Time Waits for no One

Today's post is going to be a short one.

Firstly, let's go back to yesterday. I managed to wake at 9am yesterday morning, 30 minutes ahead of my scheduled time for waking. I left for Jurong Point at 10.25am, arriving at 10.45am(I maintained my current record of 20 minutes!). Had nothing to do, so just did some walking around as I heard that the complex has gotten bigger. Indeed, the extension that was once under construction is nearly 100% complete, and there are more and newer shops. However, it was a little disappointing as I completed walking around the whole place in under 10 minutes. Other than that, I got lost at first as I did not know that I was already in Jurong Point, the moment I entered one of the side entrances, until I entered the older part of the building and recognised the design of the floor tiles. I bought an organiser at a bookstore at the basement, before going back to Pizza Hut to meet the rest. Did not take a picture as I thought that I was late when Pei Xuan gave me a call almost immediately after I made the purchase at 11am.

When I reached, almost everyone was there already. There were about 10 of us in all; Andy, Ko Hein, Gabriel, Yong An, Wei Xiang, Kamal, Chie Heng, Pei Xuan, Carina and me. The purpose of the lunch was to celebrate Ko Hein's final 3 months in Singapore before he sets off on his 12 month voyage around the world(I'm so envious. I had always wanted to travel around the world to see the sights), which would be split into two phases of 6 months each. Guessed our bonds were still there although we had not seen each other nor sat together for lunch for almost a year. Although it was only a quarter of the class, the mood during that one and a half hour was the same as always, I really missed those days in the classroom. Anyways, at 12.30pm, Andy left for home as he had training later on, Carina left for school, Pei Xuan left, Kamal and Ko Hein left to do some shopping, leaving Gabriel, Wei Xiang, Chie Heng, Yong An and I to walk around. We met Augustine later on, who happened to be in Jurong Point at the moment to collect his spectacles. At 2pm, we finally left for we were all bored with nothing left to do. I took the bus with Wei Xiang and Gabriel, while Yong An and Chie Heng walked home.

It was a bit of a last minute plan, but I alighted together with Gabriel one stop after Lakeside MRT Station, and went somewhere to slack with friends, till later in the evening before heading home.

Next, on to today! Nothing much happened, except that my cousin came to help troubleshoot the desktop at home, and found out that the power source was damaged and had to be replaced. So in the afternoon, we travelled to Sim Lim square to get a replacement at 50 bucks, the amount that we expected to pay the moment we set off to get the replacement. After that, in the evening, I passed time by playing games on the computer and watched the next installment of Star Wars on TV. So, I guess that's all for tonight?

It's almost coming to the end of the year, and so far, this year has been an exciting one, definitely. many things have happened, good and bad. I've felt that fear many times, great or little, depending on the number it affected in the near future. So, what exactly am I? Nearly always spot-on in detecting such things, is it good or bad? I just don't want to know whats the next one, for I still have no idea the best steps to take.

A Simple Christmas in 2008

Here's the first thing I did on a Christmas morning:

It's been 10 months since I last logged into my account, so today I finally reinstalled the game and played it, going all the way to kill some time before sleeping and waking at 10am in the morning.

Had lunch at 12.45pm, before continuing with training, but I soon gave up when I lost 10% in an hour. So, at 2.30pm, went to collect my new glasses and went on to Ikea with parents to get new stools for our dining table(our dining area is very unique). So reached home at 4pm, and we had guests coming down soon after. Heard and learnt a lot of things during the conversation too.

At 6.15pm, we went to Jurong East for dinner, before going home. So, I broke my television record for tonight: watching programmes on free-to-air channels from 7pm to 11.30pm. Guessed I neglected the computer so much that it appeared to my contacts that I was having lunch from 1pm to 11.30pm tonight.

Alright, that's all for today, and I'm glad it did not turn out to be a boring Christmas! Tomorrow, going for lunch at Jurong Point with some classmates from 4E1, looking forward to seeing everyone again after 3 to 4 months!

Merry Christmas!

Hey there again! Din't manage to post anything lately as I missed the posting times three days in a row, so, I guess I'll just give those a miss(not very interesting things to talk about anyway, and they might spoil the mood as well). Anyway, It's 2 minutes to Christmas, so here's wishing everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Today was sort of a exciting, yet boring day. Although there was much to do with all that time we had, we did little, but we had fun at the end of the day, and that was made it all worth it. This afternoon, at 12.30pm, brought my brother along firstly to Kinokuniya Bookstore at Ngee Ann City to try to get the full Twilight hardcover set, but was told the package would be out of stock until the publisher decides to publish it and put it on sale again. So, it was 1.40pm when we left for the cinema to meet up with the rest. We reached at 2.15pm, and the first one we saw was, Jun Jie, all alone waiting for us. The movie, Yes Man, that we had wanted to catch today was sold out, and we had to watch another movie, preferably if it started before 3.30pm so that we could make it to the airport before 5.30pm to meet Jian Hui, who was arriving at the airport from his one week trip to Japan.

So, after much consideration, we went back to Plaza Singapura for Jenere got lost, and An Yan still had not arrived yet, long after Janna and Amanda had reached and we could not decide on a movie to watch. In the end, we cancelled our plans to catch a movie, and I had to send my brother to the train station as a result. Went to the Hong Kong restaurant for lunch after that.

At 3.30pm, we walked around, firstly to Best to take a look at the Ipods and Macs, before going to other stalls(could not remember the order), not forgetting to Sembawang music store so that Janna could get the Twilight soundtrack. I went to the Times Bookstore there as well, and it was much worse compared to Kinokuniya. All their books in the Twilight series was sold out. Wow. At 4.30pm, we took a train from Dhoulby Ghaut to Changi Airport Terminal 3. Jian Hui's plane landed slightly ahead of schedule when he called at 5.25pm.

Once there, we went to Crystal Jade to meet him, before we went to TCC for dinner? Can't really say that it's dinner for me as I did not eat anything there, except for desert. And I forgot that it had whipped cream as well. Damn. So, I guess my choice of food and drinks on the menu is severely limited. Jian Hui joined us at 7.45pm, and at 8.20pm, we left to the area near the check-in counters, before leaving for home at 8.45pm. Janna, Jenere and I shared a taxi to Bukit Timah Plaza before, she took the taxi home, Jenere went to play pool with his friends and I took the bus home. On the way back, somehow I felt intense fear. It's still very strange when I look back at the 20 or so minutes during the journey. about halfway on the way to the first destination, it happened. I'm still not so sure about what happened, although everything that I had yet to complete for the year simply came across my mind, in one single wave.

I had done many things this year, both good and bad, but it's the fact that I have some things yet to be completed before the year ends at midnight next Thursday. Even as I'm typing this, I still feel the exact same thoughts I harbored during the journey home. the two main things are about studies, friends and activities. Just three main parts are causing the intense fear. Well, it's been proven that stress has undoubtedly made people stronger and better, so, I am determined that I will eliminate those feelings through hard work and time. There's less than a week to go, but I'm sure it can be done.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Blog Hoping for bored people

Alright, it's about a day late, but I have finally updated the Links List. Updated 6 links: Chong Siang, Christopher, Dominic, Xiu Wei, Yew Chong and Jeslynn. Added 3 new links as well: 2E1'05 forum, An Yan and Cherry Berry(what's that? well, why don't you find it out yourself and ask me when you think you have got it?). And also, I have added a couple of tags beside some of the links. Won't state them here, for I guess it's pretty much obvious when you see them.

Next, allow me to share with you something damn silly with you. This evening at 7pm, I random-ed a local blog using google search. I ended up at a blog belonging to an MDIS student. next, I blog-hopped to a blog belonging to a student also, this time from FMSS. Finally, after going around in circles a couple of times, I arrived at a blog belonging to a CJC student, followed by ACJC and finally NP. The last blog that I ended up at, of course, was mine. The second last blog that I landed at was Priscilla's blog, and of course, the link before that, was her friend's, and the link before that was her friend's friend, and it goes on, all the way until my starting point. Don't get it? Just ask me when you're free, and I could give the exact history of the 23 blogs(including the starting blog) that I went to before I ended up at my own blog.

Although it took an hour, as I was reading all the December posts of each and every blog(and also looking at the profiles of almost every author before I randomly clicked on a link to get to the next blog), but, come to think of it, it's kind of fun and exciting, to find out how linked you are to the people around you! Oh, and by the way, i came across a very young blog whose author just posted her first post less than 2 weeks ago!

Anyway, want a challenge, try this! Use google blog search, and random a blog belonging to an author who lives on the other side of the world. Following that, try your luck finding your way to your very own blog, using only links found on each blog you arrive at. Trust me, you will be amazed at your history page after you finally arrive at your very own blog!

My Journey so Far

This, is the one big thing I mentioned yesterday. As far as I can remember, today was the 6th time I changed the blog skin. I picked out 15 skins, tried out the templates, codes, presence of titles, font sizes and finally decided on this one. Anyway, this is what I did today: Changed blog skin(like DUH), re-did the format for the links, changed the colour scheme for the tag board to suit the colour scheme of the skin but there is no limit on the number of words so feel free to spam and I also added a new feature to the blog as well. A music playlist. It was sort of like a last minute decision though, but I'll just try it out for the next 6 months until June, changing the songs twice a month. Just to start things off, I used this piece, as I had been coming across it very often time and again.. But do expect to hear songs from the other genres over the months!

So, that's all for the first part of the mass overhaul, and the next part of it would be done later in the morning. The next overhaul's scheduled tentatively for Sunday, June 28th 2009.

Finally, it has also been some time since I did this, but, here we go, especially since I have not replied to tags dating to as far back as 18th November:

Tag Replies:

janna~Apologies for the extremely late reply..Sadly I just found out I might not be getting the phone in the end.. Going to wait till next year so that that I can upgrade y handset instead.

Darren~Hey!! Sorry for the late reply...I find that I require much more time to revise Econs compared to my other core modules. Man, your course sure is tough to scoe in.

jon~Heys.. sorry for the late reply as well.. at least it's over now.. and you gt the extra time over the holidays to make preparations for the final paper in a few month's time.

john~ LOL... Partly due to me being very busy preparing for tests, projects and also, patly because I was searching for a new blogskin.

JUSTVIM~Was there looking around even before you started advertising =.=

After the Hiatus

It's been a month since I last posted something up here ya? Alright, today I'll continue from where I had left off then. Going to be one extremely long post, so take your time to read it though.

Anyways, let's just skip to Saturday, 22nd November when I brougt Sean and wm back to school. Somehow, the three of us managed to ake the same train to Lakeside MRT Station that morning. Met Darren and the others at the MRT station, before I actually met the two of them. So, we walked as usual to school, before taking a tour. Went straight to Qi Long to bring him a message from Andy, before going to take a look at the Drama Club at the auditorium, followed by the St John booth to take a look. Seems like there were quite a number of new members this yar, though I did not enter, for I did not really know the new officers who were appointed to the school this year.

Next, met Meng Yan and another friend before we walked around behind her. Throughout, Sean and wm were intrigued by the new building and were jealous of the facilities(they were from a reputable school you see). The school seems to have grown,with the new canteen, equipment, furniture and hall. One thing that caught my attention was, how did the school suddenly become so wealthy in just 1 year? Maybe, perhaps they were cutting back on funds back in the old building so that they can spend more on the new building. The library now has bean bags and touch screen computers, there is even a Problem Based Learn room equiped with a new projector which uses cutting-edge technology. Met almost all the teachers who taught me over the past 4 years, and I guess some were surprised to see why two strangers were with me as well? Went for lunch at the coffee shop, before we heaed to Funan to get the flight simulator game, before walking a couple of kilometers to Sim Lim to get Sean's joystick. They took the train home after that, while I walked to the esplanade to take the bus home. It's worth the effort, as I have a wider choice of seats and also have more time to sleep on the way home.

And that's all for the month of November. I dont' really have much to comment about that month, for it was very smooth, except that I had problems with Economics and Communication Toolkit. Other than those, everything else was just fine.

Now, let's head on to December. On Tuesday, the 2nd of Dcember, I was almost too afraid to do welding at first. However, after the demonstration, everyting started to become fun and easy. Maybe that's what most might feel on their first attempt. That, sure was a nice start for the last month of the year.

Later that Friday, I did badly for te first Engineering Drawing test. I made a couple of errors on the second question, denying me of a chance to complete the whole paper. I'm expecting a borderline pass for that paper, but I'm just going to let the grades go just this once. I'm going to working at double or even triple the pace just to recover from that fall.

The next day, on the 6th of December, Jon, wm and I went for Changi Airport's Terminal 2 for lunch at Popeye's. The portions were way larger than KFC's, but was it worth paying the price. As we could not find a suitable spot to study, we decided to make our way to the national Library branch at Bedok to study instead. We had planned a couple of days ago to study economics together, to clear our doubts and questions, for Jon's and my test was going to be held just 3 days later on Tuesday morning. I managed to cover every single chapter during the 4 hours we spent there, thanks to Sean's notes. We went to Burger King for sundaes, before going to the hawker centre to buy food and then, head home. I decided to take the bus once again, for it's cheaper and I can sleep peacefully on the way home again. Shortly after I entered City Link at City Hall MRT Station, I met Sean and Cherie, by coincidence. The moment Sean saw me, he took no time tryig to explain and prove that it was not because of cherie that my first call could not get through once again. Of course, although I bought his reason, but afterall she was also with him, so perhaps that made it even more difficult for him to pick up my call. I reached home at 8.50pm, just in time for the first episode of the animated Star Wars series.

On Monday, I went to King Albert Park to study with the usual group; Jun Jie, Jian Hui, Janna, Amada, Jenere, Billy, Zhi Jie, An Yan, Swenson. We stayed there till 6.30, before Jian Hui, Janna, Jenere, Zhi Jie and I went fo dinner at the hawker centre narby. I went home at 7.

Tuesday was the first day of the common test. In the morning, there was Economics. It was pretty do-able, and the MCQ questions were really easy. I must say, that the reason behind why I would not be getting an A grade is simply due to the fact that I did not put in enough effort during the revision. I'm expecting a C grade for that paper. I went home for lunch before going back to school in the afternoon for the Engineering Mathmatics 2 paper. Not to offend anyone, but, this was the only paper that i did no revision at all, for I was ready for the test about a couple of weeks before the day the paper was due to be held. I'm expecting an A+ grade for the paper.

There was a few days' break before the last paper(also the toughest for the term) was to be held.On Wednesday and Thursday, I spent a total of 18 hours revising and memorising chapters 3 and 4 of the syllabus. On Thursday, maybe not knowing that the others were meeting up to study was a good thing, for I would have wasted 4 valuable hours of my time on travelling alone, but still, meeting up with friends was way better than shutting oneself from the rest of the world, tryig to get information into the mind. Currently, 18 hours is nowhere near my 48 hours of memorising and revision, made last year during the O Level period, while studying for Physics papers 1 and 2.

On Friday, practically, I did not open my notes nor did I went through the slides. I spent the whole day relaxing. In the evening, I met the comittee of the Mechanical Engineering Society(I guess?) and went for a Christmas concert at the esplanade concert hall by the SSO. Really enjoyed it thoroughly, especially toward the end where there was a sing-along session. AND, I REALLY SANG. Guess I built-up too much stress over the past two days.

After the concert, joined them at a restaurant that sells only chocolate related food and beverages for a short moment before I took the bus home. This bus ride was going to be one that I might remember for quite some time. On the way back home on the bus, spotted a group of three girls(I'm usually not the type of person who is so free to do such stuff). Every 3 to 5 minutes, I took glances. However, after a while, I found myself looking at them momentarily, until it became so obvious they, too turned to look at me, and soon, we were staring at one another. That's when I got afraid that I might have done something wrong and stopped. Frankly, that was the first time I did something like that. It only ended when they alighted from the bus, and it felt as though time flowed normally again. That 20 minutes sure felt like an hour.

Anyway, now, it's on to yesterday, and it's Saturday! The moment I arrived in school at 8.30am, everyone was getting ready to leave for the examination room at block 50. The paper was easy, if one had studied the chapters thoroughly. That, was a paper where, if you studied, you would not only pass, but have a high chance of doing well for the paper, and if you had not studied for the paper, you might fail, or if you were lucky, you would pass decently. I'm confident of at least an A grade for this paper.

After the paper, we went to Vivocity, for lunch and to watch a movie. Once there, Janna was just too excited when she saw that Twilight was showing in Singapore at last, and it was 5 days earlier than the actual release date. What's more, we only had to pay 8 dollars for each ticket as Amanda had the Safra card. Sadly, Jenere could not join us as the movie was at 4pm. So, we, Janna, Amanda, Jian Hui, Jun Jie, Wei Yong, Kenzi and I wet to Carle's Jr for lunch. It was only 1pm, so we had 3 hours before the movie started. At 2pm, we went walking around. Around 2.0pm, I found out that there would be more joining us later on. Janna had called Chengwen and Chengyun to join us for the movie, while Jun ie and Jian Hui asked their friends to join us as well.

We accompanied Jenere to the bus stop, before going with Jian Hui to withdraw money(and we got a shock), before going to the cinema box office to wait for the others to arrive at 3.30pm. At 4pm, we were ready to enter.

At 4.15pm, the movie started, but during the first part of it, the graphics were not very good, but after the scene, everything seemed to be in place. I must say, that the movie was definitely worth watching. 2 hours, lots of action, especially in the second part of the movie. Now, I'm thinking if I should watch it again, and I'm also considering of reading the books in the series. Janna! You have influenced me as well...

Alright then, that's all for today's post. Not sure if this 3 week break is going to be boring or exciting though, as it has only just began.I'm skipping CCA tomorrow as I'm having flu and can't do very much physical activity as yet, but should have no problem doing so on Thursday. Jun Jie is also planning a roller blading trip which I'm so looking forward to, and I guess I better prepare some plasters as well for that day. So far, at least 5 people I know are already on holiday, and soon, more would follow. If you're one of them, enjoy your trip!!!

Oh, and before I end the post, expect a mass blog makeover tomorrow, for it's that time of the year where I change my blogskin and make some major changes once again!

Week of Tests

In this week alone, there were 4 tests, on 4 consecutive days. It's been months since I last had one test a day for a whole week. Monday was like a rest day, with only 3 hours of school and CCA in the evening.

Tuesday was my first Economics test, in the form of an online quiz. I got my first A grade this semester from that quiz! Yeah! Wednesday, had our Engineering Materials Test, and, I would be getting a grade ranging from a B to an A. An A+ would be a miracle for I had lost 10 marks before the test had ended. Got back my Mathematics Quiz as well on that day, and I lost 2 marks to a careless mistake. It's had for me to get 100% of any test correct without any form of error, so that made my first A+ grade for this semester, another A grade.

On Thursday, I met Priscilla after I alighted from the bus, when she was about to board the bus I took to school. That day, I had my first written test in almost a year. I had to write a small section of an information paper, but the total word count had to be no more than 250 words long. Obviously, I exceeded the word limit as it was almost an impossibility for me to keep within word limits. I ended up with 280 words, but anyway, the 3 mark penalty was expected even before I started the paper. I'm confident of scoring near full marks for grammar and content, though I face the possibility of getting as low as a C grade for the test. As usual, I went home to take a short nap, before heading back for CCA in the evening. Training, wasn't really training for me that day, for I was not yet a full-fletched STF member, and thus, was not yet qualified to participate in the IVP. After the warm-up, I joined one round of training, before I sat at one corner and did nothing for the remaining one hour. Maybe I should just go for training on Monday until I there is something for me to train on Thursdays? I met quite a number of familiar faces during that one hour, but well, not sure if I even saw them. First was Jerome who was walking past the training area at around 8pm, followed by Joycelyn some time later. I think I did wave at her, but then again, I think I did not see her there at all. Later that night, she confirmed that she had waved at me, but somehow I guess I was seeing things, as I did not remember waving to her. Maybe it was me, maybe it was me subconsciously. Strange eh? After training that night, I saw Kash, and by then, I guess I regained my consciousness in a way, for I was able to walk up to have a short conversation with him.

Today, had a role play test for German, and I guess it did not go very well again, for it was purely last minute preparation on the spot. Left for CCA again later on, and went for dinner after that. Tonight had been an eventful night, but next Sunday, something big is going to happen, and we're going to be part of it!

Alright, this concludes the 150Th post in this blog! Looking forward to next week...

[Blog Update]
Added new Link:
Suzanne(YC)

Updated link:
Priscilla(MI)

Pictures from Saturday

Today's post would not be covering for today, as although things were more fun, but it might put anyone off to sleep if I went on about today's happenings. Instead, I will doing an extra post for Saturday. And yes, today, there will be pictures in the blog again! been so long since I posted pictures in here.

I did not take these pictures though, for my SE K770i's camera had a 3.2 mega Pixel picture quality, and I wonder why everyone sat so far back that night. Some pictures were taken by a Samsung OMINA I think, and were taken from Pei Xuan's blog. More pictures can be seen from her blog.

Anyway, here are some:

From top: Programme sheet and ticket, Taufik and I, Finale Item, Yisin and Randall.

Next up, this was something that I had been trying to get for a long time. So, on Saturday I went to get it, before going to the concert. It's the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet. Although it's used mainly for drawing and writing, I guess I would be using it more for calculations and drawing, though at times I might use it for writing as well.

The tablet, well, is definitely user friendly, with 4 programmable function keys, a touch pad to improve navigation and it also came with a mouse which I don't very much depend on as I am currently using a Razer mouse. The Pen is exactly like a stylus with a difference. It comes with a built-in eraser so that one does not need to click on the erase tool when drawing or writing in the event of making an error. I'm not so sure about WM and his Genius tablet though, for I have never used it before. But, there is one thing that I agree with WM, is that, a tablet PC is definitely better than a laptop that requires tablet accessories. After getting the tablet, my table has sort of become very messy with all the wires lying around. Microphone, headphones, tablet, tablet pen and mouse, mouse and power adapter.

Well, that's all for tonight. Tomorrow's going to be a tough day with my first economics quiz which would be held online during the lecture. Wonder how I am going to fare, for I have not prepared very well for the quiz. Lots of last minute work again. Hope I am able to do well and manage at least a B grade for tomorrow if I still want to get a GPA of 4.0 for this semester. There would be another test for Engineering Materials on Wednesday, which I do not have much of a problem coping with, and a written test for Communication Toolkit on Thursday, of which I am prepared to lose 3 marks for writing beyond the 250 word limit. I seldom write less than 250 words for any essay or composition (not a problem for summaries though), so I would be finding that a real problem. By the way, a summary can't really be considered to be a composition nor an essay as it is the shortened version of one.

Wave 13

This post is for yesterday, as I was too tired to sit down and post something decent. I woke up at 11am, did some revision till 12, had a snack(it's a snack as I did not take enough for it to be considered as a full meal), went back to sleep, and left home at 2pm. Anyway,I'm trying something different for tonight's post, using phases. So, let's see. There were 10 phases in all, almost every phase has a time limit at least 30 minutes. Come to think of it, I spent more than 10 hours away from home.

I had three main things to do yesterday. First, was to get a suitable and affordable tablet from either West Mall or Challenger at Funan the IT Mall. This first part was a little challenging, for if West Mall had a less costly tablet, I would be facing a it of a problem rushing back to West Mall before heading to do the next task, which might cause me to be very rushed for time when doing the third thing for the day. The next thing was, to collect 2 tickets from Andy, who sadly was not able to make it that day as he was still recovering from a stomach flu. The third, was to deliver the ticket Taufik and watch a concert at Singapore Polytechnic. A fourth came out later on, which I will touch on later on.

Phase One was to get from home to West Mall in 30 minutes, and that was pretty successful, and I was 6 minutes ahead of schedule. That 6 minutes might become very useful when I have to rush back from the City Hall area or when I am waiting for a bus or train to arrive. Next, at West Mall, I had to check out the shops which sold IT products. However, I did not manage to find any shops which sold tablet products there, so in 20 minutes, I was back at the bus interchange, waiting to catch a bus down to Funan the IT Mall. Phase 1: Get to West Mall before 2.30pm(completed at 2.24pm). Phase 2:Search for a tablet at West Mall before 2.50pm(completed at 2.45pm).

In case you are wondering why I did not take the train, I wanted to save up that money BADLY. I only have a concession pass for buses, for I only need to take 2 buses to and from school each day. Although I'm still a student, I don't eally understand why Transit Link or the authorities-in-charge did not grant polytechnic students concession fares in bus and train fares which the stdents in the Junior Colleges have been and are still enjoying since their Primary school days.

Entering Phase Three, I took bus 106 all the way to Suntec, and walked all the way to Funan the IT Mall in under 1 hour and 15 minutes. So now, I'm 5 minutes behind schedule, with the time at 4.15pm. I spent 20 minutes at Challenger, of which I bought a Wacom tablet, the company that WM recommended me to buy a tablet from. I also bought a pack of printing paper for Andy before leaving at 4.35pm. Now, here's the silliest thing I did yesterday. I made a terrible mistake at Phase Four by estimating that the journey from Bras Basah to Boon Lay would take only 50 minutes, when it took 1 hour and 20 minutes. To make things worse, I was more than 15 minutes behind schedule when I boarded bus at 4.48pm. I was supposed to reach Andy's place at 5.30pm, so that I could take a bus and train to Dover MRT station at 6.35pm. Instead, I ended up reaching Boon Lay at 6.10pm, 30 minutes behind schedule. The journey to Andy's place via bus service 242, took another 20 minutes. It was a good thing that service 242 had a high frequency, or I would be exteremely late. Phase Four ended at 6.30pm, 1 hour behind schedule. DAMN. It was a good thingAndy was feeling a lot better than the previous day, for if not for him, I might end up being behind schedule for another additional 5 to 10 minutes. Phase Five was completed under the planned 10 minutes.Phase 3: Get from Bukit Batok to Suntec before 4.10pm(completed at 4.15pm). Phase 4: Get from Challenger to Andy's place before 5.30pm(completed at 6.30pm). Phase 5: Deliver Andy his printing paper, collect tickets for Wave 13-the concert that I would be watching with Taufik-before 5.40pm(Completed at 6.35pm).

I was in luck, as Andy had to go to Queenstown MRT station to meet his family, so we could take a taxi to Dover MRT station together, and the cost would be divided between the both of us. So, Phase 6 was completed very quickly, and I recovered quite some time. It has been more than 3 years since I took a taxi, and 17 years since I hired a taxi. This was the first time I took a taxi in the event of an emergency(though it did not seem to be like one). I was surprised when Pei Xuan suddenly called my phone. As far asI can remember, she has never given me a call before, and I could not recognise her voice at all! It turns out that that night, Taufik and I would be accompanied by friends I have not met for some time. Randall told us in the taxi, by sms that Yisin was also performing that night! Wow! Anway, we caught up on quite a lot of things that happened over the past 2 months, it was very delitful to know how well many friends did for their promotional exams in the JCs, and at the same time, it was sad to hear of friends being retained in the JCs during our journey to Dover MRT station. Phase 6: Get from Andy's place to Dover MRT station before 6.35pm(completed at 6.45pm).

Once there, I ran to meet Taufik, who has not really changed much, so it was definitely easy to recognise him! So sorry for making everyone wait so long for me yesterday!!That was the first time I was so late for a gathering. Normally, I was either the first or among the first few to arrive at a place. From here, Phase 7, things went on very normally. Phase 7: Attend Wave 13 till 9pm(completed at 9.00pm).

So, this is where the next 3 phases came in. After I met up with everyone, Suzanne suddenly asked u if we wanted to have dinner after that. My immediate answer: YES! It's been a long time since I had a meal with the group, and also, I had not eaten breakfast, lunch an dinner, nor have I drank anything since I left home at 2pm. The performance was really great! The choreography, lights, sounds, everything was very well planned out. We spotted Yi sin and Randall many times as well. At 9pm, they came up to meet us, and Justin and his sisters came up too. Justin's looks has changed, though his character was still the same. His sisters have grown quite a lot as well. Phase 7: Meet Randall, his sisters and Justin before leaving.

After that, I left with the group for dinner. We took a train to Jurong Point. Taufik alihted at Jurong East MRT station, leaving 2 guys in the group, and they are Hui un and I. by the way, I still don't know some of the names of the people in the group I joined yesterday for dinner, for I was sort of like a no-body during my four years of life back in Secondary School. I guess, only mainly the people from 4E1 would know me, though there are more as well. Whatever it is, I will always remember those days. We chatted a lot, and ate a lot too I guess? half of us went to MOS burger, while the rest of us, Pei Xuan, Suzanne, Hui Jun and I went to MacDonald's. As expected they were stunned at the amount of food I ordered at MacDonald's. I ordered a full up-sized meal, and an additional burger. Frankly, that was around a third of my total capacity. Throughout, We found out a lot about one another, and I got to know them better as well. Just like the old days, Suzanne and Hui Jun never failed to provide an enjoyable entertainment. I' m so Looking forward to going out with them again someday! I seldom sat with their group in Sec 3 and 4. We chatted till 10.45pm before leaving for home. I was dead beat when I reached home 2 minutes before midnight, breaking my record for this year. My previous latest time was 11.45pm, clocked somewhere earlier this year. Phase 8: Get to Jurong Point from Singapore Polytechnic before 9.30pm. Phase 9: Have dinner till 10.45pm. Phase 10:Reach home before 11.59pm.

I was extremely tired yesterday after reaching home, and turned on the computer for an hour before going off. I guess Pei Xuan was still very surprised when she saw me eat that amount of food yesterday, as I seldom ate so much whenever I had lunch back in the old days at Yuan Ching. Photos wil be up tomorrow.

It's been a long time since we sat together as a group to have a nice chat. Really brings back lots and lots of memories. I will never forget the last days of Secondary School life and all the memories. Dinner last night was great! I'm so looking forward to the next time we could all meet up again, though I don't think it's soon either.

Come to think of it, I would rather have a group whose bonds are strong and a group whose members are always in touch with one another and there are always opportunities to meet up for gatherings, compared to a group whose bonds are extremely strong and whose members lose touch with one another over time and there are few opportunities to meet with one another for gatherings.

Rough Start

This month started very roughly, though the first two days gave a feel that could not be described with words alone. The days after that, the mood took a plunge. I lost my drive to study and all just within a matter of minutes.

Only on Wednesday did things start to pick up, I regained my drive to study and slack out when there was time to do so, and I took really good notes during the Engineering Materials lecture. Although I have yet to read through the notes, it feels as though I have got about 50% of he whole lecture in my mind already!

On Thursday, I guess I slacked so much, that I did not go to school at all, ending up with me skipping the taekwondo training. I guess that would be the last time this term that I would skip training, and attend the full schedule of two trainings a week from next week onwards. Had a dream this morning, and, someone asked me why she hadn't seen me at training since I joined. I can't really remember who it was though. It ended with me making a promise not to skip any training in future, but I think, maybe I should attend trainings regularly for the rest of this term at least, and see how I cope, for currently, I can see the faint shine of the gold medal, though at the same time it seems to be very far away.

Today, it feels almost as though I am back to normal. During the Math lecture, somehow I felt a surge of energy when the lecturer asked for a volunteer to answer the last question. I walked up, took the marker and just wrote on the board. That was the first time I did a question on the board without any signs of fear, and even the size of the figures and words was large and clear enough to be seen by the last person in the room, similar to the sizes of words written by lecturers. The Academic Award Presentation was the highlight of today, and it sure was a rare moment. I still remember the very first duty I had before joining the society as a sub-committee member. Jun Jie said that, after the April semester, he would see me walking up to collect the award. I told him that it was impossible, as I had never received any award like that before. So, all the more it was tougher for me to be receiving an award in a highly competitive environment. Met up with Shyam and his friends after that, and as I had problems connecting to the Internet, I decided to take the risk and rush home and leave myself with just 10 to 15 minutes to complete my E-learning assignment for Basic German 102. I was sort of lucky enough to reach home at 7.50pm, and finish everything before 9pm, though the session was supposed to have ended at 8pm. Here is a snap shot of the certificate:

Tomorrow,it's highly likely that I'm going to buy a tablet so that I can do some writing on the computer, and at the same time help others along with Math. In the afternoon, I'm going to meet Andy, collect the tickets from him for the concert at SP, before going to West Mall to try to get a tablet that costs 80 bucks, then head over to Dover to meet up with Zhong Rong and Taufik(So sorry I forgot the last letter of your name).

I have decided, to just let it go, allow the flame to be reduced to ashes, let it die off slowly. The gates shall be closed within the next month, and who knows when it could open again?

If only I had my heart and soul fully focused on studying back then, and not worry about which fish I wanted to catch in the wide sea. So, I guess, the award I received today, was definitely achieved with luck alone. I had put in effort as well, without worrying about which fish I was going to catch in the open sea. Till that day comes again, which I hope would not come soon, I will strive for a perfect score of 4.

Eventful Weekend, Long Agenda

Before we proceed to the weekend, let's do a little review of the month. The start was really smooth sailing and easy, but as we went into the end of the month, things got more messy, challenging and tough. As the month came and go, I found myself having more things to think about, having more work to do, having more questions to answer and having more dilemmas to solve. The rate at which I'm being assigned tutorials and questions to submit is stunning. Although it's still nothing compared to the amount my JC friends are coping with, I have got to complete them, and maintain my standing at the top.

I re-joined taekwondo after a year due to the O Levels, so I guess I'm going to start it officially this coming Monday, when I purchase the uniform. There was also a small reunion with friends from the PAE period after losing almost all contact for 5 months. Although it was a bit of a failure with less than 10 turning up, but I'm sure that in December, the turn out would be better, when all our exams are over and here's slightly more time to relax before the new term starts.

This month, I guess I made more friends, collected more precious memories and I guess I also managed to rekindle a long dead flame? Still I'm not sure if I'm ready to let the flame grow into a fire yet, but perhaps, time will tell. Maybe I got to be more daring when that day comes, but for now, I'll just be patient, and see when would the best time to let it out.

Going on to today, there was a lot to be done over this weekend, and I have a hard time squeezing in everything. So, I'm leaving out some revision for the week. Tomorrow, my cousin's getting married. So, of course that takes priority, and also, I'm going to try to style my hair a little. Perhaps I should have done that a long time ago, but tomorrow might be a good start, with the special occasion being more the reason for me to look good. So far, I only managed to revise Math and do some research for the information paper for the Communication Toolkit module. Alright then, I'm going off for the night, so see you again soon!

[Blog Update]
-Added 2 new links:
Weng Ling (YC) and Peter (NP)
-Updated link:
Janna(NP)

Second Training Session

As expected, bad things did happen, but I don't think I'll be describing it here, for there are too many long stories to tell, but I might consider telling you if you asked. As expected, today there were three main things that happened as well, the project discussion, the 2 hour lesson and CCA.

The lesson was fun today, especially for the last part of the lesson where we had to come up with a paragraph within 20 minutes. The question itself was enough to kill to shy people like me. However, there was no time to be conservative, so I just wrote down what came to mind. In case you're dying to know, the title for the day was: How to Win a Guy's/ Girl's Heart in Ten Days. Here's the paragraph that I wrote(this passage might be different as we had submitted the original and I don't usually make efforts to remember my works by heart unless it's necessary):

Winning a girl's heart is something that is easier said than done. However, with the right mindset, it can be done. Firstly, one must be sincere to a girl all the time. One good way would be to prepare a five course meal for her, with each dish being one of her favourite food. You might take time off everyday just to do the things she likes with her, and while at it, have conversations to get to know her better. Over the weekend, make a visit to her family's place. You might want to help prepare the meals and do the dishes, as well as get to know her family members, or better, know them from the inside out. On the last day, take her to a place where it is peaceful and quiet and tell her your true feelings.

Although the lecturer said that I was an "expert", I don't think I could really agree with that. Even my teammates who have little experience of that are already attached, while I'm still single. The furthest I got in all my previous relationships were to confess my feelings. Further than that, you could say that I'm a green. That, was the best part of today.

As for taekwondo training today, managed to train my techniques a little, although I could feel the injury from last Monday returning again. Just hope that the pain would not be as intense as what felt last week, for I have a wedding dinner to attend on Sunday.

Oh, yes. Tonight, there would be hourly updates from 12 midnight all the way till 3 or 4am in the morning, so stay tuned!!! Exactly what's going on, well, you'll just have to wait and see.


Hey there.. right now it's 1am on a Friday morning, and it's te second time this week that I'm doing some revision at this time. So far, some of us are already online to do the assignments for the BCE, which is the main reason why we're all online so early this Friday morning. BCE is short for Business Continuity Exercise, which was put in action some years back due to the SARS crisis, so that students are able to continue to study wihtout any disruption from home. So, today, we're simulating something like that, without the health threat of course, so that we'll be ready fo something similar in future(hope that day does not come, though it's great to study from home with lots of freedom). Right now, I'm just getting started, not so sure about the others though, but they would be online soon I guess?

Alrighty. It's already 2am, and finally 4 of us, Jian Hui, Jenere, Jun Jie and I have just started skyping. I had just finished the EG2 assignment for BCE. The rest are also making good progress on the BCE assignment. As for our module for Engineering Drawing and Computer Aided Design, there has been some problems with the submission site for our assignment, but maybe that would be up in the morning at 9am? The asignment for Engineering Materials was completed on Wednesday, so all we have to do is to submit it in the morning at 9am. So, anyway, see you again at 3am, where I will go on to do the 2 exercises for this module.

It's finally 3am! One more hour and I might lose my concentration anytime for late night mugging. jenere left at 2.28am, after he found out that he forgot to borrow the license for his AutoCAD program. Right now, we're just about to commence on our AutoCAD drawing. There are two parts to the assignment, so, we're expecting it to take quite a while before we're done with it. Just moments ago, Janna joined us for just 5 minutes. WOW. She made a ghostly entrance with her sleepy voice when she came online at 2.45am, and at 2.50am, she left to continue sleeping for the rest of the night. Anyway, I'm back to start on my drawing, so see you later at 4am, by which our assignments should have been completed.

We're finally at 4am, and my drive for the 4 hour night mugging window. I had just finished both sections of the Computer Aided Design assignment for the BCE. I was expecting to complete it at 5am later, but somehow I managed to complete it quickly. So, with all assignments completed, there is only the submission left to be done, and that would be accomplished at 1pm later in the afternoon. After that, I would be spending he remaining time on relaxation as well as revision to reduce my study load for Saturday morning.

So, as for later today, guess there is not very much to talk about, other than the German lesson, and my muscles that ache so much, I might look like a crab when I walk around as Godwin puts it in one of his blog posts sometime last month.

From hurriedly to slacked

The day started with me rushing out of bed, getting changed, going to school and off for lessons. Not so bad, as I managed to take a short nap on the bus. Jian Hui was probably in a state worse than me as he was woken up by a simple phone call the night ago.

Today I managed to overshoot my maximum writing speed during the Engineering Materials lecture and that caused my fingers to go numb while my wrist hurt badly. At least I can say that my handwriting at that speed has improved a little as well, which might be what caused that to happen. Going to revise that during the 3 to 4 hour window after midnight on Saturday as well, for that seems to be the time when my concentration is at the optimum level for the longest period of time. Other days are fine, just that I have only two windows, 7.30pm to 10pm and 12am to 4am on weekdays. The second window is a little late for me, especially since there is school the next morning. Once I start revision during a window, I would be fully awake, and I would not feel tired or sleepy until the last 30 minutes or so.

After that, was lunch, and man, you should have seen the number of empty tables there were at Canteen 3 during the 11am lunch break! That was the first time we all went to a canteen that was so empty during our afternoon breaks. Even the queues were short, I was spoilt for choice of what to have for lunch(I usually go for the stalls with the shortest queues). Went for Math lecture after that, and I ended up helping my friends again, even though I brought the wrong book to class. Always had the misconception that as long as the book was the thickest, it has to be for Math. This semester, the thickest book that I have is my lecture notes for the module on computer aided design. So, that was the book I brought into class today. Following that was 3 hours of tutorials, and we went home after that.

Wednesdays sure are the easiest days to pass this semester. it's like a standard day in school, where we just go for lectures and tutorials and are dismissed for the day after that. Thursdays should be the most easy going ones, but for tomorrow, somehow I have got a gut feeling that something bad might happen tomorrow. Exactly what, I have got no idea, but I'm prepared for the worst for everything tomorrow. 2 hour lesson on Communication Toolkit, Movie and CCA.

Losing Drive

My drive today decreased greatly, but for some unknown reason. Anyway, today there was almost an information overload during the economics lesson. Good thing I was trained to write fast for my Combined Humanities O Level paper. Anyway, managed to absorb most of the lecture today, but will do all the revision on Saturday morning, so I guess I'll be forgoing sleep for 3 to 4 hours after midnight on Saturday then. Today, nearly lost vision due to carelessness, as I rushed for time, but anyway, that would not happen again if I work both safely and quickly. That's all for today, and for tomorrow, wonder how things would go, from 9am to 4pm.

After a 5 Month Hiatus

Today we all met up again, after five months. Pathetic ain't it? Well, can't do much about it as the polytechnic and jc academic calendars are arranged in such a way that it's nearly impossible to organise gatherings on weekdays during the school term, especially if it's during the second semester.

I had to rush to a couple of places before going to the place we were supposed to meet. Stepped out of home at 11am to take the bus to the Esplanade. It was sort of a good thing when Weiwen messaged me that she could not get the group gift for Joycelyn's birthday, for I was just a bus stop away from the shopping centre that she had planned to go to get the gift from. So, I got down, and walked all the way to Far East Plaza, walked around the whole shopping centre once, called her 5 to 6 times before she picked up the phone, only to tell me that the stall was in the basement when I was about to leave for the bus stop. So, went back in, and finally, I found the stall. Close call. Got the present, and left in a hurry for the Esplanade. Time check, 12.15pm. Wow. I spent 15 minutes just to get a gift. So, I walked to the bus stop, and took a bus to the Esplanade. It was 12.50 when I reached Raffle's City, and walked to the Esplanade to get a box of chocolates as a personal gift. I reached the shop at 1.00pm, and since I did not have the time to choose the flavours as I only had 15 minutes left, I decided to make do with the pre-packed one first(sorry if the flavours were not to your liking), and come back another time to select the chocolates for her when we meet again. 1.05pm, I boarded the same bus I took to Raffle's City earlier, back to Orchard MRT Station. 1.13pm, I reached the meeting place. I could finally take a breather.

There were only 7 of us today, Sean, Cherie, Limther, Fiona, Weiwen, Joycelyn, and of course, me. Like Sean said, she wasn't as tanned as how she looked in her blog(hope the chocolates won't worsen her condition).We went for Pepper Lunch at Taka 1.50pm and left at 3pm, as Weiwen and Joycelyn both had to leave early. So while the other two couples went on with their dates, I went home, sadly, but true. I walked all the way to Raffle's City again, just to take the bus back home and enjoy sleeping in the nice weather on the way back home. Although it was only a partial success this time round, at least, I know that the next gathering, there will not only be more people who would be able to make it, but also more things to do as there would be more people present.

Tomorrow's back to school for practicals again, economics lesson, and back home to sleep and mug(yes, I did type "mug"). It's rare for a student in a polytechnic to mug, but, still I have to, or I won't get my 4.0, which I failed to get the previous semester.

Pauses

Today was hectic, I slept for less than 5 hours during the night as I was doing some revision and other things, and ended up sleeping at 5.30am, and woke at 10.30am. Had lunch, slacked a bit by watching television, before sleeping for another 2 hours. Went to Vivocity in the evening, and finally found a suitable blazer, but will get them next week when my borther comes along to check his size.

That's all for today though, so for tonight, I doubt I will be staying through the night again, and I'll just sleep early, for there's going to be a gathering with friends from the PAE period! I can't wait for tomorrow, though it's just for lunch. It's been 5 months since we last sat together and had a good chat. Oh, and I have removed a portion of the previous post as I don't think there's any relevance to keep that portion.

Closing in

Today went out in the evening to get some clothes for a wedding dinner next Sunday and for the following Friday.That was all, for the rest of the day was spent on slacking, or doing other things. I did not post anything yesterday as I did not have the mood nor inspiration to post anything. As for today, I felt that I just had to type something in here or I would not feel that the day's complete.


Two more days to the public holidays and next gathering with my PAE friends. I'm still unsure about the outcome of that day though. It's been a long time since we last met up.

Oh, and before I end off for the day, even though it's a day late(sorry about that),
HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY Joycelyn!

Slow Recovery

Today nothing happened much in school, except that there was a project meeting for Communication Toolkit Information Paper. That was followed by lunch at 12pm, and the 2 hour lecture at 1pm. Went for CCA at 5pm, and went home after that in the evening.

It's been the third day since I went for my first Taekwondo training on Monday. So far, my left leg has also started to ache, while the pain on my right has gotten more intense. Thus, I decided to give today's training a miss, and go for the monthly Toastmasters meeting. One thing very special about this meeting was that, the Staff Toastmasters Club was going to be revived this month, and the Students Toastmasters members were invited along as well! Really enjoyed it, but felt guilty I skipped the Taekwondo training without informing any of the members, as I did not want to take the trouble of walking up and down a flight of stairs in paing just to get the message across to the leaders at the sports complex. After the meeting, I went straight home.

Many things had happened since the start of the year. Since January 2nd, February, April, and today it's finally October. Got a feeling that many things are going to happen next week, and those are relatively drastic to what the future would be like. Good? Bad? I have got no idea, but, as what a lecturer said this evening, 10% of what happens to us in life is what is being done to us by others. However, the other 90% is contributed by how we pick ourselves up from there.

So, I guess if that attempt fails once again, I shall just pick myself up from there, and continue walking forth, and do my best to strive for the gold medal. However, if it's the other way round(a situation which I would least expect), I shall do my best!

Back to the Drawing Board

Today it was back to the drawing board again, and I reverted to using the "old fashioned" way of studying during lectures. Yes, note taking. It's very rare in schools such as polytechnic, but, that method sure is more effective than just to lug a large booklet to school and end up falling asleep after flipping a couple of pages after a lecture has started. It ensures that one does not end up sleeping at any time during the lecture, and it also enables the mind to remember information more effectively than just by listening alone. Let's say that, you threw a short glance at a particular page on your very own fresh set of notes taken during the previous lecture. Immediately, subconsciously, you would remember almost everything that was taught during the time at which you wrote the first and last word on that page of the notes. That, was exactly what happened during the first lecture of the day at 9am. We had a 2 hour long Engineering Materials lecture, and in less than 30 minutes into the lecture, many people were already asleep, which was quite expected as there was nothing to help them absorb the knowledge.

After that, we went for lunch, while some went to the library to print the first set of notes. It's so that we could prevent a situation like what happened earlier in the morning. After that was our Engineering Math Lecture from 12pm to 1pm, and it was a great time to relax, and help friends who were weaker at the same time. After that, we had tutorials from 1pm to 4pm, for 2 different modules. At 4pm, we were free to go.

Tomorrow I'm going to have a busy day again, projects, class, and CCA. I have 2 CCAs clashing with one another tomorrow evening, Taekwondo and Toastmasters. Obviously I would go for the Toastmasters meeting, as it's held only once a month, and it's held together with the staff meeting. On the other hand, I would also have to go for the Taekwondo training, but since I still can't fully use my right leg after Monday's intensive training, I guess I would have to give tomorrow's training a miss, even if there was no Toastmasters meeting. Still, I have to show myself before the training starts to submit the forms and settle the administrative stuff, and explain my absence from tomorrow's training before going for the Toastmasters meeting.

Oh, and I think I have told almost everyone closest to me already(except for one, for I'm not sure if the piece of news would make him feel worse, and, by the way, no offence meant. if I missed you out, I'm so sorry), so, I guess I would announce it tonight? This would be the very first time I would be receiving such an award since I started schooling 10 years ago. Normally, I would only top the class in a subject or two, but this time, things have gotten a little different. No one, not even myself, knew that I would eventually making it to that position, for during the past semester, I never really did my studying and revision seriously. I actually topped the LEVEL. That's my first step to the gold medal! YEAH! From the next week on, I will not be as relaxed as I was during the past semester and during these two wees of school. Got to focus more on friends, play time, CCAs and study.

Do hope you've gotten better after yesterday, although I have got no idea what made you feel so down. Wished I could share it with you, even if it was just for 5 minutes over the phone. I look forward to seeing the brighter, cheerful and lively YOU when we meet again next week, and lunch shall be my TREAT!

Greed

This post sort of covers for 2 days of activities, so, do expect it to be a little long.

On Monday, that's yesterday, there was only one lesson in the morning, and for three hours, we did nothing more than computer drawings and orthographic drawings. I could feel my knowledge from 3 years back enter me again. That moment sure felt great! we met Mr Lek, our former adviser at the lift landing. Felt so good to see him again after the long break! We had a nice chat with him, before he suddenly asked me if I was the top student. That, stunned the whole class for a moment. I did not believe I was the one to be the top student, for I heard that there was someone else in the course with a GPA of 4.0. After that, went to canteen one with An Yan, Janna and Yin Feng for lunch, before we went home. Slept for a while and went back to school again at 5.30pm. I found a faster, and better route to school, though it involved much walking. I was going to join my 4Th CCA, the Taekwondo Club. It's been 6 years since I first learnt the art, and I stopped exactly a year ago due to the O Levels. A year later, I'm back again, but still, I'm not sure if I really want to make it my second main CCA. Went home feeling fine, but I woke up this morning feeling aches on all 4 limbs.

Today was the first time in school that we had a chance to operate the machines in the workshops. The TSO sure was a nice guy to work under! No matter what kind of silly questions we asked, no matter what we were unsure of, he would always without fail come over to our bench to assist us, and also tell us the respective steps to take when handling the machines. His patience is truly remarkable! I'm so looking forward to the next session! There was lunch after that, and we went to KAP. I left early as I went back to canteen 4 at 1pm to help with the ticketing for the school's 45Th birthday celebration. There was economics at 2pm, and it went on to 3pm. I can't really say that I have gotten the hang of studying the social science as yet, as I am still unable to get used to the lecturer's style of teaching, although her examples really got me going, making me want to know what was next to learn. The title for today's post is "Greed". Not only is it an O Level English Language question in paper 1 for this year, it is also something related to the things I learnt during today's economics lecture about how the Wall Street incident started out. Anyway, I'm no going into the details as it might make some people fall asleep. After the lesson, I painstakingly took a bus back home and walked back home. It's been a long time since I experienced such aches.

Tomorrow's going to be a long day, from 9am to 4pm. Wonder how I'm going to get through the hours again tomorrow, and also, just moments ago, I received a pleasant surprise! Will share it once I have shared it with my closest friends and classmates!

Right now, is he feeling alright? He was never that way before, and the tone alone was appalling. It was the very first time, I heard his voice in that tone. Please, I really don't wish to have the dream I had that night become a reality. For if it does, there might be more to come, and it's not a good thing to hope for either. I really want everything to just return to normal, so we could all be happy once again, just like the old times.

Triple Celebration

This post covers the span of two days. It started yesterday. The four of us went over to Payar Labar to attend the birthday celebration of a friend's BBQ cum triple birthday celebrations. Might have been possible for the previous class outingas well, but it was not possible as it was during the examination period. Anyway, made some new friends, which made us feel great after a night of relaxation.

As it was too late to catch the last bus home from Clementi, I decided to just stay a night at a friend's place. Enjoyed it, though I was not suposed to be there at all.

Today, I went home, and it rained in waves. That alone was not a good sign. Sure enough, many things that should not be happening, occured one after another. Anyway, glad that I was able to get all that under control in less than 24 hours. Now, other than feeling a fear of which I do not really know the exact cause of, everything else seems fine for now. Hope everything turns out fine after I wake in the morning.

Infactuation. Why must that always happen? Is it good? Is it bad? Turns out that, it's like a double-edged sword. If you're still alone, one would think that there's no harm taking it a step further. However, when the other party is related to you somehow, other than just a normal friend, depending on the situations, it's better not to pursue it any further; in fact, it's best to get it over with before it gets the better of you. It's happened twice, and each time, it gets harder to control and eliminate it completely. I really do hope there will not be a third time, for by then, things might really start to get ugly.

1.2 Day 5

Today's finally the last day of the first week of the term. Usually the best day is the last day of the week, but I don't think today would be a good example. Today was a mixed bag of both good and bad events. But, they sure made today exciting!

Today I left home quite late as I underestimated the approximate travelling time to school, and almost ended up being late in the process. Anyway, I was just in time for the CAD lesson, and managed to get the hang of it after some assists. We had an hour's break after that, from 11am to 12pm. During the lesson, was chatting with WM, who had no school today, and he went on a tour to a school to pass off some time.

After lunch, we went for a lab lesson for a short 30 minute briefing, before having another 1 hour and 30-minute break before going for the Math lecture. I did revision for economics again, this time I did a mind map to compile all the information. Finally, after 6 hours of revision, I can finally get the information into my mind. Guess I'll revise it again in the morning just to make sure. Math lecture was slacked again, and I completed the notes without paying attention to the lecturer. 2 hours passed quickly, and we were dismissed or the week.

Some of us went to grab a bite at the atrium, and we left after that. I arrived at West Mall at 5pm to look for gifts and construction paper, before leaving at 5.20pm for school again. I'm taking a foreign language lesson again this semester, and have gone up by a level. The lecturer has changed, and I guess times are also going to get more exciting as well! Looking forward to the next lesson!After the lesson ended, went to the atrium to have a more decent dinner of 2 sandwiches before heading home.

Now, I'm back home, and I'm still stuck with the planning phase. This time I really did put off a few friends, and I can understand their reasons for being so as well. It's been a week since we set off doing what we had been hoping to do, and now, it's as though we've made very minute progress. Alright. Tomorrow, I will definitely inform those whom I know about the upcoming gathering and ask if they can make it. By the way, it's going to be lunch, as it's extremely dangerously close to the A level Chinese Language paper that demands lots of concentration.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting Sean, Jon and WM again to celebrate 2 birthdays. How would the day progress, really hope it will be a great day out for us! And I'm also looking forward to the coming week, for there would be lots of exciting things going on as the week progresses! I can't wait, for time just passes so fast now that school has begun.

1.2 day 4

Today was the fourth day of the first week of the second school semester. Today, I went to school for only 1 lesson. And the spoiler of the day was, just less than a minute after arriving in school, I saw half of the class going home. Well, I guess that's just the tip of the iceberg of what most students who have to repeat a module experience, though in my case, it's a case of the timetabling where some go for their lessons early, while some go for the same lessons later. The next best thing was that I finally found someone who was in the same class as me! I had thought that I was going to be the only one from my class going to attend that module during that time slot.

The module is Communication Toolkit, an English-natured module that covers speech and writing. Basically, it's just the toning up of our communication skills to be at the professional level, so as to help most of us kill the fear of public speaking. Over a period of 13 weeks, I would be doing assignment after assignment of writing. That's my favourite part of the module, as the more I write, the more excited I get. There are also research skills and public speaking skills involved, so with writing skills implemented into the module, that's what makes the module package complete.

After 2 hours, I went home, slept for an hour, before leaving for school again. Today, I made the next step to joining a fourth CCA in school. I'm still unsure about whether I should join as an official member, or have a 3 month trial first, to ensure that I can cope with my studies before I take on the additional burden. Oh, the fourth CCA I intend to join is Taekwondo. It's under the Singapore Federation, so I guess I would be learning the art again as a white belt, as I was from a different Federation all along since 2003 when I first started.

At 9pm, when it ended, I headed home. The next one hour, though it seemed like a normal routine, it was the toughest hou of the day. The first, was whether I should give myself a chance and continue to pursue something that I left alone months ago. Well, it sure took a couple, an email and coincidence to get it going once again. Next up, was whether I should seriously join a fourth CCA, as up to now, I have no problem with just 3. And apart from that, my CCA point bank is doing well so far with 8 points to date. Even my parents are encouraging me to join the CCA, but I'm not sure if I should join as the opportunity cost is greater this time round, for I'm going to give up 2 days a week for the next 5 semesters. Holidays might even be included and added to the time it's going to take. Maybe I'll talk to some of my friends in another CCA to get their advice on whether I should take up a fourth CCA and then make my choice on Monday. Currently, I'm going to say Yes, I am going to join a fourth CCA, for the main reasons are to make more friends and at the same time, maintain my fitness and bring it to a greater level.

Anyway, here's the preview to the last day for the first week of the new semester. All the core modules have been revealed, but have all the tutorials and lectures for each module been experienced for the first time? There's going t be 3 breaks for me tomorrow. How am I going to deal with all that spare time? The last part of the five day series, do visit again tomorrow night to know more!

Once again, I took a gamble. If I saw you for 2 consecutive days, I would continue from where I stopped, and make the move real soon. Whether or not it's going to be successful, it sure would be a good experience, just like the previous times.
Whether I should really join a fourth CCA, I always thought that it's going to be a good thing, until today, when I saw for myself that it might not be easy after all, to juggle between a CCA that takes up 2 days a week, two other CCAs that each occupy a day a month and my studies, which have become relatively more difficult this semester. If I maintain my first semester's pace, might end up seeing more Cs than Bs, or worse, not a single A grade at all this semester. I really do hope I can make up my mind before Saturday for both thoughts.

1.2 Day 3

Today has made me feel something different about this semester. Not only is there going to be a considerable shortage of time compared to the previous semester, the lecturers have also become more stringent with a couple of discipline regulations, especially punctuality. Today I heard the same story again about why punctuality is real important when one's out in the working society. I never knew that something so minor could become so serious, even though I'm not the type to be late for almost anything.

Going on, today we had Engineering Materials, a whole new module for us, or maybe not. The lecturer for the module is also our adviser for the semester(things are going to get serious this semester I think?), which is kind of a good thing in a way, though in the meantime, I doubt most of my friends would think the same way, but perhaps, in the long run, they would too. Today's topic was revision for my limited Design and Technology knowledge that I picked up 3 years ago. There was also some Chemistry knowledge involved as well, so that sure helped a little. For now, I don't think that the module is going to be a tough one, though the structure of the tutorial questions are structured questions, I just have to put in a little more effort into it. Some of us went to buy our books, notes and stationery later on, and I sure bought a hell lot of things. I spent close to 50 bucks today, which would leave me with almost no savings(accumulated since the holidays) by the end of this week.

After that we went to canteen 3 for lunch, and I think I saw someone familiar there, though I wasn't sure myself, for she seemed a little too tall for me to belief(no offence though, if you're happening to be reading this). For the record, we stayed there for only 15 minutes before leaving for class at 12.40pm. To our surprise, we were among the last to arrive before 12.50pm. The lecturer(who arrived at 1pm) was the latest I think? Oh, yes, the module that we had for the next hour was Engineering Mathematics 2. Finally a module that proves that I had progressed a level higher! There was a tutorial session for Engineering Materials after that, and it was very relaxed. The questions were actually very simple, however, as I wasn't very attentive during the lecture, I missed out on a couple of points. This weekend would be spent on hardcore revision, unless someone invites me out(which is relatively rare, cause it's almost always the other way round). We went for Math tutorial after that at 2pm, and it was a time of fun. So far, I think that Math is the most enjoyable lesson, for I can sleep for a while, and yet be able to catch up later on.

After school, I went straight home at 4pm, and reached home at 5pm. Went for a run again today at 5.30pm, which only made me more tired. I did 2 straight hours of Economics, before calling it a day and started to relax till now.

Alright, here's the preview for tomorrow. I have got only one lesson tomorrow afternoon, which starts at 1pm and ends at 3pm. And, best of all, it's my favourite module of all time, and it's also my best O Level subject! It's English language, yes, but right here, it's known as Communication Toolkit, as it deals with more than just writing essays and letters. Well, let's not spoil tomorrow too much shall we? After that, I'm going to make an attempt to practice Taekwondo again after stopping for almost a year for the O Levels. That's one of the reasons why I had been running so frequently during the holidays. Anything else? Well, Let's just wait till tomorrow when the next post's up. Good night and see you again tomorrow!

1.2 Day 2

Today was a day with some unexpected events. I arrived in school at 7.20am again today. At 8.15am, there was a briefing on the workshops and equipment,followed by a video screening, before we were split into 8 different groups, where everyone was grouped by name in alphabetical order. We were free to go at 10am after touring the facilities. We decided to go to West Mall to watch the House Bunny, before going for lunch at Burger King at 12.45pm.

Went back to school again at 1.20pm. We split up at 1.50pm to go to our respective classes to attend our elective modules. The class was broken into 4 groups; Workplace Safety, Project Management, Advanced Engineering Mathematics and Economics. I'm the only one in the class taking Economics. Anyways, I did not fall asleep during the lesson, but the lesson sure wasn't easy. At 4.30pm, we were dismissed, and I went straight home after that. Back home later this evening, I had a hard time trying to revise the things learnt today for the module. In fact, I had to put in 3 times the usual amount of effort I used for revision during the exam period, just to fully comprehend the introduction chapter alone. It almost seems like an accomplishment, but I have yet to go into the second chapter.

Since there was a lot of time after reaching home, I decided to go for a run later on at 5.20pm. Today I did not train so much on speed, but more on stamina, thus it took me 25 minutes to complete the run itself. Tomorrow, if there's time, I would be going for another run again, this time training a little more on speed.

It took me some time to realise that Deepavali falls on Monday, the 27Th of this month. I thought it was on a Tuesday all the while. The thing is, I'm planning for a celebration together with a few friends, however, there is hardly a day where everyone, or most of us might be able to meet. I'm finding myself walking into dead ends almost every time I make a turn into a corner. There should be a day where most of us can make it right?? It feels as though we're so close to making it, but there's still more things to get done before we're there. I dislike the idea of abandoning plans that have been prepared to thoroughly. Anyway, like always, if we can't settle on a final decision soon enough, the same thing's going to happen again, and it's going to be another wasted effort. Damn. I just hope that December could come soon, so that we can be sure that there would be a gathering.

Preview for tomorrow, I finally get to meet my Adviser for this semester, have the first joint lecture with the other class we were with last semester, and also, Engineering Math 2 and perhaps some Chemistry again, after 8 months.

1.2 Day 1

Today was a great start to the new semester. I barely managed to wake at 6.15am this morning, and that was something I could not achieve during the holidays. Well, just have to make sure that I can wake at that time again tomorrow. I left for school at 6.45am, the same time I left for school during PAE. The bus was not as crowded as expected, and I arrived at 7.20am.

There was only 1 lesson today, a perfect start to the new school semester. The lesson started at 8am. Today's module was about technical drawing and Computer Aided Design(CAD). Pretty interesting module, but the lecturer was strict. Anyways, I had to quickly recall the drawing skills I picked up in secondary 1 and 2 to help me complete the drawings in time, although the lecturer has explained the standard way to do it. It has been more than 3 years since I last touched the isometric paper used in technical or engineering drawing! Well, I managed to finish it in time, but the same problem I had during those days surfaced again; I forgot to complete the minor details and my drawing of arcs and circles is still very bad. It was 10.50am when the class ended, and we were dismissed for the day. Didn't really do much other than drawing, which is quite a good start for a new term, and it really helped me recover from the holiday mood.

After that, as it was raining heavily, some of us went to have lunch before heading home. The moment I reached home, I fell asleep and, something really bad happened. Remember that I had to meet up with a few friends today? Yes, I woke up 5 minutes before the speculated meeting time at 3.25pm! I had only 5 minutes to get ready and head down to Orchard MRT station! Damn! I was in such a hurry that I kept messaging the wrong person till she thought that I missed her so much(quote from Jon "Oh my tian")! It took me some time to get myself at least half awake and left the house at 3.30pm. I reached there 45 minutes later at 4.15pm. Sean and Cherie arrived soon after that, and my "big sis" Weiwen arrived at 4.45pm. We stalked her for 2 minutes before she took out her phone and called me(good thing my phone was still on silent mode) and found out we were behind her the whole time. We went to search for a birthday present, but after an hour of searching, we gave up. Weiwen went to Far East to search for something, while Sean and Cherie, with me, went to Subway for dinner. There, we discussed about the up-coming gathering, and something that I least expected happened (and I did something no one close to me would think me capable of doing). not going to go on about that, and so far, we have planned very little for the gathering. Hope it will be a successful one after so many failures.

Preview for tomorrow's post coming right up. 4 hours of practical tomorrow, followed by 2 hours of break(wonder where we're going for lunch this time) and finally, 3 hours of Economics. Had been looking forward to the day I can learn Economics either as a subject or a module since PAE ended, and finally tomorrow's the day it's happening! I can't wait! Let's no get too high and lose myself for now, otherwise I won't have a nice post up here.

On Vacation'08-Part 7

Hey there! Here we are, at the seventh and final part of series, which means that the holidays are about to come to an end, signalling the start of another semester. I must say, that, this week was definitely one of the most exciting weeks during the seven week break. So, without any more delays, here's the week's happenings. Oh, and I decided to throw in today as well, since I wanted a nice, long finish to this post.

Monday wasn't really an exciting day to begin with, and I was still waking after 10am in the morning! How exactly am I going to wake at 6am this coming Monday for the first lesson of the semester, which starts at 8am? In the afternoon, I went for my third-last evening run for he holidays. I clocked 20 minutes, which was not too bad, as it was a few days since I ran the route, and I usually have relatively low average speeds on Mondays.

Tuesday, the day progressed as though I was climbing a mountain. I woke at 10am today, a slight improvement in my waking time. The afternoon was spent on rushing through the first 40 episodes of Naruto Shippuden, sequel to the 220- episode anime series of Naruto. There was without a doubt more action in the new series, and the music collection (knowing some of the music helps one to estimate how good a series is) is also better. I won't add any spoilers in here, for it might kill the excitement of fans who just started watching the series. In the evening, I went for a run again, and I managed to hit 19 minutes, a minute off the normal 20 minutes. At 7.40pm, I set off to meet Ling(did I get your name right?) at Bukit Gombak to collect an order. Wanted to go to Eunos to collect it as I usually want to spend some time out before going back home. So, bought some bread, before walking all the way home. Surprisingly, it took less than 30 minutes to walk home from there, even though I got lost halfway through!

Wednesday was the second time during the holidays that I met up with my sps friends. We went to Bugis for lunch, talked quite a lot to catch up on some lost time and I gained some insight about a module I'll be taking next semester. The knowledge contained that module was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to a JC, but it sure was reassuring to know that it was offered as an elective. Nice. We went to Sim Lim to get some accessories for our phones, before going to Marina Square to watch a movie. It was pretty late by then, so we went for dinner before heading home.

Thursday saw me going to the National Dental Centre for an appointment again. If I remember correctly, that day was one of the few days that I was early by at least 5 minutes. After a while, the things to be done for the appointment were done and I took the bus home after making a call to Sean. Here's a little fast fact: For every 1 in 2 calls made to Sean, there would be a long wait before he answers his phone, and there would also be someone beside him answering the call as well. Anyways, It's good to hear that they're doing really well together, but, I seriously hope I did not call them when they were doing something else, like what usually happens in most drama serials. Sean, if that did happen, please do let me know(in private of course)! I will do my best to make it up to the both of you! I went to West Mall to search for a present for my brother who's turning 15 in less than a day's time, but did not manage to find a suitable gift. So, I decided to leave for home, empty-handed. However, something lit up my spirits when I saw someone familiar, in a brown uniform and black bag. Coincidentally, I met Chong Siang! It's been a long time since we were together. Turns out that he had just come from Jurong Point after being dismissed from school, and was searching for a sports towel. So, I accompanied him to Queensway. Thought I might find something good there as well, so I decided to take him there. It was 6.20pm when we left on bus 61. We reached about an hour later, and within 15 minutes, we got our things and went to the hawker centre across the road for dinner. By the way, I got a dozen shuttle cocks, but it took me a while to notice that after making the purchase that it would make a really bad birthday gift, as he does not play badminton. So, I turned to plan B, to give him the blue lanyard for his phone I bought the day before. I reached home at 9pm, just in time, I guess, for I was expected to be home after 7pm. At 11pm, there was a group conversation held, to organise the joint birthdays of three 4E1 classmates, Wei Xiang, Wei Fan and Weng Ling. Not exactly sure which days their birthdays fall on, but I'm positive it's during these 2 weeks, so Happy Birthday to them! After the conversation, which got nowhere after a while had ended, I thought of something nice.

Let's head back to the 2007 Graduation Nite, held shortly after the last O Level paper had ended. A really great night to remember, me making the second confession(most memorable one in fact). Bonds were remembered and strengthened, before everyone left the premises. 4 years of secondary school life had ended. After that was a month of rest and recuperation from the examinations, before going to MI for the first one month during the PAE period. I was reluctant at first, but, that decision sure was the right one to make, for the strongest bonds that I have made so far(and want to have for the rest of my life), were from class 08S6. Well, it wasn't really academic strength that made us worried, but more of the separation after 1 month, that made me stressed during those times. Having friends from around the country is damn rare, and it's even more rare to have close friends from around the country. A month later, I spent time in preparation for Polytechnic life, as to me, it did no seem fair for the friends in the JCs to be studying and under much stress, while I, was at home, slacking and doing nothing. That head-start proved to be extremely helpful during the course of the first semester, where I made many new bonds during the course of study in ME. Right now, it's going to be the start of a new semester real soon, and there's only so little time left to relax, before I get back to seriousness again.

Friday was such a slacked day for me, though I woke up relatively earlier at 9am. It's still nowhere close to my 6am target, though I know that I'm getting close to it. I spent the day watching Naruto Shippuden again, this time I'm left with 11 episodes before I catch up with the rest of the main group who are currently at episode 79. Sadly, episode 80 would only be released next Thursday. I went for the last 5kilometre run during the holidays. That run was the mos eventful. I saw myself clocking extremely totally new and faster times, especially in the nature park, where I clocked 9 minutes instead of the usual 13 minutes. However, on the return part of the run, I stopped to help two boys whose ball had rolled to the side of the ride I was on. It's rare to have me say this, but, one of them sure was cute when he took the ball, thanks me and ran off. It sue was heart warming to see them running off safely to return to their game too! I sprinted 400 metres to make up for the lost time while waiting to cross the road earlier on. I sure was surprised I could sprint that distance, as after all that running, I did not expect to have that kind of a stamina. Guess the holiday's training sure worked some wonders. I ended up clocking 18 minutes for the run that day. My cousins came at 10pm to celebrate my brother's 15Th birthday, and there was lots of fun! I was surprised when I, too received a present! Thanks a lot!

Saturday, and that's today! Today, I wok up extremely early at 7.11am! Yes! I'm almost near my target! I sent an email to the taekwondo club this morning at 10.20am, hoping to join it so that I can train up my strength and fitness. Having speed ans stamina alone would not help much. I hope I can get a reply soon so that I can start training once again after stopping for a year. At 11am, I left for the City Hall MRT by bus as I wanted to catch up on sleep during the journey there. I was late as expected, but by 5 minutes, and was second t arrive. Sean was the last to arrive today, as the gathering today was not a date. Maybe he reached home pretty late from his date the previous day, that's why he ended up being late, so I guess I can't really blame him for that. We went for lunch at Pasta mania, talked quite a lot about education again, before we went off to Toys R' Us to look at the toys vehicle models, before going to take a look at some Samsung phones. WM sure freaked me out when he went in to grab all the brochures for Sumsung models in such a short time. Sean, seriously, I wonder how freaky he was when you said that he took the brochures for every phone model which the shop sold. After that, we went to a coffee shop in the basement for desert, and slacked there till 3.30pm before going off. I went back to the esplanade to take a bus home after accompanying them to the MRT station. The tyre marks left by the cars were gone, but still, the condition of the road felt just the same as it was before the race. Perhaps the difference could only be felt when one was driving a vehicle on the road?

Just a moment ago, a short discussion was held. Guess there's really going to be a class outing for the PAE class that I was once a part of, and it's round the corner!Can't really say much here till it's confirmed though.

Well, there you go, the last weekly review for the last week of the October Vacation. The new school semester is going to start soon, and it's also time for me to do some warming up to get ready for the challenges ahead, for I have a gut feeling that this semester's not going to be as easy as the previous one. Here's a preview for the next post. On Monday after the first lesson of the semester, I would be meeting up with some friends in the afternoon again, after we sort of lost contact for 5 months.