Coffee - my good friend, but God is greater!

Depending on this stuff called caffeine since the start of the GCE 'O' Levels. This trusty friend is there when you need him, but you gotta pay for the extra energy boost. And oh, did I mention there's expiry dates for this kind of stuff?

Unlike caffeine, God always gives up strength whenever we are weak. As it says in Isaiah 40:31,

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.

Trusty Jesus always has His way in me, always much better than caffeine itself. Why, He created caffeine within the first 6 days of creation, so needless to say, He's gotta be greater than coffee itself! Just for good measure, having God to keep you awake during study periods is a free service offered to us, if only we ask for it. All praise be to Him for keeping the best things in life free!

Of course, God doesn't have such things called "expiry dates" printed on Him, so don't worry about having no energy if you allow Him to be your powerhouse. However, there's a trick to having Jesus help you out...

Most people probably wouldn't see the connection here between God and coffee, but to gain the effects of caffeine you gotta first fix up the coffee before you can drink it. Likewise, we should learn to serve and love God before we enjoy His presence in our lives. Our longing to love and serve God is part of this "coffee-mix" of a life pleasing to Him.

1. You prepare the mix - learn to love and serve God with the sugar of faith, milk of perseverance. Sieve out the impurities in your mix - remove sin in your life.
2. God adds his water of grace and mercy, and adds in love, patience, peace, kindness, temperance, discipline, joy, forgiveness, and everything nice from Himself to make the coffee top-grade.
   
3. He gives you the mix - enjoy the "Life's Ultimate Victory coffee-mix" recipe, free-of-charge!
   

O Level Crisis - Week 1: Morale Boosters

Just a little sum-up of what's been going on this week, from a personal point of view.

O Level Chemistry Paper II - 20/10/08, 2.30pm
It was tough studying, but the paper simply was a let-down. It didn't justify my effort that I've put in for Chemistry, my favourite subject, because it turned out that most of the questions were either too clichéd or simply questions that appeared in either the Preliminary Examinations or other practice papers, repeated in this paper. A pushover - I enjoyed this paper, though I expected more Qualitative Analysis questions in this paper.

O Level English Papers I and II - 21/10/08, 2.30pm and 5.00pm
English is my greatest liability here, and I can finally say I put in everything I had for this paper. This comprehension paper should get me at least a B3 or B4, I think, instead of the lousy C5 I got for the Preliminary Examinations. The summary question was quite a challenge, but I am sure I got at least 10 points from the passage right...

O Level Additional Mathematics Paper I - 22/10/08, 2.30pm
A complete pushover, though I underestimated the paper after all - a quick check AFTER the examination made me spot careless mistakes here and there, which dashed my hopes for 80/80 marks for the paper. But still, I'm going to be content with just a little over 70 marks for this paper.

O Level Elementary Mathematics Paper I, Additional Mathematics Paper II - 24/10/08, 8.00am and 2.30pm
Another fun time at the examination hall - except that many people ranted about careless mistakes made in E-Maths Paper I, which means that I must have made some of the blunders discussed. Went to disturb Alex and George while they're using Alex's laptop to play Counter-Strike, Diablo II and later DotA. Wow, they sure have a knack for playing games at that point in time, man.

Back in the examination hall. Skipped 3 questions before inspiration hit me in the head in that very instant I prayed for His help. It was getting easier and easier as I progressed into the paper. All thanks, praise and glory be to my Jesus Christ - He turned the A-Maths paper from a chore to entertainment!

Will continue updating the experiences of being in the examination hall on the next post, titled: O-Level Crisis - Week 2.

Christmas Dinner Performance 2008 Auditions

Okay... Here's what's been going on in church. We're called to put up a performance item for My Saviour's Church Christmas Dinner 2008. Of course I'm enthusiastic about it, but the timing is a little bit off, I'll admit. Still, I gotta put in my best for this one, even though significant events are popping up everywhere.

I mean, immediately after the O Levels we Secondary 4 Guitar Ensemble members have to go back to practice for the next 2 weeks, while still trying to market the tickets away. Sometimes I wonder, how did Claudia and the others manage to sell the tickets off so fast?

To make things worse, there's another 2 more chalets to come up, which I must attend. Because, well, 4B'08 will have much less opportunities to be together as a class as each of us goes towards their own paths in life, so this coming class chalet will have a lot of significance. Same goes for the Guitar Ensemble chalet - the Secondary 4s in Guitar Ensemble will no longer be around, so you Secondary 1 to 3 juniors - beware!

Yea, though this is pretty hectic, but with all these things around, I've gotta be down there, being the live entertainment and man-behind-the-scenes? Sigh, freedom after the O Level period isn't free...

...or maybe it is, but just involves shedding a couple of never-shed tears and a couple more "can't-bear-to"s?

Gaining momentum - Veni vidi vici!

I came, I saw, I conquered.

This shall come true for the rest of the papers that I'm taking. So far I've taken Chemistry Paper II, the full English Paper and Additional Mathematics Paper I. And the outlook has been optimistic, I would say.

Ah, 3 days through the examination and I'm already feeling confident for the papers to come. If I know them 4B folks well, they should be slogging their guts out for the next coming 2 papers, even as I type this entry. So, here's just a couple of comments for the papers that I took so far:

Chemistry Paper II
Quite disheartening, because I've studied a lot on Qualitative Analysis, and the paper turned out to only have just 2 questions. First reaction was WTF? Overall, I reckon they purposely put the paper this way to be a morale booster for the papers to come.

English Papers I and II
Wreaked havoc and killed more brain cells that I could estimate, and I got stuck halfway doing Question 1 - The delights and frustrations of being a teenager. I prayed for inspiration, and true enough, Jesus saw me through the whole paper, finally ending with a decent essay to hand in. Did situational writing, deja vu. English Comprehension seemed to be the greatest liability throughout the exam, and I was writing on an empty stomach(Oh God, save me!), but still, the summary question did lift my spirits up in the end, because now I am confident that I put in my best. This paper took everything I had, now it's time to get back at English!

Additional Mathematics Paper I
Not that I like to brag, but this paper...

...just barely managed to kiss my ass. Nice try, A-Maths, but you ain't getting anywhere with me without me first scoring with you. No constructive comments for this one - I'm eager to pwn this paper hard and fast.

Well, that's that for now. I'm going to "kill" the papers one by one until I am the last one standing by the 13th November...

Mixed feelings - What does it mean to be Anglican?

So, the graduation ceremony is over, and all of us will sit for the GCE 'O' Level Examinations. After that, we're going each to their own paths in life. Just feeling a bit emotionally unstable, because it's the last day that the people who make up 4B'2008 are going to gather together like this, in classroom setting. The next time we meet, we could very well be all fully grown-ups, each holding their own jobs and careers.

Here's a little piece of junk that came to my mind during the graduation ceremony in the afternoon, and it seemed like a pretty fitting one, so here goes:

The first howl of wind blew us all into different places.
Some ended up in the same class, same school,
Others flew somewhere else...
The old friends became scattered,
The strangers settled together, all clueless and lonesome.
The PSLE cert did the scattering of the people to the four winds.

Before we knew it,
Everyone was naming each other "Friend".
And so in life, our paths did cross this way.
Friendships were hurt here and there,
But often, hatchets were buried in no time.
We thought, "After all we're classmates,
There wasn't any need to fight anyway."
And so, flames of anger always get quenched down easily,
Never to become political in any form.

The troubles came - it's the friggin' exams.
Every man for himself!
Some soared high,
but others were left behind, trying to catch up.
"Aha," I realised.
That was what friends are for -
To save your butt and throw you into the good-grades bandwagon.
Bonds were formed, both ionic, covalent and friendship,
and ever-continuing self-improvement of class 4B, both academically and socially.
Very reactive - laughs followed wherever we were as a class.

The second howl of wind - history repeats itself.
GCE 'O' Levels - every man for himself, its the friggin' exams!
It happens, whether you like it or not.
Great pals get sucked into the JC-choice cyclone,
Eventually going to be scattered once again,
To unchartered waters of confusion and uncertainty.
Here everyone will have to fend for ourselves,
But even as we crawl, grab, squirm, struggle, run, walk,
climb, soar through the difficulties we will face much later in life,
When will we see each other,
In such unity as that we had in those days?

I know it's sounds emo, but I did this on the fly, man. Don't expect quality, I'm not good at writing poems...

Anyways. To be honest, it was the first time in history that I've ever put this tough question in front of my face - what does it mean to be Anglican? In the past, I used to complain about lousy school policies, such as having the Mid-Years AFTER the June Holidays, and the stringent need to really sit down and let morning devotions sink into our heads, and of course, CCA problems here and there.

I used to grumble about the school wasting money on unwanted books and programmes like community service, when that time could have been better spent on studies. However, it was only though these stuff like Hari Raya that made everyone buy Malay costumes to fit into the class dress code, and newspaper collections at apartment flats that made us cooperate with each other and help out whenever possible. And it was all these events that made me feel that, yeah. I'm part of a class, not a lone wolf. The tons of recyclable material could not have been successfully gathered without the help of everybody.

In other words, the 4B class name will always bring me some nolstagia.

The goal becomes clear

Well, many events have been happening and yep, it's not in my favour too. Even so, my targets are clear for now - I desperately need to raise my L1R5 score drastically within this two weeks, or risk not being able to be with most of my classmates in any good JC.

Maybe this might serve as self-encouragement after all, since I figured that the Science subjects are my forte, and getting A1 for them just needs a little more push and a sharp eye, since most of them are due to careless mistakes or concept errors that need to be corrected as soon as they are found. As for English, Paper 2 seems to be my greatest liability, because I always fail comprehension, and close to failing summary at times...

Even so, I'm not going to give up at this juncture. The Lord has given me the peace, the determination, and I'm depending on His wisdom and knowledge for the rest of the revision period and through the GCE O Levels, for the Lord first of all, and to the desired JC my heart and guts will lead me to...