Sunday, November 25, 2007

Long Day

A couple more hours and those performing arts members going for the Shanghai trip would be leaving their homes.Anyway,wish them all the best and hope they enjoy their trip,and back to the main topic...



Yesterday,there were mainly FOUR main events that took place. First one? It's the YCSS open house, which is finally opened to the public for the first time. Although the turn out was not that good, the graduates from the previous years, along with some of the secondary 4s, visited the school once again. Well, we sort of formed the bulk of the visitors who came.Once again, I never failed to head over to my two CCAs that helped me clinch an A2 for my CCA record upon arrival and before leaving the school again.



Next, went home with Randall before heading off with him for a movie and some other contacts at Vivo City.The movie was Hero,it's a nice movie, and I think it's a sequel to a previous movie shown on television. Surprisingly, Randall was very slow in understanding the whole story.Strangely enough,even after it had ended, he still did not know roughly what was going on.At around 5.37pm, both of us made a dash for the MRT station.Along the way, we were stopped to do donate some money.We did something nice. The moment we refused him(it was a him by the way),we sprinted for the sation.We told him we were in a rush(really),so, we were really in a hurry,thus,we sprint.



So,we were obviously late for the third major event yesterday.

That was 4E1's barbeque session.Both of us arrived at around 6.10pm.and got down to work almost immediately. For me, I felt a little tired, and decided to take a short walk around the condominium. It looks big, but the places were really easy to find(That's Andy's answer to how I could buy the pack of fire starters so quickly).Played with Randall on the swings when we felt real bored.Mr Liew had only arrived then.Randall still held the upperhand, being the one to reach higher faster.I'm the type who prefers to climb slowly,then descend slowly.Then again,at 9.06pm, I had to make another dash for the MRT station.This was going to be the fourth great event that took place yesterday.I would like to apologise for not being able to stay longer,with the band members I met at the gate before running to the MRT station and the others who came later that night,for not being able to stay for the photograph taking session and for not being able to witness the handling of momentos to Ms Lim.Ran along the canal in the opposite direction toward the MRT stationfor the first time in 4 years(tonight was also my fastest lap timing ;P ).



Another 40 minute journey by train to Paya Labar MRT station before I was picked up by my uncle and my mum tomy cousin's place at Katong. There was another barbeque over there,which started at about the same time as the one for 4E1.So, this one was more lively, with a live telecast of a socccer match of Liverpool against another team.I din't watch for too long, though at that time, Liverpool was leading by a 3-0 win over the other team at that time.We chatted alot, and thanks Clara for finally reuniting me with my ELDDS CCA photograph after my countless forgetfulness made me leave it in the hands of the teacher in-charge for close to 3 months.at around 11.30pm,we had toleave, since Clara would be going on the Shanghai trip as well and had to get some rest before the flight.She'll do just fine over there with the rest of the group, so let's not worry too much about that for now, and,please don't say that I'm thinking of someone else now ok?(that spot is empty again...making me feel light).



Anyway, I really wanted to stay put at the class gathering, for we would meet less freqently nowadays, and would hardly meet as a full class,and for now,time to get back to more training at MapleSEA.Dammit...If only I had time to buy Flight Simulator yesterday, I would be playing that instead right now...





Those memories were really sweet ones, and still, I don't know if I should be happy or sad, or even both,since I'm going to miss the people I had aquinted with for the best 4 years of my life in the 10 years education.Nevermind about the other 6 long years,I still hate those days to the CORE.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Mass blog overhaul-Phase 1

Here's the list of updates:

1. 5 new links, they're quite obvious actually
2. Added a new link segment, MapleSEA Peeps
3.New Blogskin
4.More coming up in the weeks to come, but let's leave itlike this for now...

Another final Farewell

Oh well... secondary four is one of the most emotional times i had gone through. Everyone can be seen to have very strong bonds with one another, yet, we end up leaving one another at the very end.Will be talking more about that next week, shortly after the actual blog overhaul.

Anyway, here's another sad, yet memorable outing by a quarter of the class today.Before that, let's start off at midnight today. Was playing MapleSEA again,but theres a little difference to this one. We're sort of imitating the DJs at 987 till 2am. After that, since there was nothing to do, we decided to train a little till 4am when the patch starts.Was falling asleep till we were finally logged out at 4.05 this morning.

Slept for 4 hours till 9am this morning,before preparing for Vignesh's farewell gathering at 11.30am. Andy,Gabriel and Zhong Rong at Zhong Rong's place... its for another gathering,known as "4E1 1st anniversary 2007" at his condo's barbeque pit 1 on Sadurday,241107,6pm. Those from 4e1 who are going can just sms Andy or Zhong Rong... Snyway,back to story. Damien(meeting someone) was at the MRT station as well, and so was Yong An(going for his job),followed by Vignesh~,Wei Xiang and I.... Soon,the train arrived and off we went,first to Viviocity for lunch and to stock up for the gathering later on.

WE were separated by heavy rain shortly after arriving at Palawan Beach, the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. Liked the suspension bridge,was enjoying the violent swaying of the bridge,caused by the strong winds,though it did freak some friends out.I was second last to be thrown into the water,and it seemed like my sprinting and ability to turn at high speed was not so rusty afterall.Gave in after I got bitten by a red bug and endured a short moment of intense pain,got pulled in by Vignesh and Gabriel,but before I fell intot he water,I pushed them in first(XD).By the way, we found this large,brown possibly dead jellyfish stranded on the shore,discovered by Jun Jie(not the singer though).

We played games like murderer and volleyball before going on to water bombs while the girls were changing. When we finally did, we thought that we were being given a warning by the beach patrol for littering,but it turns out that he was given others a stern warning instead for something more serious, and also to warn people near the shore not to venture to far out due to the increasingly strong currents and high tides...

We packed up, and we were off to Juring Point with Steven,Gabriel,Fong Yong and Jun Jie for dinner(finally a decent meal). Played Truth or Dare and found out how to sort of attract people of the opposite gender, and we all gained new insights from Steven again(Thanks for all that). Now,here I am, typing this, before going on for another MapleSEA marathon till around 2 or 3... till then,see you soon,and Vignesh,we will miss you for 2 years straight...

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Photographs and videos from Graduation Nite

Before the actual day:

The rehearsal venue, Taman Jurong Community Club...
















The actual day at the Crystal Ballroom,Club CSC @Bukit Batok :


>>>Entrance and interior





<< ( for the next day)













The foods(looks nice, but somehow I did not have the appetite to eat so much):

<<

















<<<(left and bottom)Like chicken, but still prefer the skin...
















<< Prawns,the only dish left intact by table 10,solely for Darren to finish













The MCs,Table Games,Performances,Videos and Group Photographs(the main attraction):

<< MCs Yew Chong and Darren with Mr Chia and his super short speech...
















Table Games(Damien doing the drawings for the first game)





















Performances:



<<<4e2




<<<4e3 and their sing-along session











<<
(I think)







Group photographs:



<<<(left and bottom)Guys of 4E1 with Mr Liew










<<









4E1 as ONE












1E1(04) and 2E1(05):











Well, others will be posted later... have yet to receive some of them...
Anyway, Videos:



Class performance by 4E1,choreographed by XIang Lin and Xue Li:



Class Video, done by our very own Damien:





These photos and videos were provided by Andy,Damien,Steven and Pei Xuan.... thanks...

Friday, November 16, 2007

Graduation Nite 2007

Yesterday was the Graduation Nite for the secondary 4Es and 5Ns.At around 4.20pm, met up with Pang Yong,Attiqah,Yew Chong and Andy(they sure looked smart in their clothes) at the Bukit Batok MRT station,before taking them to the Civil Service Club where the event was to be held later that night. At the entrance,we waited for a short moment before a redcar arrived.Fong Yong and Siang Lin stepped out from the car.Wow, she sure looked pretty. Fong Yong had not changed into his attire yet(me too).

Shortly after, more girls arrived, and they sure looked more pretty than they were back in school! Then soon came the 4E2 people. The guys looked cool in their sunglasses and their outfits, and the girls like Xiu Wei were almost not recognisible!Anyway, at the Crystal Ballroom, we were taken in awe by the size of the ballroom, which was the largest in the club. Liked the stage lights the most. Everyone was busy taking photographs,4E1 included, and the rehearsals for our class performance had to be postponed till around 5.30pm. We took our attendence,lucky draw numbers and were told our tables. Andy,Darren,Damien,Edward,Zhong Rong,Lilin,Fong Yong,Dominic,Randall and I were seated at Table 10. At around 7.30pm, two hours later, did the MCs,Darren,Yew Chong(Jack Sparrow),Mdm Azlinah and Mr Fadzel take centre stage. They sure added lots of colour to the atmosphere that night! They started the night with a short speech by Mr Chia,followed by the first table game, whereby half of the people in the ballroom had to read a short sentence and draw a short comic strip about the sentence, with the second half of the people in the ballroom using the drawn pictures to write out their definition of the comic strip.

Next was the first performance by 4E2.Really liked it. After that, there was the Lucky Draw, before the next class,4E3,performed for everyone. Enjoyed the two songs they sang, and then it was on to the next table game,which was something like a treasure hunt.

Following was the next lucky draw and another table game. This one would be very well known by some of our friends. We had to guess which childhod photograph belonged to which teacher, and some of the answers were very funny too! Next up was a performance by Damien and Sean with their Duet song.Andy gave his last farewell speech for the school, which I think was the shortest speech he had ever gave to the school. 5N2 also had a sing along session, and after that it was none other than our very own class,4E1!I will never forget the performance given by our class.I really enjoyed this segment the most! 4E1! You guys are the best people I had been with over the last 4 YEARS of secondary school life!After that was a touching video by Damien(will upload it tomorrow),and I really liked it!It was definitely better than the one showed on Teachers' Day.Seems like our class had many mini self-organised events during our time-slot for the peformance yar. Sadly,although Miss Lim was not there to watch our performance, she would be watching it on video next Saturday during the class gathering at Zhong Rong's place. Hoped Mr Liew enjoyed it too, for we love Mr Liew too!

There was another video, this time by the teachers to the students, followed by one from the students to the teachers. Really touched by some of the comments by the teachers and the students.The best dressed awards came up next, before the whole Graduation Nite was rounded up by class photograph taking sessions and many other small-scale photograph taking sessions at about 10.30pm.

After that, many might not know of it, but an hour later, when most of the teachers and students had gone home, I made a confesson to her(should I say her name?), ya. Appreciated the help some friends gave me during the short moment.Anyway, here's a short statement I said,"You know, I had really liked you for 3 years." Her reply? Well, it's a long story, with the result being a rejection. Well, come to think of it, I think that the act was worth it, for it should me that my confidence had really grown many times greater than it was 4 ears ago, when I did not even dare to talk to anyone,not even to a close friend. Though the result was painful, I guess, some things have to be learnt and realised the hard way, yar,for that has always been my way of learning things.Well, it was 10 minutes to midnight when everyone vacated the ballroom.Everyone took taxis home, but for me,being one who prefers walking alone,yea, you guessed it, I walked home, arriving at my doorstep at 12.08am this morning. Right now, I feel sort of empty, since last night would be the very last time we were united together for a performance.I will miss those days, but I will not forget those memories we all shared together.
By the way,photographs will be uploaded tomorrow...



The time has come, we all enjoyed ourselves, and that was all that mattered. Although that might be the last time we saw each other, I know that there would be times where we all could bt reunited again, as a class.As I feel the pieces of 4E1 drifting apart, I know that we will see each other again someday in the future...

4E1, may our precious memories always stay in our hearts!All the best to everyone in whichever route you might take in your life stories!!!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

First,second and third rehearsals for the BIG day

After the Teachers' Day Celebrations,I had the thought that everything that brought the bonds between classmates would end right there.I was wrong. In fact,the bonds were going to be reinforced.



On the last three days, last Friday,yesterday and today,half of us came together once again, for the last big event which would take place tomorrow at the Civil Service Club at Bukit Batok. It started froma small,simple gathering on Friday to a large-scale full rehearsal today. Won't be saying so much(it's supposed to be something like a surprise till then I guess).



At around 1.30pm, we went our own ways again, for lunch with gabriel,Fong Yong,Steven and Jun Jie at the hawker centre next to the community centre.After that went on to Lakeside and met Mr Liew for some advice on where to get clothes for Jun Jie for a moment before we went on to Queensway Shopping Centre at 2.30pm to buy some clothes for tomorrow.In just one and a half hours,four of us,Steven,Jun Jie, Gabriel and I, completed our shopping at 5 and we were headed for home.

Now, I doing nothing,except for some rehearsing for tomorrow.Just hoping that everyone will enjoy themselves tomorrow.

So this is where the story ends. Memories, both great and sad,friends and teachers will be missed, new ones will come later,but till then, these memories are things I will never forget...

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

It's OVER

Finally! The "O" Levels are OVER!4 YEARS of HARD WORK have paid off...

Brief overview of the Month of Examinations,in the order of which subject finished first:

Additional Mathematics:
I never expected it to be of the same difficulty as the prelims(especially paper 1). Just hoping for 3 points for this one.


English:
Come on, you got to bekidding me with such interesting passages(previous passages seemed like a lullaby to me). Essay was no doubt a breeze.

Mathematics:
Comparable with the prelims.

Science(Chemistry/Biology):
Chemistry was tough right from the start, while Biology was the exact opposite. Chemistry was tough for ALL three papers, then Biology was way easy(we were only tested on our foundation knowledge).

Comined Humanities(Social Studies/Geography Elective):
Easier than prelims,but still, I'll keep my fingers crossed for this one.

Physics:
Easy for the paper 2, slightly easier than prelims for paper 1.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, the day I had been waiting for had come, so what's next? The graduation Nite, of course!Let's leave that for Thursday shall we?

Looking back at those 4 years, many things have definitely changed. I can't really think of much to say right now,so would most likely post all of it in the next post.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

So I Guess This Is Good Bye

I had planned to return to blogging in about a weeks' time, but, I guess this has to come now, or I would lose the feelings to "pen" this down.



Tuesday,6 November 2007



Immediately after our second last paper of the O levels, we headed straight for a classroom on the first floor of the admin block. Mr Liew siad that earlier this morning, he had something to tell the class. Those at the study corner had the thought that he was going to give us some insight on the JC and Polytechnic syllabus or something similar, on Mathematics. But we were wrong. We were about to be given the worst news in our 4 years of secondary school life in Yuan Ching.



At first, he went about his normal lines, encouraging us to look ahead and go in the direction that appealed to us most.Anyway, to make a long story short, our(my would seem a little selfish in my perspective) form teacher of two years,but for most of us, have had her as a form teacher for three years, has left the school two weeks ago. As she did not want to cause us much alarm, she only told us about it today. That's her love for us, her dear 4E1(2007) students.



It sure did brought much shock and speculation to the class. I even had the thought that Lian Yun was joking when he said that Ms Lim had left the school. Imagine that, FOUR YEARS. All those sweet and bitter memories that we shared as a class, secondary 1E1, 3E1and 4E1. Imagine, all these years,we grew,suffered,laughed, learnt and cried together. No where else can we ever go through all those great times together once again. I admired her strength to be able to go all out with us, to shower the 44 of us with love,care and concern. Even till now, I still can't find the right words to express all the things she did for us...



Anyway, dear 4E1, indeed, like what Mr Liew said, we should be happy for her, since she has moved on, to write a new chapter in her life story.Well, I would like to say this. Ms Lim, I would support you all the way,though you never told us your reason for leaving, I hope that you would enjoy your time at your new workplace.

By the way, this is a quote from Andy's blog:

"But nevertheless, Miss Lim is now teaching in an International School and really hope to see her again in our Graduation Nite.... I really miss Miss Lim... Miss Lim, Thanks for everything you have done for 4E1 in the past 2 years. We(4E1) enjoyed our memorable journey together with you and hope u too have enjoyed the journey with us. Really wanna thank you very very much. Will always remember you... *SOB*"

I wuite like the way this is said, since that is the way most of us feel right now.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the middle of a dark and cold room,
there was a candle.
It gave its surroundings a guiding light,
It gave its surrounds reassuring warmth,
It showed its surroundings its power to burn.



In the shadows,
there was the flame's light.
It gave its users strength,
It gave them the courage,
It showed them their respective paths in life.


In the freezing darkness,
there was the flame's warmth.
It gave its users hope,
It gave them the love and care they needed,
It showed them what other better opportunities fate had in line for them.

This is a poem specially penned out for Ms Lim, guess you would know what the flame and the users represent.It's quite obvious, really.