Things all come at one go - it's hard to breathe.

Yep, like what the title says, it's hard to breathe.

For one, I got a nasty shock this morning when I was told that the entire class was underperforming. In fact, I wasn't expecting anything less than a A or B for Mathematics. It was indeed a nasty shock - I got an S grade. Simply put, I didn't even get a decent pass for this subject. And it wasn't last minute studying either - I have been starting my practice since like three weeks before, and the results still don't reflect that amount of effort at all. Couple this along with the previous Economics exam cock-up, I guess I'm pretty much screwed for the Mid-Years, and possibly even for the upcoming Promo Exams, if I don't do something about it right here, right now.

In fact, our entire class got bombarded when Mr Lee started talking about him discussing the issue with the other tutors that we are indeed underperforming for our grades. I gotta agree, but given such a tight schedule, being able to get a pass already is in itself a miracle. 

That aside, I got selected for the SRGCE(SR Global Classroom Experience) trip to Lao Cai, Vietnam, for a trekking trip at the end of the year. Even though the talk was all nice and all, even the PowerPoint slides, I wasn't concentrating during the talk about this trip much. The only concern was how to get past the problem of not screwing up my academics so that I can go for this trip without any hindrances. 

Give us a good lot of homework and PW that's sitting there for us to do work, and we're not going anywhere this entire June holidays. It's estimated that out of 4 weeks of holiday, 3 weeks are going to be taken up for PW and college whatnot. It's suffocating - I intended to dedicate the whole holiday to God but seemingly, Satan has come to take what precious time I have for Him away via all these schoolstuff. In fact, I find that the more I come to go against the devil and drawing closer to God, hell breaks loose in almost everything I do.

Still I won't give up Jesus. That's my promise to Him, and I'm not breaking it. By God's grace, He will honour that, I'm sure of it.

Add the good news of being told that I've been appointed as an Exco member in SR Guitar Ensemble, and I don't even know whether to lament over my underperforming results or to rejoice over the responsibilities given. And how is it that I perform best in stuff that isn't academic at all, but suffer academically all the time? God, what the hell is happening to things around me now?

Chrono Trigger Blog Entry Tribute

Guys, you really should hear this one out.

Chrono Trigger ~Orchestra Version~ - Yasunori Mitsuda


(PS: If you can't load this one, try this link - it's for Youtube. Go check it out, I'll wait right here until you're done. (^^,))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mQQTQ8Ur2g&feature=PlayList&p=0EF9FF316C188761&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=34

Amazing work. I can't even begin to describe the nolstagia when I hear this main theme piece. I wonder where else in the world would you get a RPG so loved by the people and became an instant classic for more than 13 over years. Trust me - you guys REALLY SHOULD GET A FRIGGIN' COPY OF CHRONO TRIGGER - it has a lot of story behind it that can impact you for life. As for me, I'm gonna get a Nintendo DS just for the sake of Chrono Trigger - and am willing to pay for it. Highly recommended.

For those cheapskates who want a free game, there's another alternative too. Go get a SNES emulator, download a Chrono Trigger SNES ROM and start playing. It's still nice, except that you don't get a helluva extra stuff like animated scenes and the slightly improved gameplay. But then again, you can do without those - it doesn't affect the storyline anyway, which was what made this game stand the test of time anyway...

For a small synopsis, here's a little bit of what's in store for you when you dive into the world of Chrono Trigger:

Grandfather Paradox

What would it be like, to travel back to 400 years before your own time, watching your royal ancestors fight an army of Mystics to save their own kingdom, which would decide the fate of your existence in time to come? Who would save your great-grandmother from kidnap and if she dies, would it mean the end of your existence, cast into the void?

Apocalypse

Ever heard of worst-case scenarios where the whole world ends with a nuclear armageddon? Maybe even more unexpected - a large parasital being emerging from the core of the Earth having embedded within it for ages, across millenia, destroying everything of civilisation on the planet and resulting in extinction of mankind? Right before your eyes when you dwell into the world of 2300 AD in an accidental trip into the future.

Cavemen and Reptites

An age where humans and dinosaurs existed with one another - the struggle for survival of the fittest. Witness the origins of humankind, and the arrival of Lavos to the Earth and the abrupt extinction of a race of demi-human, demi-dinosaur creatures called Reptites...

Kingdom of Zeal
Get zapped into the Dark Ages, where human segregation of the Enlightened and Earthbound Ones happens amidst the largely advanced magical Kingdom of Zeal floating amongst the clouds, clusters of islands once part of the frozen wastes of the land. Get mesmerised by the sheer strength of the nexus of magical energies - but only to discover something sinister behind the scenes...

OK, maybe I should stop spoiling the game by giving any more details beyond this point...

Apart from all that, there's strong back-stories behind the main characters of this game, making it a solid team of 6(or 7) members travelling across time, righting the wrong, and setting things right that could resonate through the ages... Oh, but for the sake of not putting in spoilers, nah. I gotta resist telling you guys about it anymore - just go get the game and explore for yourself.

Even some of the people working behind the scenes for this game has a backstory too, like Yasunori Mitsuda, the main composer for the scores used for this game. You can check it out here - his path to success. Enjoy the music as well as the visuals for the game. As a matter of fact, I do respect his determination to get things done and perserverance. Producing works of such quality and finesse from days of working with a stomach ulcer sure makes a bold statement somewhere along the lines of striving for the best of one's ability - thought it's highly not recommended to skip meals.

So much has been said about this game, so much of the aspects of this game has been loved, to the extent that people have been trying to do remakes of such a game - a few well-known ones are Chrono Trigger Resurrection Project, CT: Crimson Echoes and CT: Prophet's Guile. Unfortunately Square Enix slammed down on them Cease and Desist letters, so you won't be seeing such efforts for quite a while. What a waste.

Mid Year Post Mortem Report

Finally, after 3 months of mugging and crap, I'm done with PI, the Mid Year Exams, and some nitty-gritty work here and there. So many things have happened during this period of time, I don't know where to begin...

Let's talk about the mid year exams first, since it's the first major thing finished for now...

Basically, I was expecting the examinations to be a lot harder than the normal tests that they were giving us from the start, but it didn't turn out so. That's one incentive to push for the highest grade possible for all the subjects, considering all the studying late into the night since the month of April. Not really bragging, but at least the effort paid off during the class and lecture tests.

However, things were different during this Mid-Years. For one, I completely screwed up my Economics essay question 1b, which means I'm, by default, am likely to fail the entire paper because of one careless mistake of not reading the question carefully. The question said "maximum retail price" which meant government-set price ceiling. And I answered the question as the price floor. How careless can one get? I ain't gonna make the same mistake ever again - it's as humiliating as being a Mas Selamat running away from Singapore without his underpants. As for Chemistry and GP, I did my best - so I'm expecting my results to justify all that studying.

And right after Bio paper, I went to explore Tampines 1("explore", because it's my first time there). And boy, did I get a pleasant surprise - it looked far better than VivoCity. Cruised around the places, and their price tags were, should I say, not as affordable as what I've been expecting. As for the makan places, nah. I didn't bring enough money yesterday, so the standard answer would be "ah-aah." That being said though, the food they sell down here looks so appealing, I swore I'd write a journal entry on such stuff down there should I ever bring enough money for a gourmet trail around Tampines 1.

So now, the studying's over. Awaiting the Promotional Exams - not! It's time to relax for a week. If not, I'm still going to be happy with just one weekend...

Sense of achievement

Finished up more work in the college study corner. Found it more productive - there's a lot more indirect motivation from the other people around the college study because everyone's practically studying and doing nothing else. Except for a few oddballs like me, blogging in the college study, haha!

The biggest obstacle, I think, is the idea of studying at home. At home, you can sleep as long as you want, and I'd grab the best possible opportunity to sleep rather than do something productive like studying for Biology and Chemistry, and the like. Oh, and there's PW too, so I shall keep this post short. 

Simplified - I finished a bit more Chemistry than I thought I'd be able to finish. Biology is boring once you already know what's going on in the lecture notes, and there's like hardly any more extra practice questions. As for Mathematics, I'm not gonna do anything about it today. Maybe tomorrow?

Studying like there's no tomorrow

I'm getting used to this lifestyle, I hope.

Get up in the wee hours of the morning, and you find an Eiffel Tower of Notes & Homework standing on your table. The next thing you know it, coffee stains appear on your homework that you did last night with much effort. Sometimes Soyjoy's advertising serves as comic relief, in times of such high-stress levels from studying for the Mid Year Exams, that likely will put Mas Selamat's meticulous but futile efforts to escape from re-capture to immediate shame.

Along with a disappearing donation card that is likely to cost me $200, you feel the pain in your wallet. No more eating at Good News Cafe - I'm broke, "Pok Gai*"! Sometimes even I feel a bit ashamed about this, but why is it that I look for the Lord only when I'm down and out on every side of life? Sharing the painful moments with Him, but keeping only the joy of the good ones to myself instead? What is this, a relationship with the true God of the universe that goes only one-sided?

Perhaps it's really high time I've spent time reflecting on this.

*Pok Gai = bankrupt.

Taking a day off from school due to sickening virus

The title explains it - I've got an official MC. This means terrible news for me. 

Missing lectures in JC ain't a good thing, especially when it's your worst subject ever. And when you take your medicine and feel groggy and drugged, it's worse news - you can't do your homework at all! All I did was sleep, sleep and sleep even when I'm fully mentally awake. And check this out - tomorrow's going to be a super-long day, so taking medicine in school means waking up early in the morning when your body's still barely recovering from the side-effects of flu medicine. Trust me, you wouldn't even want to eat anything because of the stupid cough that just won't go away.

As perfectly put as Kenny's catchphrase, "Whalau, madness!" These few weeks were definitely madness. I mean, look at the workload that we have here - stringent PI grilling and editing, grilling and editing. Last week was worse - I stayed back both on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday until as late as 9pm in school, just to make sure that my PI is done properly. You know the stuff - original ideas, strategies on how to solve similar situations happening in Singapore... you get the drill. 

As for some friendship matters - it's better left unsaid. If you guys insist on knowing what happened, let's just say that misunderstandings can be fatal, unless resolved early. And of course, it just goes to show that some people can't be trusted to keep secrets...?

My father and I - quite an uncomfortable topic, but...

Just began to recall a conversation with Wan Teng, Kenny and I on our way out of the school gate. I forgot what we were talking about, but it somehow strayed into me talking about my father. Definitely not a person I'm comfortable talking about...

As we talked, maybe I seemed a lot like a materialistic jerk or something, but the fact that my father doesn't bring money home from work should be able to tell us something - he isn't putting any effort into the family at all. Surely any taxi driver should be able to contribute something to the family, but no. I haven't been receiving pocket money from him since like a couple of months ago. Surviving on just $10 a week is almost impossible nowadays - and apparently he doesn't realise that. Any more money off from him is like asking for a miracle to happen.

Living in an area next to the marketplace isn't simple either. And my neighbour's father is also a taxi driver. However, his son still gets enough to get by - around $20-30 a week, the last time I heard. Life sure is unfair sometimes, so you've gotta grit your teeth through whatever you do...

My own pocket money aside, the last time I heard, my mom only gets $20 a day off from him, and that's just for family expenses. Without my mom having to work, I think we'll starve.

Assuming that he only gets enough from his rounds to pay off the taxi rent due to some "rubbish-ed" reason, he should be changing jobs already, but every once in a while I see him with a new handphone or some other weird gadget, so he should be quite well off. In fact, I did see what he'd pull out - a stack of cash, and he says it's for the taxi rent so we cannot touch it. Nice excuse, torn down hard when I saw him take out money out of the same stack for Mom's allowance.

In fact, I once contemplated taking some out of that stack that appears every now and then just to supplement my allowance, but then that'd be stealing from my own family. I don't want this kind of money. I want legitimate cash. I just want enough to get by in school. Fortunately, my grandparents decided quite some time ago to offer to give me pocket money every now and then, so I can get by, with some extra money for emergencies.

Money aside, I don't even see him much of the time. Only when I go home on Sundays after church service do I see him, and even then it's just for a few hours and he's back to running his rounds. I hardly have time to talk to him. Making matters worse, because my entire family is non-Christian and he being strongly anti-Christian, we hardly ever talk anymore ever since I first attended church.

Not too long ago, he chased out our long-time tenant whose rental made life easier for family expenses while he was still with us. Add all of this on to the fact that my father has a history of owing my grandparents, uncles and aunts a large sum of money used to clear his gambling debts. He's real lucky my mom still stuck to him after all these years. Needless to say I don't like my own father, but what can I do? He's still my father.

I used to hear one of my uncles who's very close to my father say this about him: "This piece of cow dung, you can do without, seriously. The real victim is the rose stuck to it. That's why you're here - to support your mom when you have the ability to."

And so, that's what I'm doing. Or at least, that's what I think I'm going to do.

Mid Year Exam Blues

"Ah, never a dull moment..." Ms Koh was saying during Econs lecture last Tuesday...

Yeah, right.

How the hell do you stop studying for a while to take a breather before going on for more? Cramming isn't working. Neither is there enough time for a full concentrated revision period before the Mid Year Exams come. Add in Logistics work, a PI report fully annotated with red ink, and a good D in the last Chemistry test ruining a straight A record, and you get low morale. Thus the irony.

...Great. Another piece of homework undone yet. I shall update soon.

Get a life, Aaron!

It isn't pleasant at all. I wish there was ample time for everything. But things, being things, have to get done anyways, so no point complaining. Or, maybe you can complain as much as you like, provided things get done.

It's all coming at one fell swoop again: Biology Test on Monday, Economics Essay test right on the day after, and on Wednesday I have to go for Logistics training for this coming Friday's Performing Arts Nite, in which Mustaqim and I are going to play Radical Dreamers: Unstolen Jewel for pre-programme entertainment. In other words, care-lair-fare playing that isn't part of the whole item after all...

Ah well... This coming week IS going to be super-stressful, so don't be surprised when you guys see me cursing and swearing in school! Add the cough that just doesn't go away despite heavy doses of medicine, and you get an irate student who wants to already give up hope on this semester's overall academic performance. Of course, couple that with a few personal problems and feelings of confusion over who's what and who's who in my heart, and grr. You'd think it'd be a miracle if just about anyone could've just survived that.

The College Migraine, mixed feelings and tough nuts

Needless to say, losing hours of sleep to Project Work, homework and tests means that most of us in college are starting to feel its detrimental effects. People in my left, right and centre are all getting ill. First, Juan previously recovered from the flu, then Reymond lost his voice and had frequent nose bleeds due to overblowing his nose. Dominic had a sore throat. Julia had a splitting headache. Add all these together, add in a bit of honey drink and you get a complete cough with flu combo, plus additional phlegm that shouldn't be there in the first place. Add in another 4km run, with 1.6km interval training. If these don't kill me then nothing else will. I guess.

In short, I fell sick.

"Give me homework and I'll do it." Yeah, right. Who am I gonna lie to with this statement? Look at the amount of homework on my plate, and you'd wonder why people call Mount Everest the tallest mountain in the world.

I ain't Superman. I ain't a homework-completing machine. I need a good week's rest. I don't want medicine - I want to stay healthy and alert. I don't want to produce sarcasm without knowing it. I want to joke - I want to entertain my friends. I don't want this amount of stress all at one go. I want to be myself again.

These days I don't really have common topics to share with my classmates - I reckon the stress has hit me too much that I think I don't even know how to relax by relaxing. Somebody help!

Angsts of Agony

Shit, it's just plain crazy.

The lack of sleep has just been spilled over from last week, and fatigue rears its ugly head. In fact, I'm struggling to just finish this entry, just to maintain it.

For one, Mustaqim, Derek and I were stuck in SRJC-GE Camp '09, which was supposed to be a bonding camp for all of us Guitar members. It did its job well, yes, and we've exchanged our contacts with many others.

No time for juicy details because of school work, so here I have it: yet another sum-up of what has been going on.

1. I was sabotaged - I got put into the Cool Chikus group(the name sounds goofy) and I was the only boy, again, in the group.
2. I was used as the guinea pig for the cross-dressing station game - people might think I am a transvestite from Thailand after looking at the photos which were taken and uncalled for.
3. Mr Koh told us of the LT5 ghost and the mysterious lights in the 4th floor, A-block of the college. Now that's what I call nice juicy details.
4. Went to bed at 3-plus am. The "bed" wasn't a bed after all - I slept on the tables, then the chair and on the floor, due to extreme discomfort and lack of space leading me to shift around the classroom "bunk"
5. Planned for entertainment item in the afternoon.

How nice of them, buying us January to April birthday people one big cookies'n'creme cake to celebrate for us, despite us barely joining the ensemble for more than 2 months.

And if that wasn't enough, there was Project Work: Preliminary Idea to hand in as the first draft by this coming Friday. Mistaking the deadline as Monday, I slept at 2am on Sunday to finish up the remnants of my homework and crap. By the next morning, I couldn't get up on time, so I had to take a taxi to avoid smearing a good school record by being marked as late for assembly yesterday.

With all the homework done in advance, it bought me ample time to study for today's Mathematics lecture test, and I'm good to go. Yawn. At least the agony is gone for a while...

Homework heartburn

Sometimes, we are forced to bite off more than we can chew, and this leads to indigestion, both literally and metaphorically...

March holidays wasn't holiday at all - we had to go back for two days to attend make-up lectures! As if that wasn't enough, the General Paper homework was enough to make anyone stand on the pile of homework and notebook file stacked together, and curse and swear for the next 24 hours without realising that noise doesn't get you anywhere near finishing what is expected of us in a 4H2 class. After all, in Serangoon JC almost everyone takes 3H2 combinations and we're considered the elite of the school simply because we chose this arduous path that sometimes makes me regret in complaint.

I question myself - Why the hell am I doing this? There's like, no time to leave to myself and doing leisure stuff? Where have all my lame jokes gone? What is becoming of me - turning back into nerd-school style? Why am I even here in a JC?

The answer is obvious - to get that stupid piece of weighted and laminated paper that declares that you are eligible for studying medicine at university level. But enough of this - academic stuff makes a life blog boring to the core, so I'll just skip to the juicy stuff of what has been going on in school lately.

Firstly, Rong Kai has left us, leaving us with 19 people in class 09-1S02, in order to pursue what he thinks he clearly wants, and taking up a Business Management course of some sort. Being a broker ain't really that bad a career choice either, so all the best to his future endeavours!

...and damn, I lost a good buddy just like that.

And there's a few of our classmates who went ahead and presented their speeches to win votes for positions in the Student Council Exco(Executive Committee), of which Julia's is certainly one that I, for one, really take my hat off too. After hearing her speech, I was expecting her to end with cliched expressions when here she shot off "I wish the other Exco elects good luck and all the best in winning votes..." Magnamity - maybe that's what most of us would forget after learning it. Still, it's one thing to learn off a classmate...

The Project Work question paper just got released today, and like the rest of the college, we were completely clueless as to what question to choose, mainly because they are so generic that we have trouble deciding what to put as the project focus! Hopefully we get over this momentary shock fast, so that we might be able to move closer to our As in PW.

And kudos to Reymond, for passing me my lost file, which his friend Alfred(apologies for spelling error) had stumbled upon during Podium CCA time, and helping me retrieve all the important documents inside it. Thanks again!

Who would you prefer to sit with during a daylong bus ride? A talkative person with a irritating voice, or a quiet person who keeps staring at you?

The irritating talker, of course!

One more friend(or enemy-though I'd prefer the former) beats having silent and possibly dangerous suspense all the time.

At least, there's someone to talk to. Given my nosy nature it's easy for me to find out the latest gossip off the irritating talker, and have a good laugh at his idiocy of talking nonsense all the time and not realising that nobody is actually paying any attention to him. Who knows, though the voice can be irritating, but at least I get to know a new acquaintance, and maybe be friends along the way. After all, it's better to have one more friend than having a extra enemy, right?

As for getting someone who keeps staring at me and is very quiet, sometimes it gives me the spooks. If that quiet fella turns out to be a homosexual, I'm in trouble.

Self-discovery

Just thought I'd take a little quiz out of boredom, so I went to this website.
http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx
How accurate this is, to me! Here are the results, for curious folks out there:

Your view on yourself:
You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.
The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.
Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.
The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.
Your views on education
Education is less important than the real world out there, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working, earning money and living on your own.
The right job for you:
You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.
How do you view success:
You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.
What are you most afraid of:
You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.
Who is your true self:
You are full of energy and confidence. You are unpredictable, with moods changing as quickly as an ocean. You might occasionally be calm and still, but never for long.

Pricey Items and Economics Galore

Just a sum-up of what's been going on recently in school. Firstly there was just too many things to do at one go, mainly because you don't get much sleep at all during the weekdays. Lectures and tutorials went on as per normal, only that there has been quite a few events happening around me during the past 2 weeks.

1. We witnessed Tricia throwing Dominic's wallet down 3(or maybe 4) whole storeys
2. Reymond was called "laughing gas" by Huijuan - I totally agree without reservations, because his laughter is REALLY contagious.
3. I drove Reymond and Huijuan crazy laughing at me whilst trying to drive a point of Chemistry concept into their minds in a truly Singlish way.
4. Some goondu 'makeshift couple' disrupted the entire Chemistry lecture because the lecturer had to tell them off in front of the whole hall just because of removing one of the victims' shoe and playing a fool. Tough luck, suckers!
5. I'm feeling the weird vibes of studying a super thick Biology textbook that cost me $64 and is gonna last me 2 whole years. Talk about investment in studies...
6. Derek wore the wrong colour uniform pants - he mixed Anglican High's up with Serangoon JC's and ended up being the only oddball wearing white pants and college polo to school! Talk about loyalty to one's secondary school... Haha!
7. Managed to get on Isobel's nerves for once with lame jokes ^^, during CCA time.

That being said, this week is going to be really fast AND draggy, mainly because there's going to be an Economics test coming right up this Thursday, and school is so boring now that the stress is hitting everybody hard. Someone come and brighten my day, please!

Rice, veg and good home cooked food

Just one month in SRJC and I'm already feeling the pinch both wallet-wise and physically. My brain's still working well, thanks to many late night overdrives during the 'O' level period, so in a sense I'm quite used to sleeping late and waking up early and still mentally fit, apart from my usual dose of caffeine and utter lameness in the classroom.

In fact, I'm actually blogging from school, in the middle of a heavy downpour. The food here is really expensive at the cafes, so like I mentioned earlier, my wallet is being hit hard. Apart from that, you could say I had tough luck. After studying at the study just now, the rain came and because I forgot to pack my umbrella and windbreaker, I'm stuck here, until the rain stops.

Well, I guess it's another day gone, spent in SRJC in its completeness. Shit happens all the time, so I've learned to take things easy... That said, I don't blame ya for not turning up at the study anyway. :)

Lord have mercy

It's tough, and it's hitting hard on all of us JC students.

First of all, they changed the timetable so that we could go home at 4.30pm every Monday. That's a good thing, because we need our much-needed rest. Now if you would just imagine yourself sleeping at one-plus every night, and waking up at 5am every morning to prepare going to school, and only just reaching the house door at around 8 at night, and doing homework until one-plus. The cycle is going on and on and on, and this week's gonna be the most stressful week ever.

Thank God I have people like Hui Juan, Tricia and Daniel to bring in some comic relief during this stressful "period"(no pun intended, it's an inside joke) where I had to stay up real late at night just to practice for SYF 2009. Severe lack of sleep, of course, is detrimental to homework as well, because today I can't really find enough reason to do homework when in fact, I have piles of homework waiting for me to do. Adding on to this is the Meet-the-Parents session with the CT tutors and a dialogue session with the school principal which ended at around 8 to 9 pm, and to make things worse, we SYF candidates were to report to school at 8am for ensemble playing and a trial to complete, one that would have us play all 3 pieces of SYF songs by today, and the score was given only like, 2 to 3 days ago...?

Needless to say, I flunked this trial, so I'll not be going for SYF. At least I know that I'm spared from all these last-minute training after failing this test, haha. More free time to devote to homework, I guess...

First week of formal lesson

JC life has taken quite a toll on my overall energy use.

Simply put, I'm just tired due to lack of sleep and after 3 months of non-study time... Still, JC is fun during all the free periods and travelling to different venues for classes. For once, I'm really feeling the weird vibes of studying that I've never had before. For once I'm being psycho-ed into studying and am beginning to enjoy it.


Take for instance, the Economics teacher was the centre of the joke, but it has got nothing to do with her profession, by the way. "Kari-parfsssssssss" is how she pronounces "curry puffs" when talking fast, and apparently it stirred up an laughing uproar among ourselves in 1S02. Ticklish to Hui Juan, I guess, from the way she was both laughing whenever someone said it, and begging us not to mention about it...

Still... that was only the first day. The subsequent days are becoming more crazy as we got to know each other better day by day - we have Tricia putting the lecture notes and study materials at the bench for orderly distribution and collecting the costs for the rest of the class, which earned her the right to being the class treasurer and the reputation of being "Bookshop Auntie Tricia." In short, everyone had something funny to say about each other and I, unfortunately, got my own reputation as being the lamest fella in 09-1S02.

Things are getting more fun in JC, but the responsibilities are getting heavier, definitely. With more freedom comes more responsibility, so I'll just have to strike a balance between having fun and doing what the important stuff requires of me then...

Geek lifestyle

Right... this is what I've been up to these few days. After the games orientation ended, we started all proper lectures and study times as stated on the timetable that we were allocated today. We should've expected this long before we came into a JC anyway - school hours in JC are lasting as long as forever, and today the day ended at 5.30pm, and this was just one of the earliest days listed on the timetable.

In any case we started the ball rolling today with Bio lesson in the lab, in which I was feeling quite tense due to the sheer small size of our class - only 7 of us taking Biology in 1S02. Perfect, now I stand a higher chance of getting sabo-ed to do stuff for the teacher during Bio lessons. For some reason or another, Yong Cheng sabo-ed himself by picking a random card, and whoever the card belongs to will be the Bio rep, and it just happened to be his. Tough luck buddy!

Right after an early release by kind Mr Chen from Bio lesson, Reymond and I got changed and went to the canteen to meet up with the rest of the Bio girls, when Hui Juan handed me a dud phone, asking me for my number. "Eh, didn't you send that Valentine's Day well-wish message to me just last Saturday?" I was getting suspicious already until she lied that she got a new phone, and I fell for it. "Eh! No screen!" and she started laughing already.

Right... So I learnt that I am gullible to stuff like that, huh.

Anyways to sum things up due to lack of blogging time, we had PE, and was made to run 3 rounds around the stadium before taking height and weight. Chem lecture was heaven because there was air-con right after resting our hot and sweaty bodies. After that was lunchtime and we made fun of Tricia as the bookshop auntie because she took charge of the money and materials collection. After that was GP and Economics. During Economics tutorial I couldn't understand the part of macroeconomics and microeconomics that differentiated each other, and the teacher was blabbering away crap about curry-puff and Old Chang Kee. I just hope I can survive her tutorials, I guess...

And oh, Derek lost his Maths notes and homework, so I guess he's in for some tough shit tomorrow during Maths, both tutorial and lecture. Still, I'll lend a hand somehow, yea?

Many days of coffee from now on...

SRJC is great, despite its high cut-off point. For one, the people are friendly and warm, especially my civics group. And I mean WARM, literally. After only one week of gathering as a class, we have Linus giving flowers for all the 6 girls for Valentine's Day, Mustaqim cracking jokes that shook the floor, Raymond being misinterpreted as a gay, and the forming of a ''bisexual club'', which only served as comic relief and never really bisexual, and many other stuff going on.

Interesting shit's always going on in JC life, that's what I learned during my first two weeks down here, and the cheering during the games orientation was powerful, literally causing me to make another trip to the clinic today, due to sore throat and dry cough. No more cheering competitions for me!

Again, the people down here are really nice - I received 2 Valentine's Day SMSes yesterday from my new classmates already!

Still, JC is going to be difficult and arduous, I know it. For one, just look at the timetable they gave us. Days end at around 6-plus in the evening, and that excludes extra CCA time. Coffee everyday again to get more hours without falling asleep, I guess.

SRJC Days 6 and 7

To sum it up - tiring.

For one, on Monday I got up at 5am to get ready to school, and the activities of the Amazing Race item the OGLs put up for us were energy-sapping for people who don't really travel on foot much. It was high time for us to burn up some Chinese New Year fat, eh?

To start it off, we found out which classes we were to report in, based on our subject combinations that we were posted into. There, we quickly started getting to know each other's names, and to be honest, I'm still having some trouble getting to know some of their names for now. But, with a class of 19 people, it shouldn't be too hard - half the size of my secondary school, for crying out loud!

Bonding was fast and furious - we got to know each other, our secondary school backgrounds, activities, and the thing that made mingling with each other much easier was through the activities that we did together as a class during these two days, no doubt. In short, there was a common topic that all of us could talk about, make fun out of, and bond as a class.

Of course there'd be more college stuff and mumbo-jumbo coming soon, but I can't predict the future, that's for sure...

SRJC Day 5

To sum it up, there wasn't anything eventful after Thursday, except for the 7am bus ride to school on bus 81. Usually I would wake up at 5am, get out of the house at 5.30, and get onboard the bus by 6, and from there it would take like 45 minutes to reach school. But there was a hard lesson learnt - never take the 7am bus. You'd find yourself struggling to get to school along with the others squeezing each other in the tightly packed bus in the peak hours of morning.

When school started, everyone went around to attend the intro lectures, and because I was taking neither Physics nor Geography, I had one hour to spare before the Chemistry lecture. Hung around at the library, trying to login to the Tampines JC Online Appeal website to check for results, then I headed to LT5, and it was also there that I met Min San and his friends who were also chilling out at the cafe outside LT5. Friendly fellas are always nice to be around with, and these guys definitely fall into that category, no doubt.

Disaster struck at the Chemistry lecture. The lecturer was talking for half an hour, while the rest of us either struggled to keep up, or are completely lost, ie 'catch no ball'.

"Eh what is the lecturer saying ah?"
"Why need to find out the order of the rate law ah?"
"Don't understand this leh - why lai dat?"

That was how bad the lecture went for most of us, but at least the lecturer could have some consolation over the "enthusiasm" that we had over the subject from the questioning that was going on about the topic on the rate equations.

Other than that, school consisted of pretty much nothing else except for the showcasing of the Performing Arts groups in anticipation of the CCA recruitment that would be going on next Thursday. After school I received news that my appeal for TPJC failed and since I had long given up hope of going into Meridian JC, it was high time for buying uniform sets. Shame really, I brought only enough money to buy one set of uniform and PE attire for now, so I gotta get more during the next uniform sale day.

Then it was the moment everything expected. The release of the subject combination results. I got into the 4H2 course - Biology, Chemistry, Economics and Mathematics. If I had gone to TPJC they wouldn't have allowed me to take such an ambitious course - with an L1R5 of 15, TPJC would've shunned me away from this chance because their prerequisite was a minimum score of 12, so in a way I thank God for putting me in SRJC.

That being said though, the news that I was now to stick to SRJC came as a "duh!" thing to me way beforehand already - I just felt the peace of God in my heart where I was supposed to be naturally disappointed over not being able to go into a well-recognised JC.

Yes indeed, that inner peace was what I still cannot understand yet, and probably never will.

SRJC Orientation - Day 3 and 4

Missed out one day of blogging, so here goes.

Day 3: Orientation today consisted of handing in the verification slips for the subject combinations, as well as an early release for breaktime, so there were we, OG D6 being the first group to be released to break at 8.30am, whereas everyone else went out at 9am. After breaktime, everyone was to go back to the hall for the college dance. Before that, we received a tip-off that we were to dance with a partner of the opposite gender, and I got quite a rude shock as well as rumbling guts - I never danced with girls before! What if I did the wrong step and made the other fella fall? What if I didn't dance as well as my partner? What if...

Hell, everyone was dancing, so after the dance I found that my fears were uncalled for - everyone was at least making minor mistakes during the dance, and everyone was freshmen. Freshmen who didn't know shit about dance as well as professional-looking dancer freshmen, still freshmen. Heck, I had a hard time getting over myself before I could set myself dancing at ease. Still, Jane was quite a sport and we danced for the first round before switching partners with other people. Danced with Renee, and halfway through the dance with her I actually stepped over her bag without knowing it, which explained her sudden change in expression during the dance. Nasty feeling came all over - I felt helpless and embarrassed. But then again there wasn't enough bag room for everyone at the side of the hall, so her bag just happened to be put near the dancing area, and in doing so this thing happened, so...

Well, I'm just glad it's over and done with - no more embarrassment for me today.

Day 4 - today. Introductory lectures throughout the day, starting from the morning till afternoon. Had General Paper(GP) lecture, and we were all made to write an argumentative essay as a diagnostic test on our grammatical abilities. After GP was Economics, which the lecturer, Mr Tan, spoke really loud over the mike. The only relief for the Economics lecture was that his lectures contained a bit of jokes here and there to spice it up, unlike the Maths lecture we had, during which everyone was already doing the fundamentals of some short-cut methods of solving partial fractions in the first introductory lecture. Looks like college life's gonna be full of tough shit from now on - but then again, whoever said that life would be a bed of roses?

After being dismissed, we were told to stay back for an OG lunch but what the heck, everyone went about their own businesses so I decided to leave too, because later on we were told that our OG Leaders couldn't make it for the lunch. Having a tough day at college meant that everyone was sapped dry of their energy use and thus naturally, everyone called the OG lunch off and postponed it to tomorrow. Yawn...

SRJC Orientation - Day 2

So, how was it for the second day? Things are getting a little bit warmer, but still - the air-conditioning is probably malfunctioning because it's way too cold for me to take it today. Hey, take a morning shower in the midst of cold dawn air, get blown in the face on your journey to the bus interchange and sit on a seat with blasting air-con at your head in the bus. Right now I've got a mild blast of flu thanks to maximum exposure to air-con. Lesson learnt - appreciate the sun whenever you have it!

Things are getting warmer not because of the air-con, but mainly because of what's going on among my OG. Finally, I overcame my own insecurity barrier - I stood out and started mingling with the seniors, as well as the boys in my OG, where previously yesterday I was sitting there at the corner "stoning" and nobody was actually talking to each other except for those around Rachel. The one hour passed by quickly, and with a newfound friend, Adam, I ended the day at college.

Even when reaching home I had my fair share of woes as well - which subject combinations to choose? I had a tough time choosing, but at the back of my mind I told myself "No, enough of Physics for me." So, I took all the combinations with Economics, Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics, which was easier for me to choose, rather than wasting the time trying to decide between Physics and Biology, since Chemistry was the prerequisite for going into university for a Medicine course.

Serangoon JC - Day 1

So, what's all this hoo-hah about? I got into Serangoon JC, so that's a fact. At first glance Serangoon JC might not sound good, but after attending today's orientation I find it hard to make a choice over whether to continue with my appeals for Meridian JC and Tampines JC, or to stick with Serangoon JC.

Not wanting to be late for the first day of college, I got up at 5am, washed up and ate breakfast. Got out of the house at 5.30am, got on bus 81 at 6. I was one of the early birds - I reached school at around 6.30am - way before the usual time I usually report to Anglican High at. Went around to look for this thing called House D6, only to realise later upon asking a senior that there wasn't a literal house D6, but just another name for an orientation group(OG), which I was assigned to be in. After all the admin mumbo-jumbo, they proceeded on to talk about the Serangoon JC's GCE(Global Classroom Experience), which took up most of the day.

Met a couple of Anglican High people who suffer similar fates as me, ending up in Serangoon JC as well. To my surprise I saw Roy at Serangoon JC as well. Hell, all along I thought Roy was much better in studies than me, so however he came here, I don't know. Later on, I met Young Yee and Derrick(I hope I spelt their names correctly), as well as Frederick, and we gathered together for the one-hour break before they continued in their GCE talk.

Now, few would allow for a second lunch break right after the first, but the GCE presentation ended and the whole cohort was to take a college tour to find various places, and for logistical convenience they sent a whole bunch of us to have lunch, at 11-plus, right after our previous break which ended at 10.45am. Now, anyone in their right mind wouldn't have enough room to stomach another meal, yea? So I didn't eat. Not until 5-plus when I wolfed down a Subway Italian BMT.

Orientation went on, straight into the lecture theatres, where various festivities are being showcased. Yun Jie(pardon for any spelling error), a new acquaintance in the same OG, later told me that Serangoon JC seemed like a party school, which probably meant the people don't really put much effort in studying. The impression indeed seemed that way for me too, but still, I have to take my hat off to them for advertising their college so well.

Facilities-wise, I think that Tampines JC might lose out to Serangoon JC, but still I'm keeping my appeals until one of them calls up to call me to report to their college. Even if they don't call up, I'll still be content to be in Serangoon JC. After all, why not?

Happy New Year 2009

To start off a blog entry it's always appropriate to start with a greeting, eh? I wish you guys a Happy Lunar New Year 2009!

It's just crazy this season. We started off 2009 on 1st January with an economic downturn, and now people are complaining about the high prices set during the Chinese New Year season. Still, monetary crises aren't gonna stop us from celebrating - life still has to go on. At the very most, we don't celebrate New Year with that much goodies this year.

But for us Christians we have much more reason to celebrate, amen? Pastor Bennett made a very good point over why the streets are red in colour - the red signifies the blood of Jesus shed for all mankind, bringing a new meaning of which it means Christians ought to celebrate more during this New Year season - we rejoice over this gift of salvation that God has given to us, the same thing that money cannot buy, nor can be earned by any means of human effort.

Then again, if salvation could be earned through human merit, Christ wouldn't have had to die on the cross for us(Galatians 2:21)!

Slept at 2.30am last night, why? Mom came home at 10pm, and went to the night market to grab whatever's left of the freshest choice meat, veg and other quality food, getting ready for a reunion steamboat today, and I was to be there to lend my hands for that. By that time, I was dead tired, but thank God I'm doing this for Him - wasting no time in waking up early and going to church with one sole purpose of singing praises and thanks to my Lord and receiving His word of the day.

Of course, I can't please everyone by going to church during this season, so I'd rather please my God than please men. Makes things more convenient - pleasing one God with one complete and wonderful purpose for my life versus pleasing many people with many conflicting ideas.

About high time

So, it's been a long time since I last wrote anything on this blog. A lot of things have been going on recently, such as trying to get over the natural disappointment and the occasional chide of me getting bad O Level results. Well, at least I've made it to a junior college(JC) - that's what everyone is trying to tell me.

So, how badly did I do? An L1R5 score of 15, how's that for a start? It ain't bad, but it ain't good either, so I'm stuck on no-man's land: Out of all the JCs of choice, only 6 are available for me, and only Meridian JC and Tampines JC are at East Singapore, nearer to where I live. To be honest, the only problem that stands before me is the problem of transportation.

They say that taxi drivers' children get free transport to school everyday. I think not - Dad's always too busy out there at work, trying to make ends meet. Thing is, I think he's only trying to make HIS OWN ends meet instead of contributing money for family expenses. So far, only Mom's giving me pocket money because he's always not at home - see the problem there?

Not that I'm deprived of fatherly love or some sort of mumbo-jumbo - I have learnt to draw strength from my Heavenly Father, so who's to say that I'm not having a Father who cares for my every need in my life?

Results and family matters aside, it's finally good to go back to school again - no more crappy lifestyle of being a couch potato, and freedom to roam around Singapore as and when I have the time. Meanwhile, things that the Lord have taught me during this few months of free time have begun to make a lot more sense by the day, and someday I might just share them right here - my blog - so stay tuned!

Greenhorn fisherman

Been taking up time trying to figure how to fish since the January 2nd. It's a really cool thing, I tell you. As for how I took up this new sport, it's quite peculiar actually.

Since last year I have been hearing Uncle Daniel and his two kids Theudas and Thaddeus talking about the big fish they caught at a kelong(offshore fishing village) and the details were enticing. After that I was telling Uncle Kelvin whether we should join them and take up fishing. To make things better - the new fishing equipment store that took up residence beside my mom's workplace - the furniture shop - sparked my uncle's interest. Along with Uncle Steven's fishing history, we had a 3-man team among us. One with money, one with experience and one with brains, so to speak.

Then on 2nd January, Uncle Kelvin woke me up in my 12-hour slumber to tell me of his plans to go fishing that day. At first I thought he wasn't serious: normally he would try to find some excuse to get me excited about the day and get out of bed whenever he could help it. So, I went along and saw them going to Changi Village to get the equipment. We got fishing lines, rod and things like floats and weights, and so we set off.


"I'm still waiting for the fish!"

After buying the fishing equipment, we went ahead to fish, first at the nearest known place possible - Pasir Ris beach. Bought large earthworms for bait, only to find that there wasn't anything there at all. Except for this little bugger below.



I don't know what kind of fish is this bugger over here, but it's my first catch. In fact, the only catch that I got on 2nd January. Wasted a whole load of bait just to catch this bugger that was less than a handspan. Don't get tricked by the zoom - this is just a small fish.

It soon dawned on us that the fishing hooks that we got off the fella at Changi Village was too big to fish such small fry in Singapore. After that we went ahead to try our luck on Sunday, 4th January.


"Fisherman's Paradise. Quick, get me the camera so I can take this down."

And so we went for the Bedok jetty, near Carpark F1, East Coast Park. See the crowd - there must be some big fish or pretty good catch that day, so we settled for a whole of 5 hours. And sure enough, God made sure our patience didn't go to waste - we caught a dozen fish, without any bait, just some fluorescent nylon string tied onto the hooks so that it looks like small fry for the fish to take the bite.

As for how we got the small baitless hooks, we saw an old man beside us shaking his fishing rod up and down. For a while we thought he was trying to be funny, doing such rigorous movement. After we saw him dragging a big catch of 2 to 3 small fish at a time we went ahead to ask him what kind of bait he used. Interestingly enough he showed us his small fishing hooks, so of course we asked him where he got the hooks from. Kind, respectable uncle sold us 2 sets of fishing lines, ready-made with nylon "bait" and small hooks, with weights.

So, just as we were trying to use mealworms instead of earthworms for deep-sea fishing, we found that we needed no bait - and boy, the catch was exciting every time there was a big tug. To keep a long story short, we got to keep our good catch.


"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

Count it, there's 12, no doubt.



Of course, God was with us the whole of 4th January. First it was the Covenant service that we had in the morning to renew our covenant with God for the new year, and in the afternoon, we went fishing, which of course beats wasting their money on tombola trips periodically every week, which I reckon is technically gambling. At least fishing gives experience and fish - it's a win-win situation everytime.

And did I mention that after fishing, we couldn't find a seat at all at the nearby hawker centre? God gave us a seat at one of the barbecue pits within sight of the hawker centre, so we were able to settle down there and eat. With char-siew noodles, sliced fruit and quietness beside the shore for a decent dinnerplace, what more can we ask for?

New Year resolutions, anyone?

Well, we can't run away from it. It's already here, so might as well decide for ourselves what we want to be accomplished this year while it's still new eh? So, I've come up with a list of what I want accomplished this year:

1) Keep up with entertainment news.
2) Spread God's word to the ends of the earth - or at least to the ends of whatever school I end up in this year.
3) Learn the art of diplomacy.
4) Learn better time management as I go along.
5) Write a few songs.

New Year - Somehow, this year's feeling is different

This coming new year is going to be different from all the other years of my life that I've lived past, so to speak. For one, it doesn't seem much like the new year at all. Take for example, there's no more looking forward to going back to school - at least NOT YET - because JC school term doesn't start until 1st February, I was told. Also, there's other people telling me that Polytechnic students start school a lot later, which makes it all the more draggggggggyyyyyyyyyy...

Guess when the world is about to experience a second economic Great Depression, life for me follows suit - it gets ever more boring every day I stay at home waiting for my GCE O Level results to come out. To hell with the suspense of the results - just tell us the date of release, for Christ's sake. I just want to get out of the house, go to school and break this monotomy of sitting at home rotting at the sofa, being a couch potato. Can't time just past more quickly?

That being said though, I'll just worry about the grades when I receive my O Level cert. After all, each day has enough trouble of its own, so what's the point worrying about what you cannot have any control upon?

And another thing - this coming new year is what perhaps nobody is actually looking forward to, throughout the globe. Look at the economic mess that everyone has got into - shareholders, Leyman Brothers' mini-bond victims, everyone fighting tooth and nail to preserve their rice bowls, and no more splurging on "necessities" like PSPs, Nintendo DSes, even MP3 players.

Even the thrifty people aren't spared at all. Just when I was about to make plans to buy myself some expensive gadget like a DS or just a cheap and decent MP3 player, the economic crisis struck - and sometimes I wonder why I went about so much effort to save money when I can't even spend it on my own stuff in the end after all. Maybe God wants me to start saving for the many more rainy days to come, I guess...

Simply put - the moving on to 2009 isn't anything grand after all, it's just a continuation of the troubles we are currently facing in 2008. Therefore, I don't see much reason to celebrate after all, apart from the hope that when worse situations come, we see more of Christ's glory made manifest in carrying us through those tougher circumstances.

Hence, a short message to those fortunate enough to read this entry - I urge you to place your hopes, aspirations, pain, worries, everything on Jesus this year, for he is saying today, "Come to me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."(Matthew 11:28)

Uncle Daniel's House Party - a Christmas party before Christmas Eve

Yep, I gotta catch my breath these few days after Christmas events, so I haven't been updating this blog lately, so it appears dead - but not anymore. Fresh new content coming up next year, so stay tuned.

Or maybe you guys wouldn't have to wait for so long after all...

Anyways, on 23rd December 2008 Uncles Kelvin and Steven and I went to Uncle Daniel's house for a celebration for the successful performance at the Peerless Name Jesus Christmas Dinner '08. We waited until around 9.30pm for everyone to reach there so that we can start the "debriefing" and comment on our performance. The consensus was this: we couldn't have done it without Jesus Christ, our common Lord and Saviour, helping us behind the scenes and putting everything in order with our common prayers. Now THAT's one spirit, one mind, and one common faith being manifest in us, namely:

• Jesus Christ - the one keeping us together in one piece and one mind, making miracles out of situations that seemed impossible beforehand, and teaching us along the practice periods and holding our hands throughout the stage fright period.
• Uncle Daniel and Auntie Norines - for organising our group for the dance item.
• Uncles Kelvin and Steven, Brothers Maran and Chris as well as Theudas - for being the ones out there doing the meat of the dance
• Sisters Osheana and Shirleen - for endless behind-the-scenes moral support, and providing invaluable suggestions throughout the dance practices.
• Thaddeus, Malcolm and Brother Maran's new daughter, born during the crisis of the group, when our group was about to buckle under the pressure and hiccups here and there - for providing comic relief when everyone was stressed up about the performance and being endlessly attacked by Satan via problems and circumstances that came out of the blue.
• Any other people who helped behind the scenes that I forgot to mention in this list of credits.

So, with all the problems that happened beforehand, and the startling comeback that we did in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, this was no doubt reason enough of celebration because of His grace and faithfulness to see us through till the very end and beyond. And boy, did we enjoy this party, of course!

Just look at the spread, haha.

From top left to right: roti jala, mutton curry, roast turkey, sliced-'n'-spiced chicken franks.
From bottom left to right: chocolate pastry(I don't know what's that thing-a-ma-jig called), pork knuckle, and steamed butter rice.
As for the milk bottle, I don't know how it ended up there - probably it's meant for Brother Maran's new baby daughter(I still haven't asked what's her name).

Of course, we wouldn't possibly forget starting the whole party singing praises and worshipping Him, right? So we sprang into action and had a great time indeed.



Brother Chris and me, holding the guitar, posing for a photo impromptu.

And just after dinner Uncle Steven's birthday was announced - on 23rd December 2008 - perfect timing! Uncle Daniel got us a Christmas log cake for us to share, which doubled as a celebration for Uncle Steven's birthday, and boy, that was truly Christmas, considering that God made the events fall onto place: Celebration and debriefing of the Christmas Dinner'08 dance item, celebration of Uncle Steven's birthday, and early celebration for Christmas at Uncle Daniel's house.



Christmas Log Cake, aka Uncle Steven's Birthday Cake. Good stuff!

Sweet stuff for a Sweet and Merry Christmas. Perfect. I was told to eat a whopping three thick slices just after eating a whole lot of stuff, so I did - and being the first to eat the Christmas turkey stuffing, which nobody in the house ever noticed until I told them, I was fully stuffed like the turkey I ate. I hope they're not thinking of using ME as next year's Christmas TURKEY? Haha...

A barbecue, again

Had a barbecue today at Uncle Yiye's place, so we were to leave the house at 1.45pm to set off to his house. Before going there, we went to Shop 'n' Save because Aunt Wanyin had to buy diapers for baby Claira, so along the way we bought a bag of chips to prepare for the barbecue. Unfortunately there was just so much food for the barbecue that we left the chips alone. Ha, so much for wanting us to try wasabi-flavoured chips...

After hanging around at Uncle Yiye's condominium abode we went downstairs for a swim. Boy, that swim was dangerous even though it's still a 1.2m flat pool - we found a stray orange plastic container meant for a Super Soaker floating on the pool out of nowhere, and I almost slipped into the water because of a dumb transparent glass marble at the pool floor!

Anyways, we hung around the pool for a while more until the barbecue started, since for the rest of the day we had nothing else to do. Then we had this problem here: the delivery for the barbecue food didn't arrive until 6pm, when the scheduled time was supposed to be 5.30pm. So, we started behind time and the fire was started. While trying to dispose of the excess burning material, we accidentally burnt a hole through the dustbin bag - luckily for us, that bin was made of fireproof plastic so we didn't damage any property. Wow, even soft drinks can put out fires, man...

Despite that, it was still worthwhile the trip anyway - we went back with full stomachs, and excess food to take home too.

Blog wipe - getting ready for the new year!

New skin, new look, and new stuff coming right up!

As all of you may have already noticed by now, this new skin looks more posh than the previous template I used, but there are sacrifices for this. For example, where once I put in the Anglican High School logo, and stuff like little write-ups at the side are no longer there. In its place is something more, should I say, empty space.

But there's the juice of this entire new blogskin there - I get to customise more of this blog and make it more personal than just rigid computer-generated layouts. No more plain designs anymore - life's just about to get more colourful with the modifications made on this blog!

Visitors, do tag a lot more - it seems a little empty so far, so help me bring some life into this blog, thanks in advance!

Glycemic Index - a clue to healthier eating

As always, I get stuck at home due to the bad weather outside, and because there ain't anywhere worthwhile to go without spending big money, I'm bored stiff, apart from whatever Playstation 2 and computer games are available to me while I'm still killing time during this long waiting period after the O Level major examinations.

So, I just did a little Net-surfing and found this familiar topic that appeared in the Biology textbook - the glycemic index. Basically, glycemic index isn't some complicated topic after all.

Simply put, glycemic index is a measure of how fast the carbohydrates in food are released into the bloodstream. The higher the index of a particular food, the faster the glucose derived from the digested food gets absorbed into the bloodstream. So, to quote a few examples,

Foods with high glycemic index(GI): potatoes, bread, corn flakes, sweets, cereal, etc.
Foods with low GI: foods like nuts, milk, fruit and veg., chicken and fish.

So, to ensure your blood glucose stays steady I'd suggest you eat more fruit and veg, and nuts are a good thing to snack on if you're gonna burn midnight oil. For a quick fix just grab the nearest chocolate bar. However, that doesn't mean eating nuts despite food allergies, so don't use this information provided against me when stuff like that happens, okay?

Still trying to kill time after sharing this to Netizens reading this entry.

Random doodle

Just bored over what to do, so I came up with this sketch. It looked pretty good on pencil, so I decided to improve on it by ink, and here's what I'm ending up with.

Of course there's imperfections here and there, but I guess this will have to do for now...

The hidden story behind the AHS Guitar Ensemble Farewell Chalet 2008

Just thought that if I kept this any longer in my heart I might burst anytime, so time for some serious ranting, yea? That being said though, if I have offended anyone by name or reference, I apologise in advance. So yeah, I'll go ahead with this...

When I was told of this Guitar Ensemble Farewell Chalet meant for the Secondary Fours, I already knew who was gonna come and who wasn't. Daniel and Jonathan were feeling really down and dejected because they were rejected for the Harmony 2008 Concert, so I knew what they were going through. However, I still tried to persuade them to come and join the rest of the Ensemble, to no avail, obviously. Knowing Benedict's couldn't-care-less attitude, he wouldn't even bother to come even if I tried to get him to, and he didn't come.

Great, I've been with them bass boys for the past 3 years, being looked down by Mrs NC Koh, being seen as the boys who couldn't do anything of substance within the CCA group. I was the one down there doing their dirty job of annotating the scores so they could play the bass section of the pieces, and many times I fork out their lunches and snacks out of my own pockets. This is what I got for 4 years of service in the CCA.

Thank God He sent Jacob to come for this chalet - at least I know there's someone out there who still cares for this socially-challenged senior of his.

During the first day of that farewell chalet, I was told that there wasn't any barbecue on that day itself, but rather on the next day. Of course, I was really angry at that time because it meant that I couldn't attend that barbecue due to my hip-hop dance item training and practice for the Christmas Dinner 2008 starting at 8pm the day after. The "today no barbecue" quote was already turning my stomach upside down the moment I heard it.

I was just recovering from this disappointment as the day went on, until the rest of the Secondary Four batch went for the movies without me. Hell, nobody even told me that they were wearing the batch tees and they just up and went for the movie marathon without asking me along at all! So naturally, being the only Secondary Four boy among the entire girl-dominated batch there, I felt left out. What to do while they were out at the movies? I stayed with the juniors, playing cards and behaving immaturely just to fit in.


The next day, after hitting Li Pin's mouth with the "ball", which was actually a soap bar, by mistake due to some rough Captain's Ball playing, I felt really bad. I actually injured a girl, and the guilt made the day worse, and after being told off by her I stayed my distance from Li Pin, just so that she might feel better with my brief absence. Hell, if you guys performed friendly fire in the middle of a rough game, you'd understand why I did that.

After buying drinks for a parched Guitar Ensemble, a familiar voice shouted out from the crowd: "Aaron, I forgive you!" That forgiveness made me ponder about some things much later. However at that moment I dared not look back at her. I just didn't dare to - I didn't, and still don't know why.

Despite being forgiven I still felt lousy for the day - and the rain had to spoil early barbecue. Two ladies were cooking at our pit just before the rains came - I wrote about this before in the previous posts. And I was later called back to the Secondary Fours' room in the chalet and told about some admin issues the Secondary Three committee were lacking on and mistakes they made, and I was to be there for a, supposedly, Secondary Four batch photo.

Apparently I don't think I was supposed to be part of it from the start. I was about to join in the photo-taking, but one of them said it was only for the girls, so what was I to do, being the sole minority there? I stood as I watched them take some photos and decided this wasn't getting anywhere, so I got out of that place.

Good riddance, I thought. I didn't belong there anyway. Uncle Steven came at the right time - at 7.30pm. The rain was so heavy that day that the barbecue failed anyway, so in a way I was delivered from a situation whereby everything looked really bad and hopeless, to a community who was working towards one common goal - to spread His name to the rest of a portion of the Singaporean community and to raise funds for the church building in the name of Jesus, via doing our part in preparing an English Congregation dance item for "Peerless Name Jesus" Christmas Dinner 2008.

After all of that was over, I sat back in the room to think about why all that happened, still bearing hidden grudges and things. She might have said that just to make me feel better at that moment, but if she can forgive me for what I did to her, why can't I do the same to those around me, just like how Christ has forgiven those who believe in Him?

Yeah, maybe it's time to just put aside all that ostracism and get on with life, as it is with Jesus around.

To put it in a dramatic sense, God delivered me out of all that anger and frustration and changed all that into devotion and concentration in the item. And there I found my solace - no more loneliness in Him, no more need for needless explosions of anger. And I'm still holding onto His promise that He will never leave nor forsake me. come hell or high water.

Let Christ be the Lord of your life and everything within

Just a few months after I first got into church, I was introduced to a cell group which I now attend, and the members of this cell group are very fervent for the Lord, and these are the same people I have come to see as exemplary models of what a life with Jesus Christ should be like. It was also in this cell group that I've first heard of this story that Brother Arulkumar has shared with me earlier this year. Pondering about random stuff, this story came abruptly into my mind, and therefore, learning that blessings are to be shared with everyone else, I've decided to retell this short story in this blog entry.

A man once bought a house, and decided to dedicate a room for Jesus, where he could be alone and free to be with the Lord. "This room is yours, Lord, and bless this house and my family," the man said. Jesus accepted this offer.

The first night that the man spent in the house, he could not sleep in peace because there was a figure that was knocking on the door and making a din. Looking out of the window in his room, he realised that it was the devil at the door, making such a din at the door that the whole family was woken up by the immense noise. The man, in his desperation, went to call upon Jesus in His room. No matter how much he tried to beg and ask Him to get the devil out of his doorstep, nothing happened throughout the whole night. Fortunately for him, the devil walked away by dawn.

The next day, everyone was not in their best condition for work and school, so together, they took an afternoon nap. Who would've known that the devil came knocking and making a din at the doorstep again just as they were about to fall asleep? Soon, they were getting desperate again and the man went into Jesus' room and pleaded with Him to get the devil out of the doorstep. Still, nothing happened and after the devil got tired of disturbing the household, he went away, only to came back at night again. This went on for several days.

Finally, angered and fatigued by all the days of noise and lack of sleep, the man went to ask Jesus why He wouldn't do anything to stop the devil. However, all He replied was, "You dedicated this room to me, but what about the rest of the house?" At that very moment the man realised his folly, and declared that He be free to move around the house as and when He likes, and that He be part of the family too. Hearing this, Jesus went to the living room, rebuked the devil, and the devil cowered in fear of His voice and scampered out of sight.

From then on, Jesus was the VIP of the household, and the man and his family went on to dedicate their lives to Him more than ever since this incident, serving His ministry and furthering the gospel to many more people and bring them to Him for their salvation, sometimes even performing miracles in His name, such as healing the sick and occasionally even raising the dead back to life in His power and glory.

Moral of the story: If you get stingy with Jesus and try to limit His place in your life, He won't perform miracles nor help you much in your life. Knowing that human effort alone cannot accomplish anything of substance, and that in the flesh dwells nothing good within our spirit, it is mandatory that we should let Christ help us in every aspect of our life, to ensure our success in life in Him. After all, what greater blessing is there for every man than to have a loving and gracious God to help him succeed in everything he does?

That being said though, we must set our hearts right before God first before you ask anything of Him first, then He will send His Holy Spirit to help us.

Looking back at my past...

Just a quick review of what big events that I could take note in my life so far in Anglican High, since there's pretty much little nonsense to do except think and talk of nonsense.

It's in Anglican High where:

1. I soiled my first uniform because I puked out of carsickness while travelling in bus 17 to school on the first day - and was granted permission to skip the first day of school to clean up the mess.


2. The first friend I made in Anglican High actually broke wind real loud in front of the whole class in just the 3rd day of school - and of course, it was a stink bomb.


3. I was put into the 4th out of the 5 CCA choices I made - and so I joined the AHS Guitar Ensemble.


4. I was the first person in history to bring frogs into the Guitar Room for "horrifying entertainment on the loose".


5. I was the first person in history of the Guitar Ensemble to bring a live tortoise into the Guitar Room - and attracted a lot more attention whilst Mr Shi, the instructor, seemed to be insensitive to its presence.


6. I became one of the four who got ostracized in class 2L'06 - but gave ample time for us four to bond with each other, being the "losers of the class".


7. I became the "babe of the class" in class 3B-4B from '07 to '08 due to some joker trying to ruin my reputation in the new class - and the title stuck with me among my classmates to this very day.


8. I became the smart-aleck in the class - getting the answers wrong most of the time.


9. I attracted a lot of attention - both voluntarily and involuntarily.


10. I was made fun of by my classmates because of a rumour spreading that mentioned about me being a potential FHM model - see (4) to know why.


11. I was the butt of the joke in many places - like walking into the glass panel in public places, and playing guitar to an audience who wouldn't even bother whether there was music being made or not.


12. I was St Bernard's irritant fly buzzing at his ears.
13. I pushed myself to the limits and sat for the GCE O Level Examinations.
14. I had to shit in my pants in the middle of a major O Level paper. I repeat - a MAJOR paper where if I didn't, I would lose time and not be able to finish the paper.
15. I gradually learned to differentiate assholes from true friends, and to cherish the good ones.
16. I learned major lessons on money management - many times, I overspent my pocket money on food in the school canteen alone, not to mention spending it on fast food.
17. I learned that a loud voice isn't everything - anger doesn't accomplish anything at the end of the day but instead makes your blood boil faster.

There are just too many more things to list down about the stuff I did in the secondary school years, but there is just one thing that I can't deny - it is in Anglican High where I got to truly accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour.

Swimming phenomena

Just a little thing I've noticed while I'm accompanying my sister to the public swimming pool for her swimming lessons. Some of the kids swim with their pyjamas on, I wonder why?

At first glance I thought it's just them, trying to do some free laundry after their afternoon naps. Driven by curiosity, I went ahead to disturb Shang Bo over the phone to ask why. I was told that the pyjamas were there for training for Silver and Gold swimming courses, and they tie the ends up and blow it up so that it doubles as a float.

Wow, interesting discovery for the day...

Long hair gives long irritation

Well, I guess it makes sense. Hair grown too long covers the tip of the ears, and spectacle rims pressing the sideburns against the head definitely isn't a good idea. In short, you just feel irritated and sleepy most of the time when there's long hair.

Just look at this sleepy picture of mine above, and you get the idea. My God - it's like, just two months since my last haircut, and already it's feeling irritating for quite an eternity already. Maybe I'll have my haircut tomorrow - finally salvation has come for my head. Much as I'd like to keep the hair there, the irritation gets worse for every day I leave my hair long.

It's easy to turn into a sleepyhead with this kind of length of hair, man. Time for a haircut!

December Woes

After the farewell chalet I reckon there's pretty much nothing of substance to do, except perhaps paint the house this coming Monday, walking around aimlessly at the mall, or just visiting the library to read some random crap. As for looking for a job to earn my keep, I'm having second thoughts about it. Perhaps, yeah, Uncle Kelvin does make sense. Why not just chill and relax and enjoy life while it lasts.

Or maybe I'll just find time to catch up with some of the Primary 6/9 folks while the holiday lasts.

AHS Guitar Ensemble Farewell Chalet 2008 Day 2

It was a short chalet time for me, because I had to set off for practice for the hip-hop dance item for Christmas Nite 2008 fundraising dinner for My Saviour's Church. In other words, I didn't have time to stay for the barbecue.

First things first, I overslept while at the same time telling the juniors that I'd be there at around 7am in the morning. In the end I reached Aranda at around 9.30am. Along the way, I was thinking, since I hadn't had any breakfast yet, I might as well drop by the Mr Bean store and grab some pancakes there before the activities, namely an Amazing Race, was to begin at 10.30am. Along the way I bumped into the rest of the Sec 4s who stayed overnight, and they were heading for McDonalds anyway, so I just tagged along. Yay, good chance for me to use Wi-Fi in public places.

It turned out that before you could use Wi-Fi service provided by McDonalds and other fast-food chains, you had to register for a Wireless@SG account and log in. Having 2 sets of wireless Internet access, one being the Wireless@SG one and another provided by Downtown East, I used the Downtown East one instead, since there wasn't any prerequisite required to use it anyway. It worked, obviously. Yay, another job done to ensure continual Internet access outdoors.

Ate a simple breakfast of tea and Sausage McMuffin, while the others ate stuff like Big Breakfast. Nothing against McDonalds food, but it's a tried-and-tested experience that when you eat Big Breakfast, especially the scrambled eggs, you begin to start to want to go to the toilet for the big business. Not a good idea to start the day when you're in a hurry to let the games begin. Anyways, we continued on, with the rest of the girls making beelines to the toilets while I headed off to the chalet to unpack entertainment machinery there.

Alas, nobody was opening the door despite button-mashing the doorbell button and smacking the door like nobody's business. It can't possibly mean they're all outside the chalet - the slippers were all outside the door. Fruitless banging and the building up of steam meant that I waited outside like some desperate guy. Ah, but at least Wei Xiang came just at the right moment and, man, she is literally EXPLOSIVE and blew the door open with her brief rant and smacking of the door.

Um, I guess that's girl power, so to speak?

After getting in, I hung around with the juniors who were there, playing poker cards, a couple of rounds of Tai Ti, got acquainted to this game called Bridge, and the games started. It was Captain's Ball, but with a little rough twist - they used apples and Lux soap dipped in a Softlan laundry softener and flour mixture so that it's very slippery and hard to catch. It didn't turn out to be a good idea - the right lens of my spectacles dropped off the frame, some people got hit hard by the hard soap, and I accidentally hit Li Pin's mouth with the soap during the game. Of course, that made her pissed at me - who wouldn't, when her mouth is bleeding at the lip?

We decided to leave the games alone, and check on Li Pin, to make sure no tooth damage has been done. It didn't hit the teeth out of position, I reckon, so phew for me.
Lessons to learn from this rough and dirty game:

1. NEVER use hard stuff like soap or apples for Captain's Ball, Monkey, or any other game that involves throwing the stuff to a teammate, to avoid friendly fire.
2. NEVER use Lux soap or Softlan laundry softener - Alicia's arm turned red after washing the stuff off with tap water, and it's probably because she has sensitive skin and does not really know it until it turned red.
3. ALWAYS play dirty games in an area near the toilets. We had to take a walk for 5 minutes before we could reach the nearest toilet, which pissed a good lot of us off as we went there to wash up.

Terrible experience. Apart from some other clichéd games, we were exposed to the sun for quite long, and had an eating competition for 2 teams. The other team won, mainly because they had Zhi Tao, who's a big eater. And wow, Wanting sure can eat, and she apparently gorged herself full of the food, and I was told that she threw up later at the chalet.

We ended up not having the Amazing Race that we used to have every year, because there was just too little people attending this Farewell Chalet. Even so, the weather wasn't very good to us - we went indoors at around 2 plus, and there we stayed and hung around until 5 when it rained. Just before it rained, someone was using our barbecue pit just when we were about to start the barbecue. Thanks ladies, whoever you are, for using our barbecue pit just when we were about to use it... (sarcasm)

"Hey, that's our barbecue pit," someone yelled out to the ladies from the balcony. It just didn't make sense. We tried to get her to use some other barbecue pit, but we all we got was this answer: "Aiyah, it's only the numbers, what... Go use the other pits, lah."

Ahem. Barbecue pit 2313 is the one we paid for, not the others. And what's up with that lame excuse of the other barbecue pits being "too hot" when there's no burning charcoal put in the grills yet? "Whatever you are cooking, make it quick. We're gonna use the barbecue pits soon. Hurry up," I answered them. Of course, everyone was pissed when the rains came just when the inconsiderate ladies left with their pot of inedible crap half-cooked.

It rained, and stopped. And it rained again. How are we to barbecue? We waited and waited. By 6-plus the people were grumbling and becoming desperate for barbecue, so someone started the idea of starting the barbecue at the BALCONY, of all places. Nice place to have a barbecue, but what about the smoke signals? Luckily for us, we managed to stop them in time just before they opened the pack of firestarters.

The alumni seniors came to join us, all drenched in the rain and stuff, and still they lent us hands to start the fire at the pit, but it still ended up being a failure anyway - there was no fire, only more rain soaking through their clothes and wet umbrellas. I wished I could stay longer, but by 7.30pm I really had to go for practice because the next day's the full-dress rehearsal for the hip-hop dance. So, much to my own personal dismay I just "disappeared" from the chalet hungry until 10.30pm when the practice ended.

Ate a lot on the first day, starved on the second day, both emotionally and physically.

AHS Guitar Ensemble Farewell Chalet 2008 Day 1

Back, as usual, after a day out at the chalet that's meant for us Secondary Fours. After all the slogging, grilling at murderous guitar pieces for the performance at Harmony 2008 Concert at Victoria JC Auditorium, it is finally time to relax, have fun and, um, eat till your belly's gonna burst...?

When I got to Aranda Country Club lobby at 2.15pm, I had this hunch that that was definitely the wrong place to go to, because I didn't even know which chalet room we were to meet in. I checked the phone message sent by Wai Ping earlier yesterday, which confirmed that I was to go to Pasir Ris MRT Station instead, which proved my hunch right. Took a 10-minute walk back from Aranda to Pasir Ris MRT, and met Shawn, Zhi Tao and Genevieve, and later some more Sec 1s, before walking back to Aranda. Heh, talk about a little exercise of the feet, sand and mud...

Went to the lobby to wait for Yannis and some adult to check in for us before we could get into a chalet where we could unpack and play around in. After getting in, there was practically nothing much to do except some self-entertainment by playing poker cards and Uno, though of course, there weren't any monetary wagers involved at all.

A while later we ate instant noodles for late lunch. Soon after, they planned to go outdoors to play some messy games, those that involve putting chocolate into flour so that it looks like you-know-what, and probably either making you step and squish it or throwing them around, etc. Quite terribly, it began to rain, so we were stuck indoors and the games were cancelled. Instead, we went for dinner.

Wow, oookay... look at this, fellas. I just ate instant noodles at 5pm, ate some chocolate at 6pm, and now we're out for dinner at 7pm. Still, I ate sliced fish soup with rice, and a bowl of cheng tng
and surprisingly, I still managed to stomach them down. Dropped by KFC to buy a large box of popcorn chicken to munch on in the chalet, then later we resumed self-entertainment among ourselves - Shawn, Zhi Tao, some of the girls and I playing cards and occasionally, the PSP that I borrowed off Shang Bo but still have yet to return to him, and the girls playing tau pok(human pile) in their room, making such a din that for a while, we thought they were doing gang-rape inside.

Anyways, after an awful long time of boredom and joking around, Hai Long finally managed to come, with me meeting him on the way to the lobby and directing him back to the chalet. After his arrival, things soon became different - in a good way, of course. For one, he asked me to go hang around downtown so that he can explore around in this corner of Singapore, and also for him to withdraw some money from the ATM and buy Subway sandwiches for the girls upstairs at Aranda.

Look at this, people, LOOK AT THIS. Instant noodles at 5pm, 2 packs of chocolate at 6pm, sliced fish soup with rice and a bowl of cheng tng at 7pm, popcorn chicken at around 8pm, and now Subway at 9pm. Thanks, Hai Long, for bringing me to such a place to get tempted to eat like nobody's business out here...

In the end by 10pm I was stuffed. I just couldn't eat anymore for the day. After the heavy supper, I hung around for a while more before Uncle Kelvin called up and I had to leave the chalet to come back home, to keep everyone else updated about the happenings during this chalet.