Stuff lost

I'm getting a little frustrated over this...

Decor for my Angry Birds game for countdown is going rather slowly. And over the course of the past few days, I've lost my black penknife; my orange metal original Victorinox Swiss army knife which has been accompanying me in my pocket for more than 2 years already; and two misplaced bottles of glue (one's with SL) and etc.

*sighs*

Oh, well... I shouldn't complain, she has it worse. This poor girl got abandoned and has to solo everything now with only one volunteer... and has lots of other things to do, too. Jiayou, SL! >.<"

Ticket Sales

If you haven't already known, I'm in a new year countdown organising committee. I had to do 5 sessions of ticket sales, with no large success but the last session which was yesterday (since it's pretty much 4am already) was really good with 12 tickets! I had only two buyers, though, and both were female; the first one was a young thirtysomething year old who invited me into the house, but my socks and shoes were wet so I declined politely, and the second was a middle-aged lady who was the last house we went to and who spoke immaculately and bought 10 tickets. I think she's a teacher of some sort? Well after that I got labelled as an "auntie-killer" by the two people there with me >.< I don't want to be an auntie-killer, I'd rather attract the attention of those within my age group! haha >.<"

Anyway, I think ticket sales really help a person in many ways! You have to muster up courage to knock on doors; have nerves of steel to be polite when weird people answer the door (more to complain about later); appreciate the design flair of some people who have really nice houses, including those who own landed properties (but don't buy tickets cos they already have plans to escape overseas, argh rich people); etc, etc.

I also realised a scheme of the Government. I forgot what it was called, but I think it's the law mandating a certan mix of Chinese, Malays, and Indians within a housing block. This was quite evident as each block practically had just a few households who were Indians, and a few more Malay households (identified by the Islam symbols and arabic words), and the rest Chinese.

Okay, on to the people. Some are really, really nice. I went to a house with a kindly old lady who offerred me a soya bean packet which I took gratefully because I forgot to buy a bottle of water on the way. She told my partner and I to rest awhile but we had to cover more households, and it won't be very polite!

Some are a little puzzling - for example, the lady who bought 10 tickets from me last night, and a man who lives in a landed property and who has a son in RI (secondary) and questioned me on my motives of doing such work (it really is true when I said that I'm not doing it for the CIP hours. Honestly, I'd be a little disappointed if I didn't get anything, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.); he also said I looked like the son of a Japanese MP (I don't know the guy at all) and etc, so I guess he's really somebody to rub shoulders with MPs! And he has a high forehead and a nice house and asked questions like a true critic so... I drew my own conclusions. There was another lady from a HDB block that said she thought I was her cousin (also in JC) with an 80% resemblence!

Some are downright rude. A certain poor girl had the misfortune of running into many of them last night >.< Some close the door on you after opening the door a crack; some look through the peephole and walk back to their rooms; some shout at you and hurl expletives in Hokkien, chinese, english, etc. I knocked on a door 3 times,  a few knocks each time, and then I went to the window and said "hello" softly... and the couple in the living room literally jumped up from their sofa and.. well.. you know.

There's many more different shades of people in between, but I described the more colourful ones. So yes, door-to-door ticket sales does allow one to experience a wide variety of human personalities, including the one whom you're working with for that particular shift... It's very interesting to share nuggets of information with another person and you get to know them better. So, that concludes my ticket sales! Now, back to work...
*mopes a little
There's so much left to do.. geez... the pile of stuff to do just keeps growing and never shrinks!

A long drought (of posts)

It's been such a long time since I last posted. My apologies, because life now is just so busy and I can't seem to cope. My homework is not done at all and a math permutations and combinations online tutorial is still undone... It was due on 24th November, and look! It's already 11th December. Oh, no... >.<

I guess I'll have to skip over all the events of the past two weeks or so. But a chorale friend recently confided in me some things and I felt a little helpless, because I have no way to help him. And I got invited to his house while his family was out holidaying overseas, and that on top of the confiding made me feel glad that I'm a good enough friend for him to talk to about these kinds of things. And if you've seen the previous posts about me and crashing others' houses you would know that I value that highly because it signifies that there is a certain level of trust in you by a friend to bring you over to his, or her, personal enclave.

Okay, time to do work. I've been slacking off way too much >.<

Job shadowing

Oops. Was trawling Wikipedia for more information on Breaking Dawn after I watched Part 1 of the movie... :/ It got pretty interesting towards the end, so... heeheehee :D

Well, the first part of the movie was very boring to me as a guy, because it involved Bella and Edward and their wedding and all and their honeymoon... And stuff couples do during their honeymoons. I was adverting my eyes at the heavy breathing parts. Okay, there wasn't much to see, but still...
The second part was horrifying mainly because of sound effects of pieces of meat being cut and Bella screaming as her abdomen was cut open (won't go into much detail to avoid spoiling the movie).
The last part was cool because of the relatively cute baby (as all babies are... apart from the part when they're covered in blood. That's purely for the mother to love.) and how Edward's venom caused Bella to regain consciousness at the last moment- as a vampire. So her eyes suddenly flew open and they were nice and red.... Very nice ending! Too bad it was only "part one"... Geez.

Okay, I got distracted and diverted too much from the original aim of this post...
Basically, this job shadowing programme I signed up for involves touring around 3 government agencies (BCA, URA, HDB) and two private firms (DP Architects, Keppel Land) in the first week and a one-week job attachment at a company (excluding Keppel) the week after. So we went touring....

First, I'll talk about my impressions of the people who were on the course with me.
There were 3 Hwa Chong people:
Alicia (nice person, very nice voice)
Jamie (plays badminton, asks very weird but funny questions, likes construction)
and Jun Eng (bowler).
And the rest were from RJ:
Yihua (econs dude, introverted like me, but to a greater extent)
Ju-Yen (sounds like Julian... bowler)
Hui Chiang (sunburnt dude)
Angela (draws really really well. Especially stuff like fashion models. )
Ying Tong (my fellow job attachee at DP Architects)
Jia Wen (very short, very entertaining...)
Yuying (the name of a local secondary school)
Sarah ('nuff said)
Samantha (mm... hi?)
May (mm.. hi??? .__.")

Monday: BCA
I didn't really catch much but generally the only interesting thing was a 3D modelling software called BIM which is to replace CAD, which replaces 2D drawings on big scrolls of paper. I might have a more favourable impression of the place had I stayed to tour the Zero Energy Building there. But I had econs. Sigh. Oh, well.

Tuesday: URA
The 3D models were really fun at first but they got kinda boring after a while. The site tour was interesting, but I didn't really see how it linked back to whatever the purpose of the one-week tour was for.

Wedesday: HDB
I found things a little dry after the initial sharing session, where you had to draw some symbols representing 1. Qualities of a person you are close to/love 2. Qualities of a leader 3. Future career 4. What you see yourself as being 10, 20 years from no on.
So anyway. Some people were sharing with us the career prospects etc... But, you can learn from mistakes and not do that ever gain. And the high class shops are simply wokkkkkkkkkkkkkkolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       []]......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
(As expected...)

Thursday: DP Architects
I think chatting with architects clarified some of the doubts in my mind. Oh well! Table soccer for some people who may need them,mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
(I supposeyou can tell that I dozed off.....)
And... Well, the place just resonated with me. But I don't know what to make of them when they laughed and said that I had promise as an architect.. Because we were supposed to draw our first impressions of Orchard Central and I came up with something that I thought was a manifestation of my thoughts then.
And after various more interesting things, the tour of DPA was over.

<well... I think I'l continue later. Something tells me that I'm pretty sleepy now.>

Life thus far

I was going to touch on the job shadowing programme I'm in but I think I'll leave that to tomorrow, because it's pretty late and I promised that I'll sleep early (I tried, okay? >.<)

So, I'll just talk a little about bio O. Thankfully, I got someone to cheer me up, plus I naturally don't stay emo (and angry/etc) for long so I'm quite alright already.

Yup. So as expected, I didn't get into the second round of Singapore Biology Olympiad, which is a practical round. Of course, given the sad amount of effort I put in and the circumstances in which I took the paper, this was expected, but still, there's the inevitable tinge of regret that I didn't do as well as I ought to, that I missed out on the international rounds, that I disappointed so many people, especially myself. I guess this echoes my econs results as well. Well, having to rush out things and study last-minutes has never worked, especially for me. Because I believe that consistency helps a great deal. But I neglected bio O and econs to focus on my other commitments... So, now that these two areas have proven to have dismal results, I think that my resolve is strengthened to do better for econs next year. I must start working hard! But oh, where is the time? ): I guess I need to be more determined and not succumb to sleep, or sloth for that matter. Because for me, sloth is one of my greatest sins. I'm a very lazy person by default, if you hadn't known that yet. But as is the motto of Boxer the workhorse in Animal Farm, "I will work harder". Hopefully, I'll get the resolve from deep within to stick to that.

A somewhat interesting day

My day basically went like this: bio lecture-> lunch -> Fringe practice -> countdown meeting -> CIP briefing -> politely waiting for someone to finish preaching to me -> home.

Because I'm lazy I won't go into further details... But I'll try to talk about each briefly. And then go to sleep. The previous day I slept a lot, so this morning I slept for about 2 hours only, and then went to school, and dozed off for another hour.

Then it was bio lecture. Which was quite comprehendable. But the lecturer stopped at Chi-squared test! Which seemed so very difficult to me before, but after reading the frst example, seems pretty doable. It applies standard deviation (secondary school E math stuff) to see if a given phynotypic result deviates from the predicted theoretical result solely by chance, or if there's another factor involved. Well, after the bio lecturer we got a guest from Sumatra, Indonesia, who spoke to us about Orangutans. It was slightly OP-sque with things like "empowering the people" and "conflict between Orangutan and people" (the dude doesn't prnounce orangtutans in the plural form) being thrown out to us. I kind of pity him because we're really not a very responsive, attentive bunch of students. There was incessant murmuring... and of course, there was me, trying to read Chi-squared test.

I went for lunch at the RI year 1-4 side (i.e. seconday). Then I got invited to take free food from the buffet there. So, I dug in! But the desert syrup and chocolate cake got finished before I finished my fried rice, so I just ate the rice and two pieces of chicken meat for lunch. Didn't want to stoop to eating a second round of pasta (fusilli). Hmph. (:

Fringe pract was quite alright. Then I left when there was a last song to do.

Then, I rushed to get to Bugis for the countdown meeting at J.co doughnuts! I had to run around looking for a toilet to change in because the nearest toilet had its cubicles filled up even after a good five minutes of waiting. I ate two doughnuts for dinner: one that looked like a mini hamburger and another one with a very generous sprinkling of almond shavings. I was going to buy a Thai iced tea, but paying $30 for Science Focus and $8 for a play left me quite broke, and I forgot to top up the dosh from the ATM when I was leaving school. So I had to cancel the drink and went to Cold Storage to buy a bottle of iced lemon tea. Which I am drinking now.
The people speaking at the meeting were generally far too soft to be heard and the place too noisy, so I basically slacked until 6.45, and left to go for the CIP briefing.
Shaun, if you're reading this somehow.. CHANGE THE LOCATION. thankyou.

The journey to the briefing room was an onerous one with me passing through a very elegent, high-class place called Park(lane) Mall. I felt as though I didn't belong there and quickly left. The place looked very much like a high-end hotel the moment I stepped in, hence the sense of alienation. Then the YWCA (I think) lodge where the briefing was held was also quite high-class with the steps mae of nice wood dressed in a carpet. There was even a reception counter with a world clock behind the receptionist and those trolley thingamajigs you see in hotels. I think it's used by bell-boys. So... after the whole misplaced feeling that I had stepped into a world beyond what I was used to, the room where the briefing was to be held seemed a little run-down by comparison. I helped to distribute some pamphlets to all the seats and helped a person called Anna to fix a poster to it's stand, since I was slightly early. Then the briefing started after most people were settled down. I was probably among the youngest there with most volunteers being working adults. Oh, well, I'm sure it'll be a whole new experience doing my volunteer work! Since I'd be pressed to work hard and not slack around as I would be watched by these volunteers who really do care, and not simply teenagers who are doing it purely for the sake of CIP hours. Well.. actually, I'm doing it for both, but mainly for the spiritual fulfilment, since I don't really care about the requirements (already fulfilled the bare minimum of 12 hours for two years of JC). My attitude towards the Raffles Diploma (RD) is that it's basically a glorified piece of crappy paper that doesn't do anything at all, and you'll get your distinction etc as long as you do what you like to do. Since I'm now pursuing CIP as something to fill my life, I think the cert is quite useless. Same for physical fitness and academics and etc... Just give it your best shot, and the rewards will come naturally. There is no need to be all materialistic and do things just for the sake of more print on the RD.
Back to the WorldVision talk.
I think the briefing was quite inspiring. My only gripe is that the speaker didn't really enunciate properly and made some grammatical errors etc, but of course, to even speak to an audience, what more one who is largely the same age or older than you, already takes a fair bit of guts. And it's pretty nice to see that so many people out there have a heart.

...
After the briefing ended, I was trying to rush back home so I could finally sleep. And anyway, as this post goes to show, I reached home at about 10 and it's almost 2am now and I still haven't slept. Oh, well. Anyway. My phone died at this point in time. The rate at which my iPhone consumes battery life is astounding. And starting to get more than a little annoying. After pushing screen brightness down to the lowest it could go and turning off wifi and at times 3G, it still couldn't last beyond 13 hours? Geez. I need a mobile charger. When I see a nice one that isn't too expensive, I'll probably get it.

When I was about to enter Dhoby Gaut MRT, at street level, I got held back by a guy who asked if I could do a nice simple survey. Well, one thing led to another, and soon he was preaching to me about God and his church and telling me about the existence of "God our mother". Well, that was about the only thing I gained from that encounter, apart from a slip of paper with a URL which promises to elaborate on that drivel (okay, fine, expounding on what he said). Basically, I didn't really agree to whatever he said, but I simply had tog rn and bear it politely. I mean, what would have happened if I had just cut him short and said: "So, what's your aim?" And he would have looked shocked, and said that it was to try and con me into giving my phone number (which I did, cos it was in the survey) and to convert me into a member of his church, which promises to educae others about the true teachings of God. And I would have replied: "now look here, bud.... I may be tolerant of pretty much all religions but I don't appreciate being preached to. I think I'm fine the way I am now. Now, get lost. I want to get home and charge my phone and sleep after a long day." At which point he would either have known that he had lost a poor lamb gone astray or became angry and started to lecture me on how I'm going to hell and be damned eternally for the rest of my time after death.
...
Oh, well. I actually believe in most faiths, anyway. And I believe people should be allowed to believe in what they want to believe in. After all, what is the purpose of a religion? To teach that there's one true god? (I don't think so) I believe that religions are there to guide people along- to provide moral guidelines, to set the boundaries on what you can or cannot do, to give people something to believe in when they're down. But essentially, who creates the miracles? Is it not yourself, or a community? If you just believe in youself, then the need for a religion seems to be rather unnecessary. So I think I'm fine the way I am for now, because whatever I cannot overcome alone, I have friends and family to help me along. I do pray- I pray to whoever is willing to lend this poor soul a listening ear, because after all there is no harm in doing so. I whisper my troubles to those who are willing to comfort me. And I can pick myself up from there.
And about science: I feel that if I were to pick a religion, science would be my one true religion. Because however imperfect it is, it is the accumulation of the thoughts of scientists, of humans- dsproving, proving theories, trying to understand the world around us a little better, to use educated estimates to further the betterment of humankind, to try to limit the damage that we have to the environment, to try to reconnect back to nature. And sure, spirituality may be discovered one day to have scientific explanations- there is already compelling evidence- but so what? Is the fact that sound waves causing eyeballs to vibrate and see ghosts when they aren't there not magical in itself? Even if one day all the facts are laid out and accepted as the truth, it doesn't change the fact that something is just so magical. We have merely gained an insight into why we feel this way, but the feelings are still there nonetheless.

Wut happened yesterday

I came home and while in the middle of whatsapp-ing a certain someone was so tired that I fell asleep on my parents' bed (I love to crash other rooms in the house. Don't ask why. Probably because of a change in environment...). Then i woke up about 40 minutes later, said a quick sorry, took out the mattress (without borthering about pillow and bolster) and fell asleep immediately. And today was a series of intermittent sleep and wakeful moments, so I didn't do very much at all... oops! >.<

Just a thought before I start complaining about what happened yesterday:
I think the world focuses a lot on love. It comes in many forms and is virtually omnipresent: in TV serial dramas, in nearly all genres of movies, in adverts, etc. And of course there's Valentine's Day. And blahblah.
So, yes, love is an integral part of our lives, be they friendships, parent-children relationships, and relationships.
There is, of course, the need for someone to rely on, and to give support to, because this is what binds society together. And perhaps an element of utilitarian practicality derived from our earliest ancestors: that love is necessary for parents to (largely) love their kids such that they would provide for and care for their children until adulthood. Bio O has also taught me that the reason why mothers survive past their childbearing age is to care for their daughters' offspring in case they die early and can't provide that care themselves. And perhaps this also answers the question of just why men tend to be promiscuous- because those with the healthiest, best set of genes naturally ought to reproduce and father more offspring. In short, it's ruvival of the fittest: Darwin's theory of natural selection all over again.
But of course, the human population has evolved beyond that narrow definition of love. Because we are able to think, we are able to extend love beyond that which fellow apes and organisms- think birds bringing back worms to offspring- and turn it into something that is very much part of our everyday lives. Love is, after all, the glue that binds our social fabric together.

Oh well anyway about yesterday.
(wanted to talk lots of crap but I was supposed to bathe and my attention span is running out... besides, I have other stuff to do! ><)
Essentially, Chorale was going over to SOTA for the Singapore International Youth Choral Festival (SIYCF), and we were to be performing two songs: El Hambo and the Earth Song (Google that if you're interested). Basically:
The Raffles Voices (secondary school RI peeps) combined with Chorale.
We were supposed to mix with a Latvian choir.

What happened:
Got ushered around and things were a little too fast at first; the conductor was a little miffed with out substandard performance.
Waited for lunch. The queue was so long that when I got to the food all that was left was fried thin white noodles (I can never remember what they're called) and brocolli and carrot. The meat was all gone.. So I had to eat a vegetarian meal of sorts.
Then we basically changed after that, practiced a little (in an open space, since there was not enough space... there were probably at least 6 choirs, both international and local. ), and then went to place our bags in a holding area. The place was painted black, absolutely black, with colourful orange and red chairs. I thought it was really cool at first, but after a while, the environment started to get a little disorientating. And there wasn't really any instructions to do a dry run, etc, etc.. so the RV guys started playing around, the other choirs took out their phones (I saw a girl playing Temple Run), the guys were talking crap (and so were the girls), and so... I slept. Intermittently, for about 45 minutes. Then I got woken up because they said they were going to do the dry run, but nothing happened after staring around and I got slightly more frustrated, walked around a little, and mostly did nothing...
Then when we went out (FINALLY!), it was for dinner. At 5.30pm. Although there was food everywhere in packets, and I had already taken one (the RV guys were eating already), I had to put it back and wait. When you have to wait for food logistics to be settled even though you had your food and have to give it back when you're really hungry and some wierdos come along and kope the food and one even comes up to the food pile where you're standing and asks you if he can freaking take it... YOU GET MAJORLY PISSED. ARGH. I DUN WANNA TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE.
....
Then it was back to the holding room. Slept a little more (makes you wonder why on Earth I was still able to sleep so much today). And got my cravat (it's some funny blood-red thing that peeks out of the shirt and is supposed to cover your neck. Personally, i think it makes one look like a red robin!) fixed by a few girls. Including my mortal (if you don't know what who that is too bad :P), CG, and then a few others who said my complexion was good, the cravat looked nice and all. When i currently have a few pimples on my face -.-
Then finally, we went to sing. And then screwed up Earth Song a little. It was okay, but I forgot a few details (oops!!) and we collectively went sharp by a semitone (I thought it was more than that, but if pitch-perfect people say so, then I'll go along with them...)

Then after all that depression it was finally time to go home! I thought it would end later but it didn't. I rushed back to the concert hall, this time as a audience, in time to hear a song by a Finnish choir (they were very, very good) and then prize presentation -.- and then another song by the combined choirs. Then I iitially thought I could finally go home and sleep but no, the guys wanted to eat at Mac's! So i followed them, because between eating cup noodles at home and eating at McDonald's they said Mac's was healthier... So... I got conned. -.-

And the rest was as said above... >.<

Only Human

Argh I finally realised that I could change the stupid timezone! *sigh* so finally all my posts will be at the correct time -    -" Sorry for not posting at accurate timings before...

(okay, this won't be very coherent cos i got someone b****ing to me now... ah well -  -)

Yeah. So anyway. I just read National Geographic, and there were articles about Africa and it's national forests, the Rwandan genocide (between the minority Tutsis and the poorer, disadvantaged Hutus); the African Great Rift Valley, etc.

I looked at a map of the Rift Valley (near the Horn of Africa, northeastern boundary of the continent). And then I saw a few gigantic lakes... And the map legend, which showed me, by rough estimation, that one lake was more than 100km wide. You could fit God knows how many Singapores into those lakes. But of course African countries have problems (not to say that the developed world doesn't- they're just different. Just look at Europe and the US). They have such a huge, bountiful expanse of Nature, something I can only covet; yet how do you get starving, desperate people to not kill animals for bush meat; to exploit the forest for their needs? How do you change corrupt governments; and violence; and rape? Who would willingly rise up and sacrifice himself to take all this on? Why, oh why can't humans ever just get along? Is such a notion merely a utopia that is far out of our grasp, a castle in the air for now? The behaviour of a few errant black sheep has caused the suffering of millions more, needless to say other species, the land, the environment itself.

I may be foolish, but if I could just wave a magic wand and peace comes along, then that'll be great... but of course, real life doesn't work that way. Thankfully, there are people who are trying to change this. Trying to police the borders of national parks at risk of mortality, willingly entering and waging war against wrongdoers, trying to find better means to settle villagers.

And to get people to stop invading the land, why not give them jobs? I read somewhere that an experiment was successfully carried out elsewhere in Africa, that locals were educated about the forest, and ex-hunters were now tour guides to show foreigners around the place. Isn't this good? It raises their standards of living, gives them a better chance of education, and allows them to once more love and respect nature in all its glory. How fortunate they are to have such scenery in their own backyards! The world's so very bright and full of colours if you just observe, if you just open your eyes and look hard enough. There are miracles everywhere; every speck of life, every moving creature, every stream that laps playfully around your feet...

It is time for the African people to open their eyes.

And for the rest of the world to help them.

And for other pointless conflicts over pride and historic whatnots to disappear. Those are excuses. Free the Tibetans. Share resources. Embrace your fellow people. Let go of differences.

Because we are one people.

Feelings

I don't really know why, but I'm feeling sad now after bio O. I don't know what it's due to... Maybe because I won't have random convos for another one and a half more days, or because it's raining, because I'm eating alone at Pizza Hut, just me and my prawn aglio olio, without anyone to chat with (but then again, I do like my moments of solitude). Or maybe it's because I didn't really do that well for bio O.

I was actually pretty lucky because my friend had previously sent me 100 International Biology Olympiad questions and I printed them out (when my printer hadn't died on me yet) and I did them all in the past few days. And it turned out that more than a few questions were taken from that particular paper. But of course they couldn't have taken all that many considering that Bio O had 200 questions. So at least I didn't have to think that hard for repeated questions. But unfortunately, I had a really bad runny nose.

(I'm nearly done with my spaghetti. Oh, why must the portion be so small... Oh a side note, aglio olio is probably my preferred choice of spaghetti now.)

So anyway about the runny nose. The paper was split into sections A and B for the first half (1hr 30 mins) and C and D for the second half, also 1hr30min long. I sniffled a little for the first half, but it didn't affect me much at all and when I went outside the sniffling stopped. So I didn't think of taking out the packet of tissue in my bag and went straight to my seat when the second half commenced. And then the runny nose came on full force. Fromthe first few questions onwards my nose was like a water faucet that kept dripping water (my mucus literally had the consistency of water. So needless to say I spent unnecessary time trying my very best not to let mucus drip on the paper and desk and so I left 16 questions undone, compared to 7 for the first half. And obviously, those that were done were very badly completed. And it's not actually to say that I didn't complete those 16 questions... When I saw that I had 20 seconds left I hurriedly filled in the answers randomly (since they're all MCQ and getting Ursuline wrong wouldn't lead to marks being deducted). And of course there were questions from the 100 IBO MCQs that were in the 7 and 16 questions undone. Oh boy, do I feel displeased with myself...

Stuff?

Ah, geez. I just spent so much time reading manga. Feel so guilty.The bio O test is this Saturday, and I have about two days left... >.< I need to get down to business and seriously start studying!
The manga was about changing genders.. Somehow, I find that really interesting. It also has more than a few social implications... hopefully someday it will happen and then I can watch what goes on :D
*cough* anyway....

On OP:
Personally, I think I did quite okay for it. Mine was on the first day, first timeslot, so I just got it over and done with and it was relatively painless. Anyways, it's over so there's no point dwelling on it any more, right?
For the presentation, I don't think I made eye contact as much as I wished to, and got a little nervous and relied a little more on my script than I wished to, and didn't really cure my problem of sounding too fast, and stumbled over a few words... but overall it was really okay. For Q&A, I was lucky enough to get a question that I prepared for (why my group chose the case study). Maybe I should have elaborated further, but... hmm, it's all good (:
So anyway my experiences may benefit people, so here goes:
(for those J1s who read my blog and aren't done with OP)
Yes, it's A levels and all that, but there's really nothing to be afraid of or anxious about. Most people would have mugged their script to the point of almost memorising it/ memorising it... so what's the big deal about OP? It's just doing it another time, albeit in a classroom setting finally and in front of a few adults and schoolmates who might or might not be aquaintances. In fact, it should be so boring that all you can think about is relief and not how many marks you managed to squeeze out from OP for your A for PW. Because that A is supposed to come naturally. On the contrary, thinking too much is counterproductive and what is proably going to happen is that you wouldn't execute your steps, eye contact, script, etc. perfectly, get flustered, make more mistakes, get even more flustered, and then it all goes downhill from there on. So essentially just keep cool.
If you're nervous, try to stay calm; go to the toilet or outside the room to change the setting a little instead of stoning inside getting cold and trying to endlessly recite your script. Massaging yourself also helps because it relaxes your muscles.
... Yeah, that's about it...

On something I found out (quite long ago):
Maybe it's just an experience unique to me, but I used to be quite awkward with a certain girl whom I chat with quite frequently through the phone (an app). Perhaps it's also due to the segregated nature of our class but I used to have not much to talk about when we finally had the rare opportunities to talk face-to-face in school. I think she also came to see this problem, so we tried to resolve it (sigh PW-.-). And I think it's getting better! So that's good.
So what I thought this expressed is that people, especially those who are as shy as me, tend to talk lesser to each other in real life, since what needs to be said has mostly already been done through SMSes and other cyber platforms for interaction.
... yeah that's about it... -______-
I wanted to write it as a GPish sort of essay but I realised that I couldnt exrrapolate to fit most people.... since it currently applies to shy, segregated people... -.-

Oh well. I guess it's time to face the music. Bio O, here I come.... reluctantly....

Haiku

Written while on the short bus journey home while it was drizzling and while some circumstances arose.

A mild rain falling/
A friendship forever gone/
Yet nothing is felt.

An ode to teachers

I just found out that some of my teachers mght not be teaching us next year. Shucks.
So here's a tribute to all of them, especally if I don't see them next year...

GP: Ms Naidu, I think you're a nice teacher who can identify with our class and laugh with us at times but get serious when it's time to do so. Thank you for entertaining me during the few consults I had with you.
PW: Mr Toh, although it's kind of confirmed that we won't see you next year, thank you for this year spent on project work. I can't say I put in a great deal of effort, but the experiences gained from it are priceless nonetheless.
Chinese: Mr Chan, I hope I don't let you down when the results are out next year... If I do get an A, I'll treat you to something. I promise.
Bio: Mr Zhou, all the best in your own studies! :D Thanks for trying your utmost to teach our class while juggling all your other stuff. You're very cute. Heehee.
Mr Tan, I think you can consider things from the perspective of the students and you're also very open to questions and whatnot. Hopefully you'll continue bringing fun and laughter to our class next year!
Chem: Mrs Sze, thank you for the numerous consultations and entertaining me at strange hours of the day. You're one of the best chem teachers I've ever had (well actually, I've had very good chem teachers all the way). I give you pooh bear. Please stay, okay?
Math: Mr Ang, I don't know how you pull off writing answers impromptu but you have done it consistently. I think our class is in good hands in your genius.
Econs: Ms Ng, I'm really sorry for letting you down. I promise to catch up over the December holidays... >.< please stay, okay? It's not that you aren't a good teacher, but that some of us are bad students (mainly me).

...
Intentionally short post, because someone has requested that I sleep early. I'm typing this when I'm supposed to be sleeping... :P

Meh.

Argh who cares it's overrrrr. -.- I don't wanna talk about it anymore... I guess the paper was okay but yet I definitely made some mistakes >.<
(okay brief update done)

...

Uh... nothing much that's bloggable happened today...

Wanted to treat Miss Purple to a meal cos she bought me biscuits and I didn't pay for them + some stuff printed on good quality paper, but my money got rejected -_-"
Oh well... I'll think of a way to stuff the money in her pocket or somewhere else some other day (:

P.S The last post was my first chinese post ever, so I guess it's somewhat befitting to have blogged about how my mum helped me. It could have been better, but I was dozing off while typing, so... Anyway, cheers to you, mummy! :D

《领悟》

可能是从《孩子，我为什么打你》来的题目吧？文章说母亲在孩子拥有童年的智慧，为了教训孩子而打孩子；幼时不打，长大了也不打。所以我写出这文章，题目是《领悟》。

[目的是为了A水准的花纹考试做准备。。。啊，睡觉醒来就地去考试了啦！]

《领悟》

我小时候不怎么喜欢和母亲相处。母亲对我来说是非常苛刻的人，她要我补习，我不肯，结果总是被妈妈挨打。我不明白，其他的小孩似乎无忧无虑的能到处玩耍，我怎么却不能呢？幼时的我，认为母亲存在的唯一目的是为了折磨我，约束我，带给我无比的怨恨。

有一次，我没有把乘法表背熟。母亲生气了。当时，好像面对着火山即将爆发的心情，而火山是无法阻挡的强威的力量。母亲随手操起在烫衣板上面的藤条，狠狠地把我打成一团抽搭着的悲惨人物。我缩成一团，目的是为了保户自己，我抱着双脚，将身体检查一遍，以泪冲洗红肿的被藤条肆虐过的地方。我好像一只狼狈的小狗，浸泡在自己的悲哀之中。

经过时间的过去，岁月的累积，我朦朦胧胧的成长。如今，竟然是即将准备考试的少年。

可能是思想比较成熟了吧，现在我说的算。我痛恨的补习课程全都一扫而空；学习方式由我自己作主。我和母亲发生争执的纪律也减少了。

昨天，母亲特地为了我而尝试新的烹饪手法，她住的南瓜汤是从真正的南瓜里程出来的。虽然这是她第一次的尝试，汤也不知怎么的消失了，但是我能感受得到无比的温暖。今天也是如此，我在温习的当儿中，母亲就会开门，递给我新鲜挤出的橙汁。橙汁鲜甜，在我为考试而愁的时候带来了清爽的滋味。我意识到，母亲其实是疼我的！原来，她一直就在我的身边鼓励我，为我的将来作出贡献。

小学时期的补课，是她用血汗钱供我上课的；

要我多加的练习，是希望我能考入相当不错的中学；

甚至中学O’水准考试期间，是她放了假，每天下午为我煮丰富的午餐，这也是为了让我能有精神温习。

母亲的关照和伟大被我完完全全的错怪了！

看着她在沙发上熟睡的样子-啊！应该是等着我就寝后才睡觉额，但是因过度的劳累而预先睡觉- 我发誓长大成人的时候，我要好好地报答母亲。我领悟到了她的一番苦心，因为打于不打也是爱。小时候的幼稚想法被成熟所取代。现在恳请母亲别为我操心，因为我已经是半个大人了；请您耐心的等待，等待着我能够孝敬您的那一天。

[这文章在半睡半醒中一个字一个字的打出。。。                                                                                                           所以，可能出了许多差错，在这恳求读者的谅解。]

Quote

An adapted Newton's third law of motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; for what you give, you get something in return, and the more you give, the more you get back in reciprocation."
-Me

Anyway, Chinese A levels is tomorrow and I'm quite worried because there's no time to prepare and I'm left with quite alot of stuff to do. Oh well one day left! It's time to enter serious mode and dao everything but the essentials and focus to the max. I thank someone who has been here for me always and encouraging me and drawing funny stuff on some printing that I asked a favor for. You jiayou too (:

A Quote

"You don't have to look forward to life, just live for the moment." - Tisa

...

Anyways, a little on my personality. I kinda got inspired by my friend. Whose blog reads like a collection of GP essays.
At the start of the year, my chemistry teacher got us to say a chemical compound that represented ourselves, or something along those lines. I forgot what I chose, but i do remember that I explained it was because I felt that my personality is faceted and there are many sides to a person (and hence got teased about having multiple personalities. Okay, there are sides of me that nobody knows about, but still, it's not really multiple personality...)
Anyways, I stand by my explanation then, because it is true that nobody is fully transparent. Some may be hard to read and others extremely obvious, but nobody will ever know everything about another person, not even between spouses and the like. And by extension, there are different sides of yourself that you would show to different people... talking about nothing in particular with some, about politics and other "higher-order thinging" with others, and keeping some secrets of your own. That is what makes us humans so interesting, because when you peel back layer after layer and perhaps chance upon the essence of what makes a person who he or her is, there is a form of gratification and joy that someone else is letting you intrude upon what is essentially an increasing level of private space.
So to link it back to myself, I think that I fit this model quite well. Sometimes I feel like a fluid, flowing smoothly from one container to another, and yet with those whom i disagree with i may become hard and unmovable- the clashing of personalities. Perhaps human relations are all about adapting to another person's views, no? There is no one-size-fits-all solution to every friend or person you encounter, because nobody's personality is exactly the same. If you're lucky, some may be much more amicable in this respect, paving the way for a closer friendship, or even closer.

...
Got slightly carried away.
I think that's about all I wanted to blog about, so bye for now.

P.S.
Happy birthday once more SL, even though your birthday has passed by about two hours already! Your birthday may be over, but it simply marks the start of a new 17 year old SL who's ready to face anything thrown her way. 向前走吧！May you continue to grow and blossom. Just don't take on that much on your plate... it's slightly worrying :P
(this must be like at least the fourth birthday greeting)

On how I have changed.

Anyway, I was having another mini hyperness outbreak kind of thing from Monday to Friday, meaning that I slept 4 hours a day on average because of things like OP, life, and.. well... what was I doing, again? -.- Anyway. So I crashed and started sleeping later and later until finally I collapsed and conked out for 11 hours till 11am this morning. I woke up feeling really guilty. This means that I can't keep up the 4-hour-a-day-sleep thing in order to (finally) start on Chinese. This is very bad. It means I'm going to screw bio O, OP and all the extra tutorials that have come my way this last week. Because Chinese is far, far more important for now, and I haven't studied, and it's in a week and about two hours from now. Oh, shucks. Makes me wonder why I'm writing this bog post at all when I really should be studying.

So, anyway, on why and how I have changed:
I think that people around you affect you, even change your personality at times.
For example: Ms Yeo from primary school gave me  "Get the picture?" even though I don't use it now;
The World Of Magic (handphone game I played way too excessively in December 2010 after O'levels) gave me a nickname for that game (cookie); "un" (it means yes in informal Japanese) and other random stuff that I rarely use now because I'll be seen as weird if I do;
SL gave me a more cheerful deposition and many smileys (thanks! (:  ).
... Yeah, that's about it.

Chorale on Saturday was very funny. Especially after lunch during Fringe practice. Fringe is an accapella group I'm in and we're doing songs to prepare for the upcoming Chorale concert.
Now, I really shouldn't say this, but it's really too funny to not blog about this. So I'm going to compromise by not mentioning names at all... :D (Sorry to you if you're reading it, person-in-question!!)
So, this miss was happily singing and since she was the only one in her section (the other soprano left earlier for OP) when she screwed up it derailed the entire group. So once when she accidentally already started wrongly from the very beginning and Jiarong gently pointed that out she blushed furiously and laughed and hid her face behind C's (the lone alto, since her comrade was sick and helping out with something else in the LT we were rpacticing in) back. And various other permutations leading to more blushing. It was very epic and very entertaining. I'm sorry for being a sadist or something, but such behaviour is generally very, very cute. Also displayed by C in my class and another girl (both having similar-sounding names). The latter is made more obvious when she rarely does so and the red can actually show through her brown skin. *cough cough*

WE INTERRUPT YOU THIS BLOGPOST TO BRING A PIECE OF EXTREMELY GRAVE NEWS.
my eldest sister's boyfriend's dad is in critical condition. Hope he pulls through tonight. Praying for him now.. >.< Death, it is inevitable... yet...  whatever his will is, I hope he has no regrets, either if he wants to live, or if he... let's move on.

• went back to see my old house. Nearly cried.
• Friend came over. Wanted to study. Didn't do much. So later must do more.
• Bye for now. Sigh.

Tempest.

Ah-ha. The practice of using a full-stop to conclude my blog post title is back with this post. At least for now. Maybe it signifies a shift back towards more emo periods. If you would look through my blog posts from the first few to the later ones (NOT including this month's. Wherein many stuff happened, to put it very simply.) you would fine that the general tone of my voice has changed and become quite a lot happier, and consequently, quite alot more cutesy and childish (is what I think).

I got the rare moment of returning home alone without spamming people on whatsapp and/or SMSes today. It gave me the chance of revisiting my inner emo. I don't know if it's welcome or not, but even though some things do change, sometimes others would have stayed comfortingly, reassuringly constant. Anyways... shall keep it short and go straight to the main story of the day. And then fall sound asleep.

So, a dear friend of mine fell sick, somewhat, in the morning.

It broke my heart somewhat,because when you see someone whom you know is generally healthy and happy-go-lucky etc fall sick, presumably due to how things have been developing (falling sick is NOT a good signal). And blah blah but i just dozed off twice already, so who cares...

The other friend, too, has been sick for quite a llong while but I'm not going to say anythin because he's just quite seriously stupid. According to my point of view. I mean, sure, good that you're dedicated to your friends, but health first, no? Everything else can happen afterew[a[waes[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
oops. So anw.... yea. Felt realyly bad expecally when i clarified a little more during individual convos. I want to do something for them.. can't go over and hug them tho (sigh) but what else? i can only smile weakly, give a bitter smile, and pray (to anyone who'd listen) that they get better. I think the discussions took everything out of their mental and physical health... while due to my nature (at times a huge curse, but perfect for forgetting things that need ot be forgotten) i was having it much much easier. kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk oh shit really skeeping. K bye bye.

I dunno what to title stuff anymore...

Very, very tired now. I don't know why either when I've slept so much like a (skinny) little pig... So, I'm going to briefly talk about stuff today and yesterday and then go sleep early like a good boy.

• Just saw my friend's blog post (Oct 12th). So it may be a little outdated... I really hope it is, because if it isn't, it means that I've been deluding myself and living in a sort of farce and thinking that all the world's nice and happy when it isn't. This just got me quite worried.
• Someone sent me a cute picture of something called "The Various Stages Of Sleep". I think the pic suits me very aptly. Now, I've just passed the "extremely hyper" stage. I don't know what stage i am in now. Maybe it's the "hyperness gone but still awake but going to keel over at any moment" stage.
• In the morning, I was in school trying to read my Time magazine but I kept falling sleep for an hour or so until Chinese started.
• The Chinese teacher gave us all a curry puff with potato filling. Thank God for that... or else I wouldn't have survived till 2pm for lunch.
• Chorale at 11.20am cos Chinese finished earlier than expected. Nai Nai wanted more practices but the teacher has his H2 Chinese class to go to and so he said he'd put it in the class pigeonholes on Monday.
• More chorale pract (accapella group Fringe after 3pm, till 6pm).
• Finished reading Time after dinner. Notables:
• #1. On Iceland: "Imagine that you have a dog, and I have a cat... You sell me the dog for one billion, and I sell you the cat for one billion. Now we are no longer pet owners but Icelandic banks, with a billion dollars in new assets."
• #2. "Imagine you're buying a mobile phone that retails for $100. At the store, you learn the same phone sells for $75 two blocks away. Now imagine that you're buying a ski jacket for $800. At the shop, you learn that the same coat foes for $775 at a branch two blocks away. Do you walk to that branch? If you're like most people, you answered yes to the first question but no to the second"- Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not most people... I'd rather exercise, and I don't see the need to buy ski jackets in the first place, anyway! Singapore's a tropical country, for Pete's sake.

So, about yesterday. I shall focus on Bio O cos that's the bulk of yesterday. And because I told someone that I'd blog about it. It was a journey of fails that enlightened me to my sad, sad prospects in Bio O...

• Slept during the one hour theory lecture before the practical started. Oops.
• Did hand sectioning of plants (the in-charge called this being 'human microtomes'... A microtome is a spacial machine that cuts thin slices of tissue to be mounted on slides). This involves breaking a razor blade into two, and using one half to cut thin slices of plant stem tissue (non-woody) and mount them on slides after staining with dye. Apparently the in-charge told us wrongly. He said 2-3minutes, but someone stained for one minute and got far better results. My stem slices were too thick -.-
• Looked at slides of plants under a light microscope. Couldn't identify much.
• Lunch: The school cat was posing for me. The greedy little thing then went and clamoured for food from me... it put its paws on the bench and stared at me and licked its lips. So I gave it two slices of chicken... >< Grr sometimes stuff are so cute that they're irrisistible.
• Back to the bio lab. Started on microbiology...
• Didn't know how to use a micropipette (measures volumes from 1ml to 1/1000ml, depending on the type of pipette. There were 3). Got my bio teacher who sat in to teach me.
• Couldn't really calculate the dilution factor thing... didn't even know what that was! I envied the bio RA (raffles academy) people who had many practices with the micropipettes already. So I obviously ran out of time. Felt so hapless.
• Last practical was working with a mixture of bacteria (E.coli and something else... oh, no, I need to ask someone knowledgable... ><)... we were doing Gram staining.
  E.coli was supposed to be pink. So after all the staining (added on to the pink on my fingers from the sectioning earlier on) I went to check my microscope. Then voila! Got pink stuff and funny purple stuff in clumps. I couldn't make them out clearly... so I went to get the emulsion oil from the teacher. She said only for those who were ready and I felt pretty ready so I went to get the thing... It looks like an oversized bottle of eyedrops but yellow in colour. And you add a drop to the top of the cover slip on the slide and inch the platform up until the 100X objective lens just touches the oil... then you use the fine adjustment knob to adjust to get a nice clear view because the oil is supposed to act as a second lens to further magnify the image. I was walking around from table to table because people were stealing the oil emulsion bottle left and right... >< then i finally took it and put a drop of oil on my cover slip and put the bottle of oil somewhere. So... the oil didn't help at all. I couldn't see anything afterwards. Another fail: We were supposed to disinfect everything by passing the bottle of bacterial culture across an open flame. So: I couldn't turn on the flame because the knob was too hard (it was a can of LPG, ODAC-style) and a (female!) teacher had to prise it open for me and light it up; then i turned off the flame and when i needed it again the lighter REFUSED TO BUDGE. So I gave up and took my own lighter and used it to light the thing. Then I forgot to flame everything: The mouth of the vial of bacteria; the slides; the wire loop used to take out a little bit of bacterial culture to put on the slides. So my hands were full of E.coli  after the practical and when i went home. So  I didn't dare to touch any orifice of my body (mouth, nose) for the rest of the day until I was done bathing.

A Spammage of Posts

Yea, that's what it seems like recently, no? Haha >.<
Actually i have lots and lots of crap to do and i haven't gotten started and i shouldn't be doing this but oh well -.-

• Today I didn't feel too good from the start. Maybe it's something to do with stress (wait... who has stress??? I'm stress-free!!!! >.<") or something about sleeping at 5.30am and waking up at 6.30am (with a 2hr nap before that, of course) or some emotional baggage (seems quite alot better today... thankfully. I won't know what to do if it didn't.) etc... but i felt nauseous all the way, even now, even though I'm much better, especially after sleeping for about 4 hours (wasn't planned... I flipped a page of Time magazine, then conked out). So in the morn, I ate about one small bite of sausage bread and gave up. The sausage tasted very grainy and my stomach was in a tight knot (still is... somewhat...) and the bread tasted like weird fluff that wasn't edible. Recess... drank a cup of hot tea and ate half of a small chicken burger. I'm sorry to waste food, but I really couldn't take eat anymore. Then it was out class monitor's birthday and I wanted to eat a slice of cake and have fun with him but i was very afraid that I would just puke the pile of cream out later...  Then I found a black Ipod touch and returned it to the Student Affairs Centre (SAC) and someone picked it up later and gave me a thank-you SMS. I was quite delighted (: (助人为快乐之本！It's one of the zuowen topics hmm. hehe :D) Then for dinner I ate about three-quarters of my food and gave up. I think I accidentally "learnt" this from someone who didn't eat much at all the day before! Poor person... >.< forgot the breakfast menu, but that person drank a fruit shake thingy for lunch and had cup corn for dinner. *stares accusingly as said person*
• Thought a little bit about seniority while I was singing in the shower. I think the natural procession (for me at least, and perhaps those leaning towards such traditional Chinese beliefs) is for people to gain more respect the older they get (unless they really don't deserve it). So taking me as an example... I think I admired my sec 3 and 4 seniors back at VS, such as one called Ashwin Thapa. I think he's Nepalese cos for choir camp he once taught us a few words and we had to repeat them as his checkpoint. (sub-point: I think the more you give, the more you get back emotionally. So as an example, of course people who find say reading distateful won't touch books, won't read, and won't get the knowledge from reading... and so they continue to not read books. Whereas those who read books know about the benefits of doing so and will continue to do so, and the more they read, the more insights are gained. It's like a positive feedback process.) SO anw. Yea... the older people get, the more natural it is for people to look up to them, due to accumulated life experiences, etc, and simply from being older. I think that's why my juniors kind of deferred to me a little when I was in sec 4, even though I don't feel as though I've done anything to deserve that respect. So now that I'm in JC, I look up to my seniors who are one year older than me... yet somehow they seem to exude that air of maturity that I can only hope to have one day. And so perhaps we look up to older people simply because they are older, and older people get more smug as they grow yet older, simply because the number of people who are still alive and senior to them dwindles. So the young respect the old, the old respect the famous greats of ancient times...
• I've been going around showing off my newly pimped (stuff added) iPhone. So as seen below, The button is now protruding. It feels kinda weird. And to those who say it seems sort of girlish... It's cos it's a birthday present (one of two parts) of iphone button things from a female friend (known her since primary school). I was so happy I immediately begun using the sticker, heh. Oh, well... Girlish or not, I have to put up with this button until I get bored of it/ rip it out when it's old and spoilt. And then: I have three more to use! hahahah  :P

• Everyone seems to be crashing on on Steve Job's death. I initially felt that Apple was pretty much moot about ten years back and Microsoft was The Thing. But now, I view both companies rather equally, becaue they're both successful in their own ways; as Time puts it, Apple is absolute, dictatorial, exculsive, while Microsoft shares its software with many other companies. So anyway, back to Jobs: I thank him for creating an easy-to-use iPhone (really user friendly, but I still don't find it doin anything much. But there's simply no better phone in the market to turn to). While everyone's praising Apple and Jobs now, perhaps the flipside of the comany and the man that was behind it has been largely glossed over. So I don't know that much too, but if you interpret the exclusivity of Apple's products in a different light, you find that apart from being attentive to your needs, they also tend to inhibit experimentation and the adding on of new things to them. So Jobs instead of catering to the needs of the consumers actually created a need for them, and they (we, whatever) have embraced it. Anyway, he really did revolutionise our everyday world (however much I don't see the need for an Ipad or Macbook, even though I would like something like that that runs on Windows, please. I'm not a Windows fan but I tend to resist change and so refuse to adapt to Mac OS.), so this is why he has tributes being paid to him and all. Even critics don't deny greatness when it has to be duly accorded.
• You know the the pic showing Job's silhouette in the bite of the Apple logo that's been spreading around like wildfire and created (not the first person, though) by some Taiwan poly student? I'm pretty blind, so if there's any stray bit of hair at the top of Jobs's head I can't tell whether it exists or not, so I essentially see a bald head. So you now what's the first name that pops into my mind even though bespectacled bald figures asccociated with Apple are probably Steve Jobs (plural? haha).....                  Mahatma Ghandi.                                                               .... So yeah, a peace-loving figure is tilting his head and giving a solemn look to Apple. The possible interpretations are endless. Heh.
• Anyway... Steve Jobs really looked quite different in the different phases of his life, from a handsome twentysomething year old dude to a slightly filled out 30-40 plus and then to white balding hair and growing beard and then growing more bald with his frame becoming skinnier due to his panceatic cancer. Oh, why must the greats always die early...

Tired.

Emotional baggage, physical tiredness, etc. I really don't feel like blogging but it may be somewhat theraputic. I'm trying to re-achieve a state of normalcy.. Oh my, why must things turn out this way? Life seems so much like a drama now, and I'm caught in it. Sigh. So, anyway...

Something my mum gave me. Free samples... I finally tried the orange one earlier on. Didn't help much.

Again, sorry that it's slanted. But I'm really too lazy to rotate it, especially right now. What's behind the guy is actually his painting. It looks really life-like and all (the grass) and the three men and the grass monster behind look like they come from some video game somewhere. Which was the whole point... it looked better in the newspaper, with the proper orientation and all.





When I woke up from a too-long sleep, in which i finally dreamed (haven't done so in a very long time), I was pretty excited (but it's gone now). So here is what i sound like describing my dreams when i'm excited:

Hahahaha oomg!! Just had the coolest two dreams ever so I need to write them before I forget!! I dunno, how I just dreamed of such cool things but oh okay whatever right??

So here goes, the first dream”:

·         I got into some cool place with some class ppl... then I think it was a study gang kind of thingy and probably near evening period cos I think I remembered feeling hungry as I always do! Then  we were in some concrete looking place I think. I know three floors: all three are on top of a regular office building!  I think. Either that or they were all underground!.

·         So I think we were studying at the top of what im going to describe now:

·         Imagine a wall: then the wall stretches 3 floors, so the room at the top must go even higher.So the concerete wall, lit by like white lights, then business ppl or executives or smth below walking with a sense of purpose thingy with their collegues and blah.. So I think I was at the top of the room studying. But I cant remb the room. So the wall had a slit in it that holds a concrete sataircase, damn cool right?! Then the stairs had some sort of green but still mostly white backlighting underneath the stairs and hidden from virew. So it just keeps om ascending and going upwards.. cool. The concrete wall is also damn cool. Like Idk, got 4 repeating panels thingy?

·         So the 3 floors thingy. The first floor is for the not so good performing ppl. Then the second for better performers, I recall seeing something to do with Taiwan somehow. Then the third floor is for the great ppl who have it all and ther offices look like damn cool stuff. And the stair that connect all the concrete structures are also concrete. And from 1^st floor, the wide open expanse of concrete to the second floor, its just the conventional thing. Then for 2^nd to third floor its like some concrete winding up spiral staircase. So the top floor (kinda like a mezzanine) looks like someplace where the edges are glass panels for railings so those below on 1^st floor can stare up and see inside. So there’s like some kind of cool white painting with black circles and splotches thing that's abstract art.

·         When I went downstairs for toilet, i got lost after emerging. So I looked around and wandered around abit and when I finally saw the long flight of stairs then I went past some group of professional looking ppl and leading the fore was some woman in a striped shirt, some colour on dark blue, and then knee-length grey skirt that was very tastefully rendered. Then she was talking to her collegues and and as I passed her she MOLESTED MY BUTT OMG WTH. So I turned around and gave her a damn hard stare and I think she stopped while the rest of the group continues, I think to lvl 3, while she gave me a gentle stare and said sorry. And then went on to join her collegues.

Okay for the second dream:

I think this was in presumably my house, much bigger than before, a few storys high, and I thnk it was after the study session and we went to my house.  Then we went over fo dinner and then to mug again. So after food blah my batt was running low, mistook 3% for 30% after lots of whatsapp so I went to charge my phone in my room. Passed my sister’s room on the way and it’s like woahhh. Open concept, with the lights all off, but probably some roller system that allows privacy when she needs it. Then I thought she won’t be coming back but later she joined us for dinner. Then the room showed a long rectangle with length being length of the room exposed and breadth the hight of the room. So on the right side was her damn cool queen/king-szed bed with tasteful covers, forgot pattern and color. Then near the end of the bed (towards the left) was like some wooden thing that rose up, across the bed, and came down on the other side. Then the bottom of the bed was also in the sametype of warm wood, but horizontally instead now.

So after I came back I think YQ was helping my maid with the dishes in the post kitched and I couldn’t find someone else. Then later when I came back I think YQ was stuying at the wooden table that formed the outer of the kitchen. Like some long side table that originated from the kitchen and went around its single border. And my dad was back and staring at me with a bemused expression on his face cos it was pouring outsde and I said he could bring them back. Then they thanked me and I said no need thank my father cos I only say but it’s my dad who does the sending. And I was seating just outside of the kitchen at the far end of the bench. And my dad was right at the middle of the edge.

I  cant remebmber more omg )): want to remb! Architecture was cool, dream was very very cool!!! >.<

sorta a sketch here, but rest assured that the dream was muchhh better when i dreamed it! My drawing skills aren't that good and I could only remember fragments of stuff so... yeah that's about all that i can do. ): bai bai >.<

Some more interesting/ not-so-interesting stuff.

I wanted to do a funny GP essay about myself, with the stand, rebuttals, topic sentences and all. But I think it'll somehow be a little awkward. So I decided not to do it.

My mum brought back three packets of this. The other two uneaten packets are of a different flavour.
I found this sweet quite intriguing because the printed wrapper looks really cool, the trading card game thing inside baffles me (never played Yu-Gi-Oh! or Pokemon before) and the gummies irked me. The gummies looked like some kind of tadpole thing that was yellow in colour with a little bit of coloured goo enclosed near the top of the head that presumably was supposed to taste like an apple-cola mx, if you go by the label. I didn't taste much, though. So it was kind of like eating a gooey brain (sorry to anyone who's eating)... and then when I was done I peered inside the wrapper and there was the same goo all over the inside of the packaging. Eww.

 I finally bothered to look up this thing. I bought a sweetbox from Germany a few years ago when I passed by Munich on the way back from a choir competition with VS choir. I think it looked pretty cute back then (and now) and so I bought it. The sweetbox holds my old badges from primary school till now (The RJ school badge is probably going in too in another two years)... but anyway. So the label on my sweetbox is all in German, and I thought that "Doof" meant "stupid". It wasn't until I looked closely, saw something called "sheepworld", checked it out on Google and came across this image that I realised it meant "boring". So much for (apparently) great academic grades. I could have uploaded more pics that I found, but I didn't want to keep on clicking till I got to my Iphone, scrolled to the bottom of a 1000+ picture Camera Roll, and gotton the pic and repeated that a few more times. You see that I'm pretty lazy.

So, about my birthday. I don't feel like explaining at length because it's over now and the hyperness (or the happiness from being overwhelmed with Facebook posts and SMSes and a really fun activity with SL and TS) that lasted me throughout the day has long since evaporated. But in short, it was much more meaningful (and expensive) than my previous birthdays because I got to do a lot more things. My birthday's usually during the exam period, has been that way from primary to secondary school, so nobody has the time to celebrate with me, and so I just stay at home and try to study and eat some cake at night with my family. This year, I could go out and do all the things I missed out on. A little timeline to illustrate what happened (sans line):

- Went ice skating in the afternoon with SL and TS at Kallang Leisure Park. Some things happened along the way but I felt pretty damn happy while I was in the rink. Just don't talk about the number of times I fell. My butt still hurts. I need to become a better ice skater, because I want to ice skate again. It's really fun... if you're a pro who can go forwards, backwards, shuffle sideways, spin and do the figure skater thing (saw a cute little girl doing it. Was very amazed) and be a cool old man and skate with hands folded behind back... RAWR LETS GOOOO (:
- Went home. I'll gloss over this and say that I got to understand TS slightly better. I hope.
-Went out for dinner at Holland Village (Holland V). We ordered two platters for an average price of $40 each but since my sister just filled n a form and got a one-for-one card the bill was reduced by a pretty substantial amount. Apparently, posh Italian restaurants don't give you value for money, because each platter could probably feed just one person and we had to share two of them between three people (My dad, sister, and I). So we made do, and the chocolate cake that came free with the diner's card thing filled up our stomachs a little more after the main course was done. My sister kept joking that I had the "birthday luck" - The restaurant was originally full and we couldn't go in; then a space cleared up. We went in, had to go through to an outside, non-air con area, so I commented that it would be nice if we got to sit inside the restaurant near the chefs, because the ambience there was good. Voila! A table for four that was reserved was made free for us (lol). Then the choco cake was supposed to arrive only 2-3 days later if you placed an order, but the kind waiter went to check and a spare cake was brought out for me. The candle was lit (but seemed to extinguish any moment) and then when I was about to make my wish the lights in the area went out. The waiter said it was probably a power trip when the lights came back on after I made an impossibly long wish (Just wished for lots of things even though I guess I could only have one. I'm so greedy.)... so I guess he probably switched them off. My impression of the restaurant was raised a notch higher.
- Went to deposit my sis back at Kent Ridge Hall in NUS for her to mug till the wee hours for a paper the next day. Then I went with my dad to my grandma's house. I haven't visited her for so long ): Need to make more trips there soon.
- Went to pick up my mum at 10pm at the CBD. Then while walking along I got to chat with my dad, whom I usually don't talk alot to as well. So I got a rare chance to do something I usually didn't do. Then we went to eat satay at Boat Quay a short distance away. It was really crowded and noisy with the pubs mostly full and a gig going on but I had a nice view of the CBD across the Singapore River, so we just sat and ate. The sauce was nutty and really good.
- Went home, checked Facebook, got spammed, and spent an hour replying people. It's such a far cry from a few years back when the only few presents I would receive would be those from my closest friends and sister (my parents don't belive in gifts.)... but both would make me content.
So yea, all in all, it was a very, very enjoyable day out. Great memories to live by in future.

For now, though, I think I'll leave the memories to be relived in dreamland. My bed's calling out to me...