 5-digit multiplication on paper is so not anyone's thing, nor is deducing weird logic from illogical questions. the worst thing was spending 4 straight hours in a pseudo-freezer with catty examiners. we even had the suffer the ill fate of being treated to a view of a misplaced asscrack. i shan't elaborate further.

at least the butter cake was good.

went back to school on tuesday for a 1-hour lecture. an utter waste of (travel) time.

finished two agatha christie books in 3 days. indulgence.

oh and just got my sat scores back. ok i guess. could have been better but good enough for me.

mugging for cts is not an entertaining prospect. argh to hell with it.

2006-05-21T22:14:00.000+08:00

another sunny day in singapore.

have been really undiligent in trying to maintain this blog. so i shall attempt to cover what transpired over the last few weeks, randomly as the thoughts come in.

went for shifting gears with nash and zee. really enjoyed the performances, especially shifting. the maid was hilarious, so was the whole australia thing they had going on. and clay aiken was in it! remember those days 3 years ago when everyone was crazy about clay aiken.

in reality land, survivor and amazing race both ended their seasons the past week. man i grew up with these shows, and the only one left still watching (consistently). elliot went home, to my utter chagrin, and i cannot stand perpetually-drunk-spasmastic-taylor. project runway 2 up soon.

i gave watching lost, mainly because grey's anatomy is light-years better. but i sort of regretted the decision after being subjected to numerous rounds of lost's cliffhanging-esque trailers. oh well, there's always the dvd.

school's as usual. went for the us talk on monday and lt1 was completely full. i know where i want to go, roughly know what i want to do (doesn't really matter coz it's liberal arts anyway), and have no idea how i'm going to get there. uncertainty sucks.

actually not really. at least there is hope.

saw the nus adverts. slightly contrived but a nice effort. (emphasis on "effort")

did flower arrangement during ddd civics elective. turned out pretty nice, but it was mostly glen's effort. i'm rather hopeless at such things.

school's almost out, which means studying. kinda suits me fine actually, coz i detest early mornings. holiday agenda: study for ct2, sat results, sat 2 sitting, ns checkup and trip to kl.

oh just had a new maths tutor. really really and nice, and competant as well.

yup that's about it.

2006-05-10T22:16:00.000+08:00

elliot blew me away.

so did the lastest episode of grey's anatomy.

2006-05-07T12:06:00.000+08:00

haven't blogged in ages. so here's like a sort of summary:

1. went to woodbridge with 3i to do mural painting cip. got some time to interact with the residents there.

2. celebrated junyi and nash's birthdays at cartel.

3. watched the cdc performance with samjo. rather refreshing.

4. took my sat reasoning test yesterday. trying to keep the ominous feelings away.

5. stayed up to watch election results stream it. no big surprises as usual.

a boring existence i know.

2006-04-21T17:33:00.000+08:00

am in the shaw foundation library now waiting for the local univeristies talk to start. came back to school after ssef awards presentation for bio s.

wednesday was quite the day with regards to level of activity. ex animo was on and we pulled off quite a good job. i think it was the best concert out of the several i have performed in, probably as well because it was the last one. i don't know if i will miss guitar badly, but nothing exactly to be done about it.

oh and i think our small group piece was rather nice, especially since we have done in before for syf at ri. nice tingle if you know what i mean.

went to swensens' after concert, much to james' chagrin (becasue he wanted to booze). had a sleepover at my place and pon-ned school yesterday.

elections on may 6th, which is incidentally my sat day. so i do not know what they are going to do about it. sda contesting in pasir ris-punggol.

oh and i have to talk about the exchange between mm and the young journalists. quite engaging, but i felt that mm need not have gone on the defensive against ken kwek. he may not have the hard facts, buit i sorta concur with his sentiment. if there was someone that was rude, it would be the today girl. with regards to the grc system, i think that the pap should not be so insistent about it being to give the minority representation. granted that that is valid, it is still undeniable that the grc system gives the pap leverage over the opposition, exploiting their lack of resources and manpower. why else has the initial 3-membered grc expanded to 6? why not have a singapore grc with all 84 seats at stake? and the electoral boundaries are as contrived as they can be. ask around if not convinced.

and dr. b made another speech about aids and workplace productivity. so that's what he's concerned about.

2006-04-16T21:43:00.000+08:00

cheng chai linked me to this gay couple's blog a few moments ago. ok just a random piece of information.

i felt crappy the whole of last week for no particular reason, maybe it was a premonition about pw. i shan't mope about it, because i'd like to think that i'm not needy in this regard. but the relevant people have already heard me bitch about my wr marker/s, so i guess its time to lay this to rest.

visited my grandma in hospital and decided once and for all that i will not be a doctor. i don't think i can handle it, despite what grey's anatomy would like to tell me. i guess unlike 95% of med fac, i'm just not destined for this.

spent close to 12 hours in school on saturday for guitar. it just seems rather weird that what i've been doing for the past 6 years would be ending soon. sometimes you just slip into a routine and never actually realise it, and it sorta morphs into a part of your existence. and when it ends it just feels strange, for lack of a better word. i'll miss the monday dinners though.

am feeling conflicted about certain issues right now, and homework sucks big time.

2006-04-08T20:54:00.000+08:00

am currently feeling supremely excited. we actually won?!

anyway this memorable day needs to be documented. thus is shall attempt to do so while my songs are loading into the new portable music device.

leg 1: rjc to old rgs gate at smu
basically got a rather advantageous starting spot near the front of the pack. ran our asses off once pm lee flagged of, straight to bishan mrt. stopped a couple of times but still managed to catch the first train out of bishan along with two other teams. got off at city hall and ran through raffles city and outside chijmes to get to the lee kong chian school of business. basically had to find a key to unlock a lock, as well as figure out a combination code to unlock another lock. finshed in good time and rushed back to city hall mrt, this time via a shorter route.

leg 2: old rgs gate at smu to raffles place
took the train for one station and found the place promptly. the task was this mastermind-esque game which we completed quickly. back to the mrt station.

leg 3: raffles place to hdb hub
alighted at toa payoh and had a lot of trouble locating the station. ran through the entire hdb hub main building but couldn't find anything. found out from a security guard that the bicycle lots (the place we were supposed to go to) were on the other side near cheers. got to the station eventually. task was to find somewhere with this "raffles" word in it, which i immediately recognised as raffles medical group. ran around like headless chickens and only found it after 15 minutes. had to complete another networking task before we could get the points. back to the train.

leg 4: hdb hub to wheelock place
took the mrt to orchard and found the station rather easily. hanlong and belicia treated our dehydrated selves to bk coke (thanks a million!). had to build this tower-esque thingy one metre tall with straws, strong enough to hold up a piece of paper with "raffles" on it. were a little clueless at first but manged to complete the task. to the bus stop along orchard boulevard.

leg 5: wheelock place to botanical gardens
a short bus ride, but some walking distance. located the station at the gazebo beside the lake without too much difficulty. the task was to find a tree with species name containing 25 letters. nash got it within minutes and we proceeded to the bus stop.

leg 6: botanical gardens to old rjc at mount sinai
a longer bus ride this time, and a very long sprint into mount sinai. did a sudoku puzzle which zee blazed through in due course. samjo went to get us some ribena mobile from the gas station while we ran back to the bus stop. it was already about 2:05 at this time.

leg 7: old rjc at mount sinai to buckley road
had to switch to another bus at dunearn road, but it came promptly, luckily for us. had a moderately long dash into the deep abyss of roads and reached the station to find us within minutes of closing. completed a raffles trivia quiz and hustled on. thanks navjote for the water. back to the bus stop. we already knew we would be late.

leg 8: buckley road to raffles town club
another extrmely short bus ride, stopping directly at the station. it was already closed, so we only got points for arriving. waited for 156 to take us back to rjc.

leg 9: raffles town club to rjc
hopped onto 156 (which took a painfully long time to arrive). alighted at the stop along braddell road and dahed in via the back gate. we were finally done, with a 60 point penalty for being 12 minutes late.

so goes the story. it is possible to reach 8 stations, and it boils down to route planning and a whole truckload of luck, and of course lots of running. thanks to my alan, nash, samjo and zee for such a fun day, and also to those in school (cheng chai, junyi) for giving us moral support. thanks also to the station masters, most of whom we knew: jade, charles, nadjad, belicia, hanlong, kwan rui, jon ong, velda and navjote.

another highlight of the day was haunted house. we were the first people in! an extremely commendable effort, especially to the "wang bu liao" girl for grabbing my neck.

so that's that. the best ora day ever (in fact, ashamedly, the only one i came for and sadly, the last).

2006-04-01T21:04:00.000+08:00

nothing much happened in what can be best described as a pretty blah week. suffering from post holiday/ct indulgence, which means being lazy to do tutorials.

got back some of my ct grades. thankful to say the least.

went for the raffles trial briefing today. we are so going to kickass!

2006-03-26T16:27:00.000+08:00

had to get a new template because the background sorta vapourised in the last one.

so the cts are over. which means school is officially back in. papers were alright with the (usual) exception of physics. i can never get it.

oh the march hols. was basically just mugging for cts. highlight was mraz's concert on friday. freaking unbelievably good.

went out on friday (the most recent one) after all of them finished their pc paper. bummed the entire afternoon away at orchard and did another coffee bean. good while it lasted.

guitar upped to 3 times a week. argh!

2006-03-14T21:42:00.000+08:00

haven't blogged in a really really long time, so i shall try to recall the happenings in the past like 3 weeks.

sorta got back into the daily grind of school life, with lots of catching up to do. must say that i'm rather pleased with myself to have cut the deficit but a substantial amount at this point in time. i starting to like doze off during lectures, and the extremely uninspired bio option is not helping at all. seriously what's up with biotech? i so hate it. give me my bio-d!

my orchid group got selected for the ssef, so basically spent the last weekend trying to get a powerpoint presentation together. didn't think we would win anything because there were throngs of srp people around, but still got a merit! rather unexpected (and slightly undeserving), but oh well...

oh and the lunch the science centre provided was like really good. "forced" alan to drop by on saturday to show his support. he couldn't refuse a free admission to the science centre, furthermore he lived across the street from it. went with him to creative after the thing ended to get junyi's zen-micro replaced and ate random things at the pasar malam.

sunday was ppp day! i almost died of a heart attack when i blatantly lied to the gurad at the sicc that we were members, but he bought it anyway. had sorta like a futile attempt to play tennis. cabbed to snee's house after that for sleepover. had a fantabulous korean dinner. omg the food was really really good. played some games and watched brokeback mountain till about 3. then we had 9 people cramping in one room attempting to sleep, which miraculously materialised, 4 on the bed and 5 on the inflatable mattress. watched a couple of episodes of bewitched and crash (which i slept through) as well.

haha bought the brokeback mountain soundtrack and mr. a-z. both unbelievably good.

back to the cts. but mraz on friday! can't wait.

2006-02-25T21:29:00.000+08:00

as i leave the lunacy behind, what remains seems so insubstantial.

the past two weeks had been freaking unbelievable, and i thank all those that made you're a dream come true. i believe we all had fun, and i believe out thoughts run contrary to those of the judges'. but in the end, it is more than a standing we take home with us, and for me, it's definitely so much more than that.

congrats to all the winners, i trust all your houses have had as much fun as mt did. but more importantly, let me extend my gratitude to the following people:

wan qing, sau ling, toffa, daniel, jeannifer, nick. you guys are all so full of energy and laughter. thanks for always being with us despite the long hours. thanks for stepping up to jobs that others may think twice about doing. thanks for the enthusiam and for your precious time and effort. enjoy your stay in rj, and treasure every moment you have with those you care about.

shu-min, snee, trish, christine, gavin, sookie. you people are a side that i never really gotten to know before df: the humanities side. thanks for your unrelentless hysteria. thanks for educating this science nerd on the likes of maxine hong kingston, the russian revolution, weird-looking graphs and some of your less-than-desirable ang-moh tutors. thanks for conceding that i'm actually some good at maths. thanks for a glimpse into a world that i could never enter. at least now i'm not so biiter about the humanities lounge.

yu hui, george. my og mate and classmate respectively. thanks for being the dependable people that you are. thanks for being the people i see on a daily basis. thanks for the times we have shared at the k'cove for in class. keep it going dudes!

izzie, matthew, shaun, matthias. aaaahh my sweet (not-so) little juniors. thanks for the times back in ri. thanks for the wonderful experience in cut, and now in you're. thanks for taking over the reins of moor house and for doing such a fantabulous job at it. thanks for your miles and miles of heart. i'm really really really proud of you guys. keep mt rocking!

and now...

cheng chai, samjo, junyi, nash, zee, (alan where were you?). thanks for being with me for the past half a decade. thanks to providence (or whatever it was that dumped us all in 1a) for this union. thanks for the effort put in to keep this going. thanks for the moor house experience, from which i took away something more important than even the championship. thanks for being by my side every step of the way. thanks in advance for the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

i love you guys.

please, please, never let go.

2006-02-15T13:16:00.000+08:00

am in the shaw foundation library now checking my mail. thought i would multi-task since i won't have any more time to update.

df is currently in full swing and basically my life revolves around it now. have been tasked by cheng chai to blog about daily experiences, so here goes:

had an amazing photo shoot yesterday (i.e. v's day) in the middle of town. saw a few people out and about, but we went on with our business. went to chijmes, raffles hotel, the merlion and the esplanade. have a feeling that the shots will turn out great.

the set is almost entirely settled. ended up with the idea we originally had after experimenting.

sang random songs from gavin's laptop on monday, including god bless the usa. the scary thing was that we actually sounded patriotic.

hmm...

bio s essay due on friday, and it's not edited yet.

ok i have nothing else to say.

2006-02-10T20:37:00.000+08:00

walked upon a room on a particularly balmy thursday afternoon, and saw something i didn't particularly want to see.

why is it always like that?

2006-02-08T21:35:00.000+08:00

life's been a bitch. it is just a vicious cycle of tutorials and what-nots and it's starting to get really irritating. and i have issues with the way they teach chem s, if that can qualify as teaching. it is completely unproductive.

realised i haven't blogged in a while, so here are my cny highlights (in chrono order):

1. met joo xiang on the mrt
2. visited my babysitter
3. celebrations with family
4. gambling
5. back to school
6. still in school

crashed back to school to find myself in the midst of drama feste prep. and i really love windy days.

argh. everything is so depressing, especially when people have hopes on your behalf.

2006-01-27T22:23:00.000+08:00

aha! the eve of cny's eve, and i'm blogging again.

cny celebrations were fairly nondescript. usual stuff at an unglam venue. the girls brought yu sheng and we had quite a lot of fun lo hei-ing at a42. they were debating weather to put the raw salmon in, but what's yu sheng without the fish right?

went to coffee bean to chill with alan and zee while waiting for the rest to finish their house comm meeting. met ms. lai and mrs. chong having breakfast there, resulting in a rather big expose which i shall not reproduce here. went to marina square's food court after that, only to find the dim sum shop closed. an absolute bummer.

but tried out the new pizza store though. quite ok. samjo and junyi came and basically had a talking session again. junyi tried on jeans at giodarno so that his sis could but them. had a rather insightful talk with him on the way home.

did the sat trial test (and no i'm not going for mine tomorrow). had a rather abysmal score of math 790, c.r. 700 and writing 660, giving a total of 2150. at least i have a couple more months to brush up.

cny feeling extremely unatmospheric. looking forward to the break though.

2006-01-23T22:17:00.000+08:00

i just realised i haven't updated in a week. oh wells, work's getting irksome. we basically wasted the whole of physics prac doing extremely unconstructive stuff, when spa is on the friday immediately following cny.

highlight of the weekend was of course kev's party. the whole thing had been a blast. good food and disco and karaoke and party games. the open deck was extremely cool, staring out into the open sea without being able to see anything much at all in the darkness of the night. am glad that he enjoyed my present.

monday was the usual bore. i absolutely hate mondays. the only redeeming thing is that i get to eat dinner with the guitar peeps, which is kinda theraputic.

waiting for grey's anatomy to start.

2006-01-14T21:12:00.000+08:00

bio lessons have been a blast. omg i like my tutor so much.

had bio s yesterday. the workload is like out-of-this-world. one 4-6 page (typed and researched) essay every 2 weeks.

which explains why this blog entry is so short.

2006-01-12T20:21:00.000+08:00

it seems as though nature would like to make up for last year's crappy, hot weather by giving us crappy, freezing weather for a change. seriously i don't actually mind the temperature, but the rain just brings everything down with it.

anyway, lectures now are rather interesting. something like 2 tutors are assigned to patrol the lt with a wad of white slips, waiting to pounce on some unsuspecting body. it's actually quite hilarious if you come to think about it, unless you are the victim of their colletive scrutiny.

had a live specimen in the form of a liver (from which animal unknown) to spice up homeostasis lecture. wasn't nearly as irksome as the lungs we had during bio prac a few years back, probably because we don't have it close up this time round.

lectures are going terribly fast, which i don't have a huge issue against, besides that fact that i would have to churn out tutorials just as fast.

saw kym ng and michelle chia at j8 today filming the kiddie show.

2006-01-08T11:50:00.000+08:00

it has been freezing the last few days, with rain deciding to come in weird, sparodic intervals. it's utterly irritating to open your windows thinking the rain has stopped, only to have it start again, and ad infinitum.

anyway, was on my way out to the braddell road bus stop on thursday when i saw a solitary cna reporter with a miserable looking camera man. apparently they were following up on the "save the angsana (?) tree" scoop. one unfortunate schoolmate got caught for an interview. the tree aside, i actually like how the road meanders around the obstruction in the middle of 2 lanes.

school's been preppy but monotonous. generally nice to see new faces around. this year marks the demise of the f maths clan, which is kinda sad actually. trip science is gone too, but at least we retain the s03 name. both s03 and s06 are with the same number of classes now: up to r.

bah. i'm blogging about such inane things. hari raya haji is up soon, with 2 of it this year. and cny too.

tv's been spectacular. but it often means staying up till midnight to watch my favourite shows, implying bleary-eyedness the next day.

which is bad.

2006-01-03T21:30:00.000+08:00

the first thing i noticed stepping into college today was how badly the landscapers did their job. the flower pot holders with "rj" emblazoned over them reeks of extreme tackiness. repeat over 6 floors of science block and all around the parade square and you get the idea. and the thing is that the bougainvillea aren't even flowering properly. and the stylised "rjc" in front of the gym is a miserable failure. see it and you'll know what i mean.

seriously why are we spending money on such things. they don't enhance the look of the school at all. college used to look like a factory, now it looks like a hospital.

anyway first day was rather dull. i actually miss the time when headmaster used to introduce the teachers one by one. so my classmates brought back lots of (mostly edible) stuff from the far corners of this planet, always so nice of them. found out that we had a new maths teacher, who seemed rather pleasant during first interactions. and i am not stuck with an abysmal timetable now! i actually have a real 12 o'clock (i.e. go straight home) day.

realised i had started the year on a slight deficit, which shouldn't be the case at all. and i'm in no mood to do physics, which saps energy out of you like god-knows-what.

guess the urgency has not arrived yet.

2006-01-01T00:00:00.000+08:00

clarity.

2005-12-30T10:43:00.001+08:00

sigh, another year draws to a close. i still remember the first moments of this year. a group of us were at lido (cheng chai, glen and jared i think) watching the phantom of the opera, me for the second time. the movie ended just right after midnight, and everyone was sort of like in a euphoric high. the busker at the orchard underpass was playing auld lang syne.

and now as we enter the last moments of this year, it's perhaps time to take stock.

personally speaking, this year had been one of various setbacks. council and house comm to be specific. on hindsight, i probably learnt a lot from these episodes, about myself and more importantly, how much i can handle with regards to such situations. this in turn explains my blase attitude towards not getting into o-team. one does get used to things.

i am also thankful for all the people who have never ceased to believe in me, specifically the people i have been accquainted with for the last 5 years. every now and then, i wonder what would have happened if we had not been together in sec 1. would our days in ri been half as fun? perhaps. but i can ask for nothing more. it has been a year since graduation, and the status of our interactions seems to be satisfactory, considering that we don't have to chance to see each other much in college. the end of next year will see us embark on a new phase of our lives, probably on different paths. i sincerely hope the collective memories of our 6 teenage years would be sufficient to make this last a lifetime.

so sappy i know. but i mean it.

on the academic front, i would be eternally grateful for my grades. i was (and never will be) the type to sit in front of the table and mug my brains out months before exams. anyway, i'm really appreciative of the chance to enjoy what i'm doing, and the grades are just a bonus.

and i have generally great tutors.

guitar had been enjoyable, apart from a few irritating personas (ok just 1, and a half) that have the potential to ruin the entire experience. but, of course, we shall not let her/him get her/his way. syf was rather a bummer. we deserved the honours, at least over some pseudo-chinese orchestra performance. i guess exoticism still appeals.

so we look forward to what life has in store for us. with anticipation, a good head on our shoulders, and of course, providence.

have a blissful 2006.

2005-12-27T19:14:00.000+08:00

christmas was largely as per previous years. but this time i had 2 buffets in one day. basically stuffed myself until i couldn't eat anymore. anyway, one thing i noticed is that as you get older, your christmas presents slowly morph into money instead. i think buying gifts is one of the hardest things to do. you decide on something, then start to second-guess yourself, and it goes on and on. that's why i'm very appreciative of the gifts i really like. somehow, it is comforting to know that someone actually knows you well enough to buy you something he thinks you think would dig.

the above as opposed to buying things for yourself and asking people to pay for them (not targeted at any specific individual).

trying to get myself back to school routine again. wasn't all that hard, most probably because i never really had a real break to start with. i would really love to strangle those people who get to go overseas like twice every year. i think i'm a travel sort of person, just that i don't get to do it often.

reflection time again. i'll do it in my next post.

2005-12-24T22:10:00.000+08:00

another year, another christmas.

christmas has always been a melancholic time for me (and i guess for many others as well). when i was younger, christmas was a time contemplating going back to school again. this year it is that, and more.

how ironic that this is the last christmas to think about going back to school.

when we leave this (next) year, we won't be coming back...

anyway, was very privileged to be able to meet up with everyone today. samjo and cheng chai brought me a declaration of independence replica from new york. was very thrilled.

a blessed christmas to all.

2005-12-22T20:57:00.001+08:00

quite a few things to talk about, so let's start with the most important first.

went back to mom today! they actually invited me back for their christmas lunch. had the curry-in-the-bread-pillow thingy. received quite a lot of gifts, 5 different types of chocolate in fact. the deputy director actually got me the passion of the christ dvd. rather a pleasant surprise, but the thing is that i'm not even old enough to buy it.

such a nice bunch.

ok i'm caught up on msn now. so i guess other things will have to wait.

2005-12-20T19:13:00.000+08:00

the kpmg report on nkf is out, and the mud-slinging begins. i think it's gonna get really ugly.

people have been asking me like what i would like to do at university, and the answer i give them changes every now and then. i have been kaypoh-ing around as well and most seem as lost as i am. these days it seems as though it's a sin not to have made any plans for your future.

the thing is that i know for sure where specifically i want to go. but i have no idea what i would be doing there, and even worse still, how am i getting there in the first place.

anyway the hols seem so short.

2005-12-17T13:15:00.001+08:00

went to orchard yesterday for yet another movie outing. was with alan, nash, jared and glen. couldn't decide on which movie to catch, and nash kept insisting on his pseudo-kung-fu-actually-inane-use of-special-effects the promise. some wanted to watch king kong. i wouldn't have minded if the movie wasn't 3 freaking hours long. so we settled for pride and prejudice in the end.

a very good movie. really good.

went to kino for some christmas shopping and bought yet another cd from hmv. i think i'm spending too much.

2005-12-15T20:08:00.000+08:00

am feeling singularly depressed because i missed the survivor: guatemala finale. my dad actually pressed the wrong date on the vcr. the 1st survivor episode i missed in 5 bloodly years (11 seasons for the record)! (actually there was one more but i managed to catch the re-run a couple of years later. but that's besides the point.) so now i either try downlaoding it (no idea where too), buy the dvd (coming out god-knows-when), stake out channel 5 for the re-run (two years down the road in an obscure time slot), or borrow a tape from someone who has recorded it (highly unlikely).

unless someone who happens to be overseas is a big survivor-nut like me. but i doubt so.

and i'm really bummed rafe didn't win. well done though.

caught the amazing race fianle though. the final challenge jigsaw puzzle challenge was so absolutely the best. it sort of consolidated the whole season and made no apologies for limiting travel within north and central america. i had my doubts about a family edition, but i guessed it turned out to be one of the best seasons ever.

it was quite funny when the linzes completed their puzzle and the rhode island piece fell of. rhode island fast facts: smallest of the us states, capital: providence (what a totally cool city name), and borders connecticut and massachusetts.

and a potentially significant place.

was with junyi on tuesday to watch perhaps love. rather disappointing i must say. the whole swimming pool thing was a little too hard to swallow, and because of that the whole movie turned out to be rather contrived. the best performance definitely goes to the omnipresent korean guy (what's his name?).

and the golden globe nominees are out!

2005-12-12T09:18:00.000+08:00

i am absolutely bored.

so bored that i had to resort to watching golf on tv.

anyway, i realised that i haven't commented on the star awards last weekend. no major surprises except in the top 10 female artistes category. kym ng being left out in the cold was rather surprising.

but the shocker of the day was rui en's inclusion in the top 10. who voted for her? michelle saram's fans?

trooping down to ntu again later today. survivor and amazing race finales this week!

was in the midst of dozing off last night when vitamin c's graduation (friends forever) came up on the radio. about a year since i last heard it, and since then the song sort of took on a different vibe.

last year.

2005-12-08T21:03:00.000+08:00

with devan nair's passing, the only singapore president still alive is the one that is currently in office.

lots of good words, but no half mast.

2005-12-06T19:41:00.000+08:00

placidly uneventful.

was at ntu yesterday to continue the orchid thing. realised once and for all the true reason for my hating the microscope.

and the homework beckons.

2005-12-03T10:46:00.000+08:00

cambridge getting weirder these days. this time 2 fiascos in the o levels papers. first was geog where students claimed that the picture showed a deciduous when they were asked, in reference to the picture to describe a coniferous forest. moe defended itself well on that one, sending a full page letter back to the press, complete with pictures, to explain why they were right.

then comes the bio prac, and the issue was safety. apparently candidates were asked to cut a longitudinal section of an extremely humungous carrot, with like a crappy penknife. come on, who on hell cuts a carrot with a penknife? and the thing is that the students had to negotiate the whole length of the carrot making sure they don't screw up, under exam condiations. the carrot can't stand on its own so you would have to hold it with one hand while cutting it with the other. some apparently cut out flesh from thier finger in this particular exercise.

nguyen was hanged last morning after a whole hullabaloo that involved who else but australia. whatever the case, they have absolutely no business in our domestic policy, and shouldn't act like they do. this issue is completely aside from the morality of capiatal punishment (there is still room for debate on this one). it's just that they don't respect our sovereignty as a nation and our capacity to do what we deem fit. and this is not a pap thing, it's a singapore thing (contrary to whatever chee soon juan may try to tell you). the whole threatenting sanctions and bringing singapore to the icj thing just makes them look like republican bigots.

on to other (more teenage) stuff.

was my last day at mom yesterday, and how appropriate that it was our department's cpe (corporate planning exercise) day. it was held at the holiday inn and it turned how to be quite an interesting insight on corporate behaviour. everything just seemed so much more organised that what i'm used to. and it didn't hurt that they chye tao kueh for tea break was super. the buffet lunch was good as well. goodbye wasn't excessively soppy but as all goodbyes go, had that "feeling" to it. hope to go back again if i have the oppurtunity (and time).

so now it's back to the humdrum of school holiday work. and without the likes of a mediterranean holiday to perk things up, things certainly do not look prosperous.

but, as usual, i'll try act blase about it.

2005-12-01T09:41:00.000+08:00

this is my december. this is my time of the year.

2005-11-29T21:03:00.000+08:00

omg! i became a radio celebrity today!

was feeling kind of bored during work so i sms-ed carrie chong for 987 control. basically you get to choose your 3 favourite songs and play dj. still can't believe i got picked. so carrie called back (i didn't know it was her) and i asked "who is this speaking?" was so surprised and incoherent. but anyway she started asking where was i and stuff (for purposes of repeating to the listeners). we actually had a short causal chat! i guess this is standard practice but being a radio call-in virgin i was still quite flabbergasted.

so i was made to introduce the 3 songs that were going to be played. basically reapeated "raffles junior college" 3 times. once for class, once for guitar and once for the whole school. she edited out my "erms" so that i wouldn't sound too bad on air. anyway my 3 songs were:

1. jason mraz's the remedy (i won't worry)
2. yelllowcard's ocean avenue
3. relient k's be my escape

not at all surprising for those who know my musical tastes. i hated the way i sounded by the way, but i guess that's how i sound to everyone. just seemed weird probably because i'm not used to hearing my own voice from the outside.

was frantically calling people to tune in (yes you samjo) but only junyi picked up. and he didn't have a radio with him. please tag if you have heard me on radio (sorry, very shameless i know).

went for an operation with mom today. quite enlightening, illegal workers and all. can't say too much as usual but those interested can personally ask me for a lowdown on the action.

adrenaline-filled day.

2005-11-26T21:43:00.000+08:00

happy thanksgiving!

very tired these few days. end of my attachment is drawing close, and my colleagues have started commented how fast it has been. it has been such an interesting experience. got asked questions like where is rj now, what is your subject combi, are you taking any s-papers, where do you live and stuff of that sort. one last week left. i think i would miss the whole work place vibe. but at least i get my long-awaited break.

ironically, i have been hooked on radio these couple of weeks. and soo wei is gone! ok i'm not going to say anything mean but my opinion of her is equivalent to samjo's of carrie chong.

this year it's really starting to feel like it's christmas. most obvious being the weather. honestly it has never felt so cold outside in my recent memory. raining the past few mornings and it is fabulous to sleep in. too bad i can't. singapore's record lowest temperature was 19 degrees C i think (just one bit of harmless trivia).

another christmas-y thing was the acsian play we went to watch on thursday, a christmas carol. there was me and the (7 other) rp people. had fun though. the set was very nice. wouldn't have paid 20 bucks for it under normal circumstances, but i guess it's in their tradition to charge steep.

went for supper at newton after the play. stuffy and smoky like hell. whole place was filled with touts and tissue paper sellers. ordered 3 sticks of satay and sugar cane juice.

was on my way to church (1st sunday of advent, christmas is really coming) when i saw this abandoned rabbit in a cage at the void deck. when i came back it was gone. hope someone took it in or at least sent it to the spca. irresponsible owners just rile me.

psle results were out. laughter and tears as usual.

our turn next year.

2005-11-23T21:53:00.000+08:00

halfway through my attachment with mom. don't think i can blog too much about it lest i get charged under the official secrets act (serious, we signed a form). has been rather pleasant though. very gratifying so far.

fabulous songs coming out on radio now. relient k rocks. next on the must-buy list. and to the person who borrowed my daniel powter cd, blogged about it but didn't acknowledge the source, you should know what to do.

apparently i'm going for acjc's a chritmas carol tomorrow, but samjo hasn't gotten back with news.

the weavers had it coming.

who i am hates who i've been.

food for thought.

2005-11-20T20:26:00.000+08:00

ok some unfinished business from the previous time. thank you zul and junyi for the honour of watching harry potter and dining at lucky plaza with you.

argh... starr is out of project runway. she's so quirky and unconventional, and although i'm not really a big fan of her designs, she is just sort of different. lawyer-turned-fashion designer. i wonder what her real name is.

had a sleepover at my place. watched kill bill volume 1 that samjo brought. was utterly disturbed by it. it just seemed sort of senseless to me.

2 more weeks at mom. am going for like an operation-esque thing with the employment inspectors. should be kind of fun.

christmas round the corner again. let's hope that this time it would be christmas-y.

2005-11-17T21:03:00.000+08:00

ok i shall start where i left off the other time. was blogging halfway when samjo called and told me that s-paper results were out one day early (which explains the last line of the previous entry). got chem and bio. good luck for those appealing.

tuesday and wednesday were rather nondescript days at mom. did my stuff as usual. watched potter preview thanks to shang, who vacated his ticket. was a rather good movie (as to be expected from the potter franchiase). chou chang had 3.5 lines and i thought that the principal of the french girls' school was well... obscene. but it was a good night out, with the possible snagging of a storyline role.

was open house at mom today. our team won 1st prize. quite surprised that working people are actually so enthused by such stuff.

2005-11-14T21:31:00.000+08:00

some things are really getting on my nerves these days. prime example being the dumb-as-hell cockroach song on tv. so they really think that by using a catchy norwegian (or some other scandinavian) tune (the original song is actually out-of-this-world funky) and infusing in with some inane lyrics about household pests, their cds would sell. and here is someone who has only came up with singles so far (with like say 10 remixes on each one).

and apparently people buy such trash. they ought to be shot.

started work attachment today. nothing went remarkably wrong. the people around are all super-nice. only thing is that i have to wake up real early (although not as early as term time).

got a potter invite! so exciting.

omg! s-paper results out.

2005-11-11T20:09:00.000+08:00

a whole lot of things transpiring this week...

first pw is finally done. i remember junyi saying at the start of the year that we will rush to meet deadlines, get pissed with our group members and stuff. but at the end of the day, in a typical rafflesian fashion, what needed to be done would have been done and everything would sort of work themselves out.

how true.

i quote my i&r: "in retrospect, pw turned out to be better-than-expected. i am glad that amidst all the hard work and the rush to meet deadlines (this piece of work included), i was able to take away something which no other subject can claim to offer."

i know that sounded really cheesy. anyway due credit must be given to mrs. dhillon for trying her best to make this journey a painless one. joel lee was saying how their class had learnt more from her in one period than they had from their actual st throughout the year. so that sort of crystallised my appreciation. apparently your st can make or ruin your pw experience.

on to something completely different. i realised rj has something really weird going on at the staff room. it's like everyone is expected to go there to hand in forms, assignments and stuff, but then the door is locked half the time. and when you try to open it, people around dart you dirty glances. and then the receptionist changes her system on alternate days. sometimes there is a box to put your stuff, and other times you look around for the box and it isn't there. and she isn't exactly the nicest person around.

come on. given the sheer number of people wanting to hand up stuff, this system doesn't make sense at all. why even lock the staff room in the first place. it is not as if a suicide bomber would walk in there and blast the whole place up. even if they insist on having that place oob to students, then at least shift the receptionist to someplace we could get to without looking like a burglar or something.

enough ranting.

had guitar prac on wednesday. new song is how deep is your love. finally decided on the colour of the guitar tee (designed of course by alan). i somehow find the design subversive, like it's trying to send out the wrong signal.

oh nvm.

went to the queenstown library after a horrendous lunch marked by ice kachang on the table. borrowing limit has been increased to 8. but i doubt i have enough time to finish the book in 3 weeks.

had bio o at nie yesterday. 200 mcqs in 3.5 hours (half an hour break in between 2 halves). was bleary-eyed the time i came out. took a look at our orchids with daniel since we were both there.

basically stoned at home today. attachement starts next week for 3 weeks.

can't wait for the sleepover.

2005-11-08T21:41:00.000+08:00

had my op this morning. working on my i&r now. pw will be over very, very soon.

op went well i guess. our 2 assessors were ms. lui and alan's first econs teacher. both were rather nice and looked at you and smiled while you were presenting. had a rather weird question posed to me, and i gave a rather inane answer.

saw samjo and his pw group at the canteen making puppets. he seemed quite surprised when i said we did not do another additional presentation. the fact is that most people did not.

guitar is school tomorrow. have to hand up i&r anyway.

2005-11-07T11:09:00.000+08:00

my group and i are trying to shoot down potential questions for op tomorrow. having an online discussion right now.

the wonders of technology.

had another one of those marathon phone chats into the wee hours of sunday morning. feeling rather excited about a certain prospect next year.

the holiday programme seems pretty exciting (for the first few weeks at least). op tomorrow and thereafter i&r submission (which i have not started on). which means end of pw! bio o at ntu on thursday. and 3-week attachment with mom starts next monday.

s-papers out next week as well.

urgh! nothing else to say basically.

2005-11-05T11:35:00.000+08:00

yesterday was sort of like a weird day. was raining in the morning on my way to school. collected the promos result slip and filled up a college survey thingy during civics period.

that took about 40 minutes.

and we were supposed to have pw at 12. that leaves 3i with almost 3.5 hours to stone. was thankful that i had the foresight to bring agatha christie. stayed in a74 for about an hour until security chased us out. adjourned to bk at thomson plaza to have breakfast (more like brunch i guess). the girls went to han's instead.

mrs. dhillon let off a01b late by half an hour, so the class was stoning outside comp lab 1. 4 groups presented and decided i still had time to go home to change.

met glen for dinner at cartel. threesome was good, but i thought the audience laughed at rather inappropriate times. an "incident" happened after the performance which i shall not reproduce here.

reached home close to midnight because the bus took such a long time to come. watched taped survivor.

op on tuesday.

2005-11-03T15:53:00.000+08:00

okay i wanted to update 2 days ago but my computer mysteriously hung on me. so quite a lot of stuff to catch up with.

rid my room of promos junk on monday and cleaned up a little bit. pasted the syf guitar picture on the wall, bringing the grand total of things stuck onto the wall to 8. class picture would be up soon after i remove it from the horribly photoshop-ed folder and laminate it.

trooped down to kino with the intention of buying a book, but found out that the only copy left was unwrapped and sort of tattered. decided to wait until new stock came. burnt my 50 bucks instead (i know this sounds really dumb) on the 2006 fiske guide.

well you can never plan too far ahead.

went on a shopping trip at robinsons at centrepoint (15% off storewide) for my attachment clothes yesterday. the salesgirl (or was it saleswoman?) was rather helpful. picked out 2 shirts, 2 (non-business) pants and a belt. i absolutely abhor business pants. the material feels strange.

people say that pleats are the ultimate fashion disaster, but somehow i beg to differ.

school report and threesome tomorrow! it is unfortunate that we have pw sandwiched between.

2005-10-30T17:13:00.000+08:00

had a 3i bbq at east coast pit 54 yesterday night. i guess it was eventful in more ways then one.

tried out a new bus service which is supposed to bring me straight from home to east coast. but i alighted at parkway parade after finding out that i still needed to walk some distance. called nash for directions and found the place quite easily. but our pit was at arae e, near bedok jetty, and i was at the macs area. contemplated hiring a bike but decided against it because i would have had to return it. so i walked the entire distance (which is very long).

most people went home to change so there weren't many people left. played heart attack. discovery of the day was when weijian finally unearthed the (former-ri) wow wow west stall at henderson food centre. they are apparently still as good.

highlight was of course bbq. it was i think the most successful one i've had so far. cleared up everything by 9.

hols are in, but doesn't feel like it.

at all.

happy halloween.

2005-10-28T21:35:00.000+08:00

the school year just ended (officially at least).

had a rather quirky "promotion walk" this morning where we translated from the yellow lots to the white lots. seemed quite silly at first but kinda had fun doing it. suddenly realised how close to the podium our class will be.

tagged along with the debators for lunch at thai express and trugded back to college for bio o practical. mr. tan was 30 minutes late because of staff meeting, and college was supposed to shut down at 4, which left us with only an hour and a half. did some leaf cell drawings and tried (unsuccessfully) to see dividing chromosomes on onion root tip cells.

will be having a class bbq at east coast tomorrow.

survivor in 15 minutes!

2005-10-26T20:13:00.000+08:00

hmmm... i think i'm suffering from op overkill. did three runs in the last three days. first was when we practised with our buddy group on monday. mr. tan was so kind to cancel bio prac, so we could go at 2! we did one more run during the dry-run session on tuesday, and one more during our 3-hour pw session today.

ended school at 11.30 today. watched two extremely entertaining episodes of futurama during bio tutorial. mr. kamel cancel his physics prac, and mrs. dhillon kop-ed mrs. chan's gp period.

didn't get ogl after all. but if rj taught me one thing (besides how to deal with irritating bitches), it was to make me realise that you don't always get things your way. so in a sense this was already half-expected.

let be. let be.

and i write this at the risk of sounding preachy.

i think prophesy is a way cooler way of spelling the word.

amazing race up in 600 seconds!

2005-10-23T20:00:00.001+08:00

was reminded by a classmate's entry to blog about 3i's learning journey to cpib (that is corrupt practices investigation breau for the uninitiated). omg the speaker there was totally cmi, blabbing on about the need for a clean state and stuff like that (in bad english i must add). really felt like shooting him.

highlight of the day was when colin took a lie detector test. too bad we didn't get to ask him our own questions.

went for dim sum at taka crystal jade with my cousins. damn nice, but freaking expensive. shopped around kino and saw annie proulx's wyoming stories (isn't wyoming such a cool state name?). was very tempted to buy it. had coffee at coffee club afterwards.

the cancer charity thingy running in the background.

deepavali and hari raya coming up almost back to back. the chinese (evening) papers were saying how taking 3 days of leave can result in a 9-day break. they must have really ran out of material.

pap can also save a bomb by merging both festive greetings into one banner (you know the one with your mp's face plastered on it).

school's on tomorrow.