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