Q O T D

"Yes, I play golf too."
-Uncle Sam Su

What transpired is that after my lessons ended, i went for dramafeste briefing, but it turned out that most people ditched. Hence, i sat through an hour of watching my OG mate Nay Myo trying to act (but he's quite rigid. :X). After which i came home and decided to go view the new house.

I shall not elaborate on the experience of visiting the place, but since we just got the keys, the personal items the previous owners did not deign to take away with them stayed behind to form the welcoming party of my parents and myself. The place was creepy. Visiting it at night made it far worse, with the dim orange lighting, the rats squeaking, the general bad taste, the cheap wooden laminate floor, the storage area below the stairs, the naked pipes, the water stains in the toilets, the worn out paraquet floor that will most likely be retained *cries*, the wind that chilled my bones and stilled my heart when the sound of the adjusting mechanism clunked against the window still. In short, almost everything. I personally want them all replaced because they belong to the previous owners, and i will not stand to live in a house that isn't mine, devoid of my personal touches, my design etc. Although there was a plain wooden cross in front, it felt that the demons had roamed around unrestricted and now owned the place, and i had no right to step in at all.

After departing the place after an hour or so of looking around, we were about to go back when my mother saw a modern setting next to the lift. And so the friendly would-be neighbour invited us in. Hence, Uncle Sa Su makes his entrance. I liked his design flair ('cos he designed the house himself, and it was STUNNING). And after more stuff, blah blah blah, i'm back at the netbook typing this post. Of course i overstayed my visit as to visiting the flat. Therefore, a certain urgent condition known as Short Of Time currently afflicts me. Legend has it that it's not a great thing to have around.

...
So...
Bye.
For now.

Quote Of The Day

" China willl remain a big friendly stone in America's shoe."
- Broader Perspectives magazine, Issue1 2011

Had to laugh when i saw that.

Broader Perspectives is generally a very interesting magazine that enriches your grasp on English, GP, economics and whatnot happenings around the world. (I learnt what oligarchs were, hegemonies and the general up-and-coming major powers etc from this issue)
So subscribe to it too.

:D

Discomfort.

...
So anyway, I am currently suffering from a Very Big Thing called Indigestion. You would think that I've learnt my lesson after more than a few times of experiencing it(e.g. OG outing after second lunch, etc, etc), but NO; it came back again, after eating a cookie and drinking 500ml of Ice Lemon Tea AFTER lunch. So there I was, entering chorale practice late(after lunch), trying to sing my best and getting that blasted condition after expending too much energy. Hence having very little blood, what was left after being directed to my abdominal muscle area went to my stomach for the dgestion of fod. I.e. not much at all. So I had to endure four hours of standing/sitting (mostly the former) with my stomach being subsituted for a roiling, tight knot, and one hour of travelling home, and voila! I'm now writing this post with the darn indigestion playing havoc with my insides. Praise me for being hardworking.

There's actually not much to blog about, but I had to skip the morning portion of practice to go to NUS(National University of Singapore) for something called the SRP(Science Research Programme) aptitude test. Basically, you sign up, take the test and cross your fingers and hope you get in. Said test consists of sections A, B, C and D; A comprises of 25 MCQ questions on Physics, B Chemistry, C Biology and D Mathematics. I took A, B and C, and realised i forgot my secondary school knowledge, and realised i didn't have any knowledge to do with higher level (A'level and beyond) syllabus, and so I probably flunked the test. Oh, yeah. At the test I met someone new; Jia Ni, who's a Chinese scholar, really, REALLY hyper, and super smart. Welcome to RJC. So then we sat in my father's car together with my secondary school choir acquaintance back to RJC and went back to chorale practice after lunch, and Jia Ni went back to the student hostel. And the rest, as they say, is history. Which is located in the paragraph above.


Another thing: The condominuim i am living in has underone an en bloc. Which means that my family has to move out within the next few months, to a few bus stops down the road(sigh.), and since my parents are generally inefficient in such matters, we will be living here until the company which purchased the land evicts us. And so i will witness the construction of temporary structures like new carparks and the showflat, and how most other families living in the condo will move out, as though evacuating. The lights that sparkle and shine through the darkness will slowly wink out, one by one, and the place will become like a great organism that is slowly rotting. Slowly dying away; and yet i cannot do a thing. But of course after the new condo is built, the people will flock back and the energetic feel will be back, a tangible feel in the atmosphere. But it wouldn't be the home i once knew anymore. The greenery, the laughter of the neighbours' kids frolicking in the swimming pool, the 'resort feel' as my friend put it. All will be gone, because nothing will ever remain static.

Also something that i might bring up in the next post if i have time:
1. The Ethics Issue (How the younger generation's ideals are changing; how a newspaper arcticle commented on how developers cut corners by dumping excess concrete and wood chips as mulch for trees: e.g. the condo which i pass by daily)
2. How your personal mood can affect what you perceive around you. For example, if you're estatic, not even grey skies can dampen your mood, but if you're depressed, even the fluorescent tubes in shopping malls can seem unfriendly, clinical, and artificial.(If done, will be in narrative format)

p.s. Like a certain Normal Teenager (http://anormalteen.blogspot.com/), the reason why i blog is to firstly relieve stress and whatnot, and secondly to improve my GP writing skills; lastly, because i enjoy writing narratives, however dark and tending to the macabre they are, and i don't want to give this up after the secondary school chapter has been put behind.

Post!

Warning: This might be a little too religious for your own good.

******************

Nah, just kidding.




So...
HALLELUJAH.
My weight finally went up past the 50kg mark (50.1!) just now. It's so bloody significant that i felt like blogging even in the midst of being drowned by a large pile of homework. See, in all my 16 or so years of living (nah, i have no life) i have only exceeded the 50kg mark once or twice, and all in the past year or so. Hope my weight stays above 50kg. >______________<"



Other not so worthy updates:
- I'm now in Raffles Chorale after screwing up my other auditions. namely:
-ODAC (OutDoor Adventure Club)
-Raffles Interact(service learning CCA)
-Hence, the two unsuccessful attempts at new, different things i feel that i have developed a passion for(but not yet an aptitude) have diminished my self-confidence considerably. Like deflating the prestige i felt upon entering RI(JC) and etc. It's sad because although i would have joined choir anyways the failures mean that i am simply not strong enough in other areas like interviews(Interact) and.. stuff.(ODAC).
- Also, this morning i sat for Chemistry and Bio Olympiad tests (tests to get INTO the olympiad, whereupon the real training begins) and since i most probably screwed them up too, the chances of getting into an olympiad are very low.
- Furthermore, another enrichment programme i applied for (ALPS- Adventure Leadership Programme Something) didn't even consider or bother to shortlist me after seeing my 100-plus words as to the philosophical question of what Leadership meant to me. Coupled with the probable failure of the olympiad selection tests my Mondays are probably going to be very free. Too free. The time would be better spent in one of the three enrichment courses (chem/bio Oly, ALPS).
-My subjects are currently screwed, and the mountain of homework is beckoning. Hence, i shall part ways with my dear, attentive audience here. Goodbye.
--The dust particles return to their respective positions--
---silence---

Update + Spoof

okie the gist of what my life has been the past week is that im super busy and hectic and i didnt eat lunch today WAHHHHHHHHHH               T-T
So anw since i gotta fill in more applicaiton forms now for extra school stuff and CCA trials and scholarships and whatnot i'll keep it very, very short, so BAI I GOT NOTHING MORE TO SAY.

To keep the few passersby entertained here's a little spoof that i made in the Dec 'hols'.

Q: What happens when  you read Brisingr, Steig Larsson’s trilogy(he’s Swiss; R.I.P Steig Larsson), hear Bruno  Mars’s <Just The Way You Are> and proceed to dream in bouts of sleep interrupted by intervals of waking up?

A: Bullshit.

Synopsis: Eragon and co. - let’s call them the Varden- have some cash-flow problems for the army to deal with the Empire and its lowdown scoundrels. Hence, a plot is hatched to go to a busy street in City X one day to hunt for sponsorship for those who support the Varden. The story is set in modern times.

So….. Let the story begin.

The Varden’s selected people were gathered in a group in front of a cathedral along the street in City X. Among them, Eragon and a fat bloke (let’s call him Samuel) were present.

“Okay, let’s split up.” Eragon said. “We should be finding at least one sponser each. Return here in two hour’s time, lest the Empire’s dogs catch up with us. Now go!”

The motley crew scattered.

One hour later…

Samuel had been getting most depressed as the hour crawled along. Apparently the people living in this neutral country bordering the Varden and the Empire didn’t like tall, big fat blokes who mumbled. Like himself. They seemed to avoid him like the plague. Naturally, he had gotten no sponsers thusly and the stress seemed to mount and escalate whenever he saw Eragon- the Varden’s poster boy- dragging yet another Richie along with him, the dude in the Armani suit and the gal in the crazy high heels stumbling along after him, enchanted by the spell he wove around them using his glib tongue and specially chosen words designed to flatter them.

He needed a drink.

Next to him in the bar was a middle-aged man who looked like he, too, was taking a breather from his work. The man glanced at the obese giant to his right, and was compelled to move further away when the fat man suddenly turned to him.

“Hey… Are you interested in supporting the Varden as to their fight with the Empire, so as to protect the peace and security in this God-given country of yours, in a financial way, and I would be most grateful—”

“No!”

The man shouted, growing positively alarmed at the seemingly mental obese giant who mumbled at him.

“Wouldn’t you please consider it?” Said Samuel desperately, latching on to an arm of the middle-aged man who tried furiously (but in vain) to shake off the insane giant.

His other hand was tapping the numbers for the police on his handheld device. When it got through, the knotted feeling in his gut finally subsided somewhat. Swiss police were, after all, known for their efficiency.

“Hello, this is the police. How can I help you?”

“There’s an insane fat man who’s latching on to me!”  Said the middle-aged man as he raced past crowds of dancers on the floor and knocking over wine glasses as he tried to evade the pursuit of the obese giant just a few metres behind.

“My location is The Hotsands Bar, along Y street in City X, can you please hur—”

The connection was abruptly cut off as the phone was swiped out of his hands by the giant behind. It landed among some electrical equipment, and sparks flew and started a small fire, causing even more of an uproar.

Samuel was desperate. “Why is he calling the police?” He thought. Then: “Oh, crap! Some of the Empire’s spies are also in the police force in Switzerland! I can’t let them catch us. I have to destroy the phone!”

--Hence he swiped it from behind, and finally caught up with the middle-aged Swiss.

In a bid to win back his favor, Samuel started singing. He was oddly proud of his singing ability(he seemed to have won a prize of some sort back when he was a child, but the judges were oddly absent; he supposed they had gone to the toilet to dab their tears that flew freely in their awe of his raw talent)

(Adapted from Bruno Mars’s <Just The Way You Are>)

“…  But don’t you want to feel what you’ve never felt, and then you’ll do.. as I say..”

(HIDDEN MEANNG INTENDED)

The onlookers were momentarily silent, temporarily stunned by the open outburst of two homosexuals (one being a fellow Swiss in the midst of his “second spring”) before erupting into chaos, and a cacophony burst out once more.

The man shouted once (“EARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”) before running out into the street.

Samuel, not knowing what to do anymore, ran after him.

Eragon was busy persuading a few other rich people with the help of a carefully crafted spell before he looked up and saw- and heard- the commotion.

He sighed.

“That’s probably Samuel.. as usual.” He thought.

And true enough, along the street came running Samuel looking hapless as usual, and policemen(?!) and a middle-aged man as well.

He calmly finished talking to his group of people before firing a red flare into the sky; the Varden were to regroup immediately and return to base.

“At least Samuel saved me a few minutes of more flattery,” Eragon said to Saphira as he climbed on her back. She agreed, too.

Then the next moment the group was airborne, free from the gesturing people below, as small as ants now.

K now that that's done:
BAI.

p.s. the chatbox is actually righttt below at the bottom of the blog because i didn't know how to slot it somewhere above. Template coding is so damn weirdd. I'm not a computer engineer/geek.

=_______="

^...
am quite seriously tired...
still got loads of crap to do though...
e.g. CCA (co-curricular activity) trials sign up...
       SCHOOLWORK OMG -.- (i.e. making notess...)
       ... blogging..?
       personal accounting and expenses which i just started in order to attempt to become more money-smart.
       etc.

...

BTW..
i forgot to talk about O'nite hahahaha. My OG used blonde hairspray and gel for the guys and all wore pink shirts so we looked.. weird. ANW the gel i saw in Guardian (a shop name) reminded me of that crap from O'nite so yeah. The gel was Gatsby and same as what we used in O'nite so yeah... AND there was a super cute mini version omgomgomg O////////////////////O i wanted to buy it, the blue 'cool and wet' version cos that one was the only clear gel (the others appeared white) and when i'm done using it i can use it to store my thumbdrive >:D cos the things are actually quite fragile and i want to avoid simply chucking them in my pencil case. The problem? The mini Gatsby is too small to hold the normal sized thumbdrive, only a mini one (pink colour, 1gb) i got from my dad..

...
ALSO. I heard that stuff like "..."; "=_______="; "-        -|" etc emotes are actually rather offensive to girls. Comments please on whether it really is rude because using these emotes when i'm SMSing is actually pretty common and i might end up provoking someone. Oops.

Book summary: If You Want to be Rich and Happy

EDIT for the previous post, because I'm lazy:
-- I failed my first ever test in RJ (RA or Raffles Academy Placement Test, which caters to the sciences and math) and so my self esteem has been lowered to its original rightful place, and tells me that i should bloody well work my arse off and not rest on my laurels (whatever laurels are).
-- Hence, this year's New Year Resolution is to WORK HARDER.

**********

Okay, i'll just start off with my personal grouches.
Firstly, the book was probably written in around 1980-90, but the book says first published in 2010. Hence i can't decide if the book is obselete or not. But that doesn't really matter, because it did give me several useful pointers.
Secondly, the book is geared towards Americans: Written by a American-Japanese (Robert T. Kyosaki, apparently a giant of the business world), for Americans.
Thirdly, the book's title and its contents simply don't match up. What's inside is mainly how crappy the American educational system is, lots of anecdotes, and how to solve it(not the main portion, though). Hence after seeing the title you would expect the HOW on moneymaking methods, and maybe a little on the spiritual side on how to be happy with that money, and what to do with it (e.g. charity work.) This book does not, in my humble opinion, address the HOW issue adequately enough.

...
Okay. So, i now present to you the Uber Short Summarised Version of The Summary in Point Form. Please be warned that i summarised them for myself, and hence might not be applicable to everyone.

-Never stop learning; the knowledge acquired is true wealth. （活到老，学到老）
-Learn about business in general as well as the job you specialise in
-Don't lose heart when test results are bad because everyone has their own speciality and WORK HARDER
-Adapt and think creatively with the times
-Money is a tool that we should all know how to use effectively
-Memorisation does not equate knowledge
-Plan adequately, save and invest wisely
-Change mindsets and assumptions before changing a system
-Learn humility, not arrogance to become a true leader
-Know yourself through things and the people around you
-Be disciplined and don't give up

[WE(fine, I) INTERRUPT THIS POST WITH AN EXCUSE AS TO WHY THE AUTHOR(fine, me) DOES NOT POST THAT OFTEN: QUANTITY OVER QUANTITY :DDDD
okay fine i get it it was a lame excuse don't throw throw those rotten eggs at me.. nuuu.. nooooooooooo]


>Being lazy as always I don't really feel like typing out the entire summary right now so it'll probably appear one week later if my dad doesn't lose it in Hainan Island. MUAHAHAHA.<

Summary

OK.
Basically: FUCKING MOSQUITOES GTFO STOP BITING ME DAMNIT
^ This is the reason for the warning upon entry to this blog. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So long story short, i was typing my post when i got bitten, and so i yelped, pressed a random key on the laptop (i mean, netbook) that was probably shutdown, caused the windows to close, then i couldn't hibernate the thing so i could close the lid and flee from my sister's room to downstairs, and closed the lid anyway, and opened it downstairs, and realised the laptop froze on me, and pulled out the battery, and restarted the machine, and restarted typing.

*takes a deep breath*

Yeah, so i hate mozzies. Damned irritating bloodsuckers who aim for me (when i have sooo little blood) and cause the utmost uncomfortable sensation in many people around the world cos they're bloody endemic..

********************

And now for what I'm supposed to type.

A summary in chronological order of what happened in the past two weeks or so when i was being lazy and refusing to update this blog which nobody sees..

Last wednesday night, there was a call from a guy from RI/JC. So: 'Hi I'm Kwun Tong' and behind him: "HII IM RUI-EN :DDDDDDDD" ..
Which told me that i was accepted to RJC. Actually from then i felt that the guy sounded slightly gay and the gal slightly (okay, REALLY) hyper. And then orientation started, from Thursday-Fri and Monday-Tues, although my OG (orientation group) went out on Saturday anyways for various purposes. So yeah my feeling that Rui-En is super hyper was confirmed rock solid since the day i saw her face to face lol. Kwun Tong is an O--kay (O--rientation.. harhh harhh :D LAME DUDE FTW) dude and boy do i envy him for his falsetto..  lost mine in mid- sec2 , about half a year since i broke my voice, cos i was straining to be retained in the soprano section in choir in VS.
Anw. So basically orientation is quite weird, and for me now RJ is still weird, but i guess i'll get used to the school culture in time. In the words of Rui-En orientation is 'fun' <(_  _||)> LOL. You have to do stupid stuff, and the war games was.. well.. let's just say i experienced the scarier side of girls then. But i guess it motivated me to be a little more hyper and active after the sluggish emo days/months after O'lvls. I was so busy, there wasn't any time to play IMO anymore :D So I'm mostly quitted YEY and i don't regret mostly leaving the game (i just log in for battles now and then). As an OG we bonded through Ultimate Frisbee (lololololol) after the day's activites at the parade square for about an hour before going for dinner, so i came back at 10-11+pm for those days, the first time i stayed out this late since the noobier form of PW(project work) back in sec 2, where i was at a friend's house till 2am and my dad had to pick me up. There was also the Batch Dance in which a guy and girl form a couple(about 10 in an OG) and DANCE.
Batch dance vid:

MUHAHA LETS EMBARRASS KWUN TONG FURTHER XD HES THE GUY WHO JUMPS EARLY AT THE LAST SECOND XDDDD

ehe~ XD

Yeah so anw on Saturday the OG actually had to buy stuff for O'(rientation) Nite. And i stupidly ate a second lunch at Mcdonalds', drank fizzy coke, and proceeded to have indigestion throughout the journey from Plaza Sing to Bugis to Orchard and back to Plaza Sing. Okayitwasreallyunglamsoletsskipthatpartshallwe

My biggest regret however was not really talking to my dance partner(s) because i'm from a guys only school and girls are... a culture shock O-O"   haha. I had two dance partners cos the previous one fell sick (T T) and another one replaced her... Oh well what's done is done i guess. So that concluded O'nite, where everyone sang songs, cheered for our respective houses, and looked on as the OGLs tried in vain to completely light this year's theme (D'elchanto, Portuguese for... uh.. something) as words hanging from a woody support network. It would have looked cool, tho. :'(

**********

Wednesday was chinese new year(CNY) eve, or 除夕. There was an alternative this year to go for reunion dinner at someplace besides my paternal grandparents' house, with my grandmother cooking. So we went somewhere slightly further and the first dish was yusheng (raw fish salad), so we had to 'lo hei'. Etc. I'm really happy that my grandmother's condition improved because she wasn't all that great last year and had to stay in the hospital for a rather long time, more than a month. My grandfather on the other hand deteriorated somewhat, because he fainted the other day (he refused to drink enough water). This reminds me of last year when i was already debating whether to blog, and i was dumb and stupid and i just watched my grandmother's hand trembling very visibly as she held the big bowl of soup and set it on the table.. i felt so horrible then, and so this year i resolve to spend more time with them in their golden years, before i regret it.

This was the main lesson i learnt over the past week: if not now, then when? In the RJ magazine there was a guy who said: 'People ask me why i work so hard. I ask them, why not?'

So we should all start doing something for ourselves now. To make ourselves better people, to plan for the future, to be filial grandchildren... It all starts from now. The RJ vid shown by the principal (i think) was also really meaningful. It says: everyone has the same hours, minutes and seconds as famous people; Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci etc. So we should make the most of our time and we, too, can be equally successful in life.

Now over CNY and long before it my father has been playing mahjong. He's pretty much an addict and before long it escalated to once per week to 2-3 times weekly. He escapes on Friday night to his friend's house, where he and his friends play the entire night, and he crawls back home at 3am, showers, sleeps for 3 hours and wakes up again. I couldn't stand it anymore and so i nagged at him like an old fusspot just yesterday and yesterday. He played on Thursday and Wednesday night and on Friday he played mahjong in the afternoon again when the whole family was at his other friend's house. And today (saturday) right after i told him not to, he's playing again, even when he has a flight to Hainan, China tomorow in the late afternoon.

And the flight he told everyone only very recently, and God knows how much he spent. It's not only about the money; regardless of winning or losing, he's sacrificing petrol and precious sleeptime to drive over to another place, play mahjong and get back. Doesn't he fear for his own health? He's 50 plus and should know better.. but i guess not. Hence I couldnt take it and had to lecture him. I drew up a New Year's Resolution for him to read through, including the paper form of the summary of <<How to be Rich and Happy>> to take to Hainan Island (he's playing golf and visiting my relatives but who cares, he can read it in bed). You'd think a middle-aged man knows how to say "no" to other people or knows how to better manage his money well, but.. no. Hence, i'll be lecturing him more in the future, however weird it seems to be that the son has to play the bad guy to his dad, and i'll MAKE him save by hook or by crook, even if i have to utilise the whole family. I now admire my mother for putting up with him for so long. I just want to quote from the book to him: Those around you are your mirrors, be it friends, family etc. So take a long, hard look at yourself, and wake up, FINALLY, and realise you have to cut down on your mahjong addiction and spend that time more wisely, be it on work productivity, family, sleep, or a better hobby, or learn about fnance.

WAHHH IMO BATTLE REGIST NOW KTHXBAI GTG

p.s. i'll post the summary of the stupid finance book soon in abt an hour.. i know its long overdue T-T