Chronophobic bottleneck - I can't breathe!

Important things are just around the corner. And at a very bad pace too - my Oral Presentation script hasn't been done yet! With however bad(or good) results for the Promotional Examinations, it still isn't a trade-off: there's more stress where those came from...

For one, the class is going to be separated to the ends of the SRJC building for next year. Some may end up together - others may stay in 4H2. A shame, really. after 8 months of being together, we still gotta separate. But enough about this for now - let us move on.

The Promotional Results will be released later on in the day, even as I type this down on my blog. It's an emotional event - some call it the Judgement Day. In other words, the serious day where everyone has got no mood to really sit down and do Oral Presentation. The doctor told us to pack up our feelings after the results release, put it in a "bag" and "throw that bag one side" for now, and leaving the sobbing - or celebration - for personal time at home.

That may be right by reason, but let's be honest - who'd be giving a heck about it once everyone gets their Promotional Results? Possibly a handful would continue - but even then I foresee people being in their bad mood mode. Guess I gotta watch out now...

Bad idea to talk about other colleges having ~45 points for their Promotional Examination criteria at this point in time - there's a large portion of us having less than 35 points - the minimum criteria in SRJC.

Not only that, the Chinese A Level is next Monday. And I haven't really got time to sit down and do my study properly. OP is right there running at our heels, and two Olympiads which I haven't studied for at all. Not to mention I&R two weeks after OP too - but apparently some have already handed in the I&Rs already.

Ok, I guess that's enough updates for a midnight post. Will continue updating often - the only thing optimistic about getting your ass stuck in this situation is that the more time passes, the more time you find yourself free to do more stuff. But how long will this continue? There's not even a breather to talk about.

Madness after Promotional Examinations - it isn't any different!

After the much dreaded Promotional Examination rites, there's another big list of things to do until the end of the year... And trust me, it's inhumane! How can anyone finish up so many things at one go?

Don't believe me? Look at this list.

Disclaimer: Do not view the bottom list if you have faint of heart, or can suffer from epilaptic seizures at any time while using the computer, or are in any way complaining that your current schedule is very tight, in which case you should look at mine. Period.

1) H1 Chinese A Level Examination (2 Nov 2009)

This stuff is hard to swallow, especially when Chinese isn't my cup of tea. In fact, I'm deciding whether to just give this subject up to some crappy standard and be happy with it, or just go and do all out for this. Wait till you see the below stuff. Just wait and scroll down.

2) Project Work at A Level - Written Report(20th October) and Oral Presentation(6th November, tentative)

This stuff is even harder to swallow, given the weird and often unsatisfactory insanely long hours of work at PW in school. Ah, aah. No such thing as leaving early - whenever there's free time it's chucked into PW and pretty much nothing else other than Chinese. And with absurd planning and negotiations with certain people, we didn't get what we want either. Oh well, just make sure we don't die of mental breakdown due to overexhaustion. Just one month to go!

3) SRGCE Lao Cai, Vietnam Physical Fitness Training & Vietnamese Language Examination

Paid for this, gotta swallow this. No turning back now. Trouble is that the Vietnamese Exam is next week, and let's be honest - I haven't been touching those revision notes at all, not since the Promotional Exams preparation started. Time to hit the books again... or maybe I should start eating those words back again when I start peering down the list.

4) Biology Olympiad(10th November 2009)

Crazy mugging(studying), no different from studying for Promotional Exams, except that the difficulty has stepped up 10 times higher, and the odds are pretty much stacking up higher and higher against me...

5) Chemistry Olympiad

See what I mean? The ODDS are stacking up against me! And for this one, I didn't ask for it - I couldn't finish H2 Chemistry Paper II on the day of the Promo paper itself, and on the exact same day, right after dismissal I was called back with Bani for this Chem Olympiad thingie. Again, intensive mugging again.

6) Nike+ Human Race(24th October!)

"This is the age where your body can take the most abuse and recover quickly," I've heard a certain PE teacher say. Crazy madness - add in the training with only 12 days to prepare for this race. Indeed, a big challenge. willRun isn't gonna help anyway - how long has it been since August the 1st? How long have we been actually training?

7) Guitar Ensemble Christmas Performance 2009(25th December)

Add in irregular hours, I think it's time for 3 hours of sleep time everyday just for such work. Disgusting. Not that I don't want any part of this anyway, but just that if there is a time when I want to put in all my best for this, it's definitely not now. Expect lots of goof-ups during these periods of guitar practice. That being said though, I'll minimise cock-ups.

8) Church Christmas Variety Show Performance(19th December)

As always, why does this have to be the last thing on the list? It's an high-priority item! It's coming from within - I want to serve God. I've done it before, and now I wanna do it again. The only thing that's holding me back from doing all these is ~300 hours of hard work without rest, and another 20 hours of practice for the performance item.

9) SRGCE Lao Cai, Vietnam - Trip to Ban Ho Village and Mount Fan Xi Phan(9 days, 8 nights)

This is what I've signed up for, and it takes up majority of my December time. This year is heavy! There's a lot to prepare, and it seems more and more impossible to get my own private time. One where I can just retreat to the beach, breathing in that cool salty air, with a fishing rod and equipment waiting for a catch. Fat hope, looking at the tough list of hard and fast facts resting on my shoulders.

With all these stuff lying around still waiting to be accomplished, I have only my 4 limbs and a battered body lacking lots of sleep since secondary school. I don't want to end up dying, nor do I want to end up coming back from Vietnam in a box. That's the last thing on my mind. God be willing, I am depending on His strength for all these - there's no way any human can do this without God!

Back on my two feet

Ah, finally the Promotional Exams is over...

To hell with whether I score or underperform, as long as I stay above that 35 points mark to promote to JC2. It seems like forever down before the examination hall, and when you get there there's no longer that sense of urgency. No sense of importance of examinations anymore... Why is that happening?

Probably I'm getting tired from exam stress. I mean, who wouldn't, after 10 whole years of study and examinations non-stop, year after year? Anyways, I try not to think about Promos as much as possible. After all, worry doesn't make anything better or worse - it just scares you out more than what is needed to motivate you to study hard for something anyway. Fear paralyses, and I ain't gonna get my ass trapped in that self-perpetuating fear, then.

Amidst all that mess

Studying like nobody's business isn't healthy.

For one, I have a sore back to complain about, but maybe not. And when you have too much caffeine coursing through your body, you go a bit odd. You can't sleep. And with the Promotional Exams starting next week, all the more you cannot sleep. And it's wearing me out. It's real tough.

What to do? At least you get to relax a little, which is probably little. Yes, little. At least it's better than nothing. We were told, just getting 2 As for the Promotional Exams would guarantee a promotion into JC2, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. It's risky. And for GP, marks do fluctuate - and I'm pretty sure it will, this time round. It takes a miracle to score for Promotional Exams, given the fact that there are quite a number of SP students (Year 1 retainees). Hopefully I get through this one.

And oh, if I'm scoring less than a D for Economics for overall results I think it's time for me to drop it. Wouldn't want to take anymore risks at that. I mean, 4 H2s is good, but all the A levels count is 3 H2 subjects and one H1 subject, plus GP, Chinese and PW (compulsory subjects). I need time.

2 more weeks to the Promotional Examinations

Time is running out. And I'm still blogging. There's good reason for this though - it's called maintenance and keeping your sanity amidst lots of books that drive you nuts in such a hostile environment that puts terrorism to utter shame.

The September holidays were supposed to be a period of rest-and-recover. Whatever happened to all that rest period? All the stuff had to be crammed into the holidays, within view of the critical period where it's a sink-or-swim event that changes lives. Looking forward to the day where I'd no longer require caffeine to keep my engines running in the morning.

Towers of papers. That's what I'd see after 2 years of college. But even then, the towering piles of JC Year 1 notes is bad enough already - now's drill-and-practice. Nevertheless,

Win and live. Lose and die. Rule of life. No change rule.

- Ayla, Chrono Trigger

Maybe applicable to study, but nowhere as morbid as this, I guess.

Back on my feet, revitalised, ready to take on the rest

I didn't realise how much of a emotional boost returning to my secondary school can get, until I actually did return, hang around with my old chums, and come back, sitting on the bed blogging at this very moment. Sometimes, one has to still return to his roots, familiar people and emotional support from the very people you call family and friends.

There was celebration in college. Hell, there's celebration in every school, so that wasn't very interesting anyway. Except that in that day, you show appreciation for your teachers who build ignorant fools into wise, useful and productive members of society. Hard to come by, those days where you truly sit down and think about the significance of all these days of rememberance for people who contribute to the way you behave and think, and sometimes, that kind of impact that sticks with you for life.

In Chinese, this is how they put it:

一日为师，终生为父。

which simply means "A teacher for a day, a father for life." Amazing and neat.

Neat day for going back to Anglican High as well, to find a certain teacher that sparked off my interest in biology. One whom I saw the qualities of Christ in. However, she wasn't there - though she might still be there next year when I go back there again in the Chinese New Year period, I guess. Met old classmates, brought out some nolstagia here and there (silent nolstagia, of course. They might think I'd be still stuck in the past when I start blabbering all the flurry of old events in front of them...)

And, you settle for the entire day and end it with a meal. How fitting a place to do so too - at Popeye's at Terminal 3. After a good meal, laughs and sharing of different experiences at the same education system, we went back home, some realising their fortune and where they stand.

Possibly it's because of this that I'm now possibly re-motivated to do my best for the Promotional Examinations. I must do well. I was part of those who went to those top JCs at a time - doesn't mean that I can't do as well as them now, even though I'm in one of lower standards than theirs. Disadvantaged, but I'll press on.

And oh, after that bout of disease, I'm back on my feet thanks to God's grace allowing the medicine to course through my body effectively alleviating me of the symptoms. Praise be to God - I don't have to take medicine anymore! Whoohoo!

It sucks being on MC

And no, it isn't about Economics, in case you're wondering.

It just sucks being under medication and not being able to move around. It's been lingering around for more than a week already, with a runny nose and cough. If I didn't get this treated before next week I wouldn't be able to enjoy Teacher's Day anyway, so here goes nothing.

Maybe I should call it M-inefficiency, following some funny Schumpeter quote. Or maybe stuff a Greenwash Ball into the laundry - that'd do some help watching the stupid ball tumble around for some comic relief. Or maybe just roar and go around cursing and swearing at random people for no rhyme or reason. At least it beats being sick and not being able to do anything when you want to - the cursed medicine knocks you out completely, and doesn't care who it's dealing with, be it government officials, common people or animals.

But at least at home, you don't get someone scolding "Fuck you!" in your face without knowing why the hell he or she did that, and in the process spoiling the rest of the day. Or gloomy faces spelling enmity, and the like.

Bukit Timah Hill trek

Definitely not my cup of tea, but it'll do. At least it's an escape from urban stress, the way I see it.

The night before, everyone was making noise over why I wasn't sleeping by 12am. Hell, you've got a backload of homework, you wanna tackle them all? I want my sleep, I want my rest, I want SILENCE. Can't even go about my own business without getting disturbed, even for a minute. Project work woes - the references page were terribly done - I had to mark out dead links and do all the grunt work for them. Blame it on speed over accuracy - more haste less speed.

Now after all of this is solved, what now?

The trek-day has come. Usual stuff happens, sending morning greetings to a certain someone, rushing for school in time to catch the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve coach ferrying 30+ greenhorns there, including myself. Ah, finally a day just for chatting, bonding and doing almost anything apart from schoolwork. Whoohoo - a day of escape from all that sink-or-swim crap.

It was being at one with nature. No more smell of liquid paper - just leaves, fresh dew and bird chirps. And an occasional sight of monkeys...? A welcome sight - except that the law says not to feed these little fellas. Earlier, Jeremy was talking about some monkey-butt asshole running away with his spectacles after a monkey troop assault for peanuts in Malaysia. Cool as nuts - probably that's why they don't feed monkeys in Singapore.

The climb was nice and smooth for the first part, and we got to learn a lot of things on the first trip. For one, you had to bend forward while climbing uphill in steep areas to keep your balance, and that you had to keep your hands free all the time for convenience in grabbing stuff in case you slip and fall. Rocks are dangerous - watch out for those with moss. And oh, when climbing the steps do so sidewards if it is too steep to walk normally.

Sadly halfway during the climb my entire day was spoiled by some random phone call about Mission X-trepreneurs - change of topic. Nothing to do with it itself, but the fact that the call was made while going downhill. Did cause some distress halfway down, because it got harder to catch up while talking and holding onto the phone at the same time in a slopy area full of rocks. Got an extra hand? Not me. Lesson learnt - always inform people beforehand whenever you are doing any activity that may turn dangerous in an instant.

Ate lunch, and got lost. How to go back? I had to hunt the bus stop that could bring me back to Tampines. Cool thing I found a direct bus 67 back home, but the drawback was that it took me one and a half hour to reach home. Better that than not reaching home at all, but it screwed up my entire timetable. And there's still tests and the Promotional Exams to catch up before all hell breaks loose on 28th September...

Looks like I'll never get my peace and quiet until the Promos are over... For the first time in my entire life I'm appreciating the times where I don't get put down by others for no rhyme or reason...

Maybe it's time to take my mind off studies for a while.

Maybe I shouldn't put too much of my attention towards my studies after all.

I mean, yes, I've heard of successful people being hardworking and stuff, but I find that focusing all my energy on it is far too strenuous than what I'm able to take. Let's be honest - how long would you be able to spend sit down there and finish your revision without getting out of the seat? My highest record is only 1 or 2 hours. No more than that.

Also, I thank God for this testimony that I've heard off one of the church sisters whose sister went to take 120 sleeping pills just because she failed one subject. Now THAT's taking studies a little bit too far, but she's still fine, alive and kicking, though I bet she spent a bomb on hospital fees which she could've saved in the first place.

Ah, maybe He's telling me from this incident not to take my studies too far. Balance IS important.

National Day - much awaited holiday amidst desperation

Finally, it's National Day - which means a long weekend, to rest and recover from all the all-work-and-no-play curriculum time. It's affecting my mood and temper a lot - never before have I used so much vulgar language and aggressive words within such a short period of time.

Maybe I should attend some stress management courses or something to get my mind off all this stuff.

Anyways, that aside, I've got back my new laptop, which means that I'm now more active in project work matters now - and it allows for more mobility at school. Again, I now can enjoy "economies of time management" as and when I like! At this rate, more stuff can be finished within a short period of time, then I'd start having time freed for studying for the Promotional Exams. Of course, that's provided that the Exco responsibilities don't prove too hard to handle along with schoolwork...

Still, where things have to be done, it shall be done. This is Aaron here, signing off.

willRun trial run - first time running 10km in one single event

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.

-John 15:13

How very true. It's really a learnable experience, now that I think of it. Even though this isn't the real willRun event - the actual day is 1st August - at least I put myself into the field and tested the waters. It is tough, I'll admit. It is tough, even with regular training.

Wan Teng and Tricia couldn't run, so we had an extra 20km to make up for - and today was the only day available before the actual run to do so. Also, a couple few of us went ahead to challenge themselves - as much as I did. The results were amazing - Dominic ran 17km, Linus ran 19km, Julia ran 15km, and many others ran beyond the 10km milestone! As for me, heheh... Nothing to boast about - I only just managed to touch the 10km milestone before reporting the distance ran to contribute to the additional 20km that our class had to run.

Before the run, I was actually reluctant to run - why make yourself suffer so much, and having the fruits of your run distance go to someone else who cannot? I told myself - is such altruism going to be appreciated anyway? People run and people cheer - when the results are gotten everyone forgets all that trouble taken to run for someone - and you waste your own time for the benefit of someone else.

But then again, if everyone did that - why, there'd be no more real heroes' stories in the papers anymore, such altruists would completely disappear from the face of the earth! "Aiyah heck lah, might as well just go for it..." And there I was, down there in that red track, amongst confusion, feeling contradictory from within, and I was thinking, why on earth did I agree to running 6km? Time didn't side with me - I didn't have enough time to reflect on it before the run began and everyone went berserk running circles around the school.

As I was running, certain thoughts came to mind. As expected, the "Are you crazy?" that came got ignored - I kept running. After a little while - "Why are you doing this?" A personal challenge was what I was preparing myself for. Being able to take on such an arduous task and still manage homework well requires great finesse and skill with time management. Also, it made me think of why others could run so much without stopping beyond 10km.

Past the 6km that I promised to run, I was starting to go out of breath, and dropped 2 rubber bands which I later had to run back to pick them up. It was intense - really. It's really a personal battle down there - either get your own ego defeated by your own slack mentality, or surpass it and run all the way. Come to think of it, so many low income families struggle with their expenses trying to make ends meet, their daily financial burden becomes something close to what we're running today. Now, if they could overcome that and still manage to survive and thrive day by day with a job, why not make their lives easier a bit by running for them? After all, willRun IS for fundraising for charity anyway.

The secret to running this far, I found, is the thought that you're still fresh and ready to run. This, being kept in your head and continually provoking yourself from within, "Is that all that is to your own lousy flesh and meat? Is that all your body is able to take?" Couple that with all the competition along the way - people being overtaken and overtaking each other, and you get a winning formula that makes you run.

On the actual run, I'm going to push myself to run better. I won't have 10km - it's fast becoming child's play when you think of running further than that. Dream big.

I miss my Lord

The devil must be gloating - the circumstances are all going haywire. Project work takes up so much time, the constant pressure for better grades, even church commitments. And now CCA responsibilities. And another diarrhoea bout, obviously uncalled for, ruined this week's trip to church.

When will all this bullshit end? Homework takes up so much of my time that I hardly get time to go back to the basics of what I'm learning. And school propaganda works like some mental poison - instead of putting the Lord first in my life, homework has become more attention-grabbing than ever. The deadlines are so tight, I hardly have sleep. Lord, have mercy on me!

Signs of academic paranoia

Wow. talk about sleep. I don't even get more than 4 hours of sleep a day. And I slog with the rest of them folks out there. School curriculum sucks the most down here. There isn't enough time for concentrated study - I never perform with consistent study!

Forget about consistent study - let's talk about something else. I find myself to be MORE IMPULSIVE when the school teaches us to HANDLE IMPULSIVITY. I don't know why I'm doing what I'm doing now, other than just to get to university and getting a degree and then a doctorate. I mean, so what if I become a certified doctor? Would that make me any happier than what I am now? Probably yes, but that's not the point.

It's sickening, this entire term. For once in my entire life, I find myself being forced by the school to bite off more homework than I could chew. Force-fed homework, rather. Physical training followed by willRun. Run 5km per session, 1 session on Wednesday, 2 sessions on Friday(total of 15km), and add on to the work schedule. There's more stuff to complain about, but my body isn't obeying my mind - it's feeling sleepy and lethargic...

Back to studying like a psychopath - may be out of action for the rest of the school year

Finally, after so many things, I'm finally doing what I usually do the most - blogging. This blog seriously needs time to maintain, and with time being eaten up by almost everything school-related, it's hard to maintain. Seriously.

I mean, try squeezing time within 10 weeks with extreme amounts of homework to tackle, content-heavy subjects to study for, the Promotional Exams being 60% of the score of the entire year, a Written Report to be completed by this August, willRun on 1st August, coming back to school on Saturdays, and the constant pressure you get from your own family members. It's totally stifling - how can anyone hope to study well with that kind of stress that is uncalled for - especially when they offer no practical help at all other than nag, nag and nag.

Wh00h00~ Let's see here... "You've been spending the whole day playing computer games."

Oh yeah? Just because I don't open the door doesn't mean I'm not doing my schoolwork inside. Want to lend a hand at my work? If not, SHUT UP and let me do my stuff in peace.

"You've been sleeping too late everyday - how can anyone have enough sleep like that?"

Try helping me finish my work. If not, shut up.

"The results are appalling. Buck up, for Christ's sake!"

Try studying for the paper, and doing the actual paper yourself. Or just shut up for once and let me do my stuff in peace... I'm not asking for anything much - just practical support rather than moral. As if I didn't know my schedule's so friggin' tight... Here I am, trying to buy time to study at home, and people down here have to eat into my midnight hours of study, breaking my chain of thought and nagging nonstop.

I can't breathe normally, just thinking about these stuff. I need a break.

How do I get around? Public transport, by default!

Assuming that from Point A to Point B lies a distance where walking is way too exhausting, of course I'd take public transport. What the heck, how else do I get around, like, from home to school or to Parkway Parade, Plaza Singapura or to Bedok Jetty?



I am not rich, I don't own a car, neither do I own a motorcycle(though I'm dying for one) nor a bicycle. Blame it on the government down here for raising the age limit for acquiring a driver's licence.



But then again, we should actually blame the reckless young drivers for drink-driving and speed monkeys - they're quite the reason why this is happening around here. Perhaps practice on a little more social responsibility could solve the problem, and perhaps the Land Transport Authority(LTA) would reconsider this ruling.

Basketball Bash

W00t. It was nice knowing people like Kenny, Yong Cheng and Dominic, especially if you've seen, you've heard, and experienced the intense action at Potong Pasir Community Club.

It was yet another day to worry about homework and not do anything about it due to lack of time of the day, and Yong Cheng, Dominic and I met up with Bani to finish up what was required of our parts of the PW. Earlier, Kenny asked me out for a jog in the evening, but it seemed that basketball seemed more enjoyable and less exhausting than if we took a jog and did so. What the heck, we hung around in school doing Maths for a while before setting off.

When we reached there we didn't have any basketball, so we went to borrow one off some guy who was fiddling around throwing some shots. Boy, that guy's skilled - but tends to goof off a lot. Still, he's good at it and I had trouble dealing with him in the basketball court, trying to block off some of his shots. This one's not so bad - worse was to come.

After Kenny came other players came too. One was in black - an obvious gangster - and one of small size, but pretty quick, and another in red's quite silent but persistent. Oh boy, the small one was really fast - not something one can pull off without regular training. Simply put, it was hard, and I mean HARD, to hinder his shots. Okay, time to get serious - I wasn't sure what was what initially, and it usually takes quite some time to get used to the court, hoop and ball(they changed it later on when the boy left and another came to take his place, and I scored 2 shots).

Pepperoni pizzas and lightning-fast action was a bit unsettling - even more so to someone who skipped lunch today. Psychological warfare, if you could call it one. I'm not about to leave the court having people look upon me as a softie, so the marking was aggressive, I'll admit. We played on, and though we lost, it was a good comeback while the red guy was marking me heavily, because I could easily use that to "disable" him from the court, letting Yong Cheng finish the shot along with Kenny and Dominic.

Nice game. Wished I could carry on, but the distance between Tampines and Potong Pasir didn't seem to agree with the time on the watch, so we went home. Of course, I'm more than willing for another game.

Changing of layout

Just found the old blog template system too irritating and hard to maintain all the time, so I've decided to stick to the default ones that look way much better in terms of functionality and crap. So, no more fancy stuff on my blog, gah! Still, in return I get a cleaner blog for better maintenance, so I guess it's a good trade-off anyway.

So, as usual, piles of homework are waiting for me to do during the holidays, and with CCA kicking in, my life is no longer mine, in a sense that all available time is gonna be used for studying to make up for the goof-ups(and possibly more) made during the Mid-Year Exams. Just thought I'd post, so that this blog doesn't look so dead.

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...