Fate: Your Next Stop In Life

When an opportunity comes, you either take it, or have let it go, in the faith that a better opportunity might just come your way later on. The decision, the choice of choosing the better path to take at a crossing, to help you reach your next destination in life, leads you to your fate, the next stop on your 100-year or so journey, that seems endless, even at death.

In the past, I used to believe that fate was simply determined by time, nothing else. This was one of the million things I had never realised in detail till after my O Levels. Since the day I stepped into campus as a full time student, I never expected my life was going to sky rocket, with experiences I used to think that were impossible, unfolding before my eyes. The result of a simple, yet important choice which I made, and a journey I was fated to travel, at the cost of 1 grade point at the 2007 General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level Examination. I only have those around me, close or far, to thank, for helping to give me the confidence to make the life changing decision, and helping me reach where I am today.

Just a day ago, I was given an opportunity to help in a charitable operation by helping a team of 2 friends to go to a couple of secondary schools to pick up used clothes donated by students today, but I decided that it was a bit of a risk, as I was going to miss a whole day of school. However, it turned out the day's activities in school was kind of unproductive, with me returning to the realm of gaming with some classmates, though I managed to catch up with the class, and our Final Year Project(FYP) team managed to come up with a list of things to do leading up to the third panel.

Something amazing about fate, it employs the economic theory of opportunity costs. You can either have one way or another, but each time, you can't enjoy the best of both worlds, since no one can be at two places at any one time. If I had gone for the collection(a rare opportunity), I would have missed school, and the introduction of The Christieara Programme(YES I FINALLY HAD THE RIGHT SPELLLING) for the first year students, coupled with introductory speeches and sharing sessions by representatives from the California Challenge and Dumaguete (Philippines) Youth Expedition Project. The TCP sure is becoming more geared to providing students with a holistic education during their stay in NP!

Met lots of people, friends and saw over 700 students beggining a new chapter in their 3-year journey with NP. I returned to the days of being an event photographer. Thanks to Joel for giving me that little push to go forth and take up the role. Reunited with about half of the Cebu team of 2009 who are now members of the Overseas Merit Fellowship: California Liberal Arts Challenge 2010.

Helped to transport the collected clothes at 8pm when Danial and his partner arrived with the clothes. How I wished I were 2 years older today, so that I could help the Operation Juvi team with their collection, to be able to hire and drive a van without difficulty, to be able to collect all the donated clothes from the participating instituitions around the island, and helping the team to save precious time and manpower on travelling around to collect donated clothes. Before that, a small group of us went to Makan Place for a late dinner. This evening was the first time I dared to reach out to a toddler who found a temporary comfort by my side. I wonder if it's the same for all young children, or if I had something in me that never failed to invite them to stand beside me. Somehow, it fills me with joy inside, calming my senses, making me feel as if I were floating in the air..

"Luck favours a prepared mind" John Chng, TCP manager

7 nights later, though I could not remember the plot, I was still able to go places with them.

Yet Another Blessing In Disguise, Perhaps?

All things come in Threes. I'll make a list, before going on to my long story for the day. Lecture today was surprisingly short. Received an email with the opportunity to help change the school. Completed the final paper for ED, with the confidence of an A grade. Bad start for the test in school. Bad stomach upset in school. Did not make the interview for the trip.

This morning, I got out of bed without a good feeling. Subconsciously, my mind was telling me to sleep through the day. The dreams I had the night before, felt too good to be true. Reminds me of the morning of the posting results, though it was somewhat different. Dragged myself to school, as there was a test to be held at 8.30am. We were delayed till 9.20am, as here were some technical issues with the online test. We sat for a written test instead. Went to bind my assignments, but sadly, the lecturers were not in the office at the time. Dropped off the projects and went off for lunch. Went off to the washroom for an unpleasant start to the afternoon, before heading for the last lecture of the semester, which lasted an hour. Went for the final test, after some help from Hong Peng, which greatly boosted my chances of getting an A grade for the paper.

On 29th February, I spent 2 minutes in a room. I felt the same cold, dark feeling which I felt inside of me when I failed my first attempt at a driving test after a near accident with a primier taxi, when I left the room. Here's a copy of my Dream Journal, unedited, dated not too long ago, on Saturday, 30th January 2010. It was just a day after the interview, and I "saw" the results firsthand. What I have here, are notes, as the scenes in my dreams usually jump around from place to place(though the events are ironically able to link themselves together extremely well):

30th Jan'10
day: Sunday, 7th Feb'10 ??
time: late morning/ early afternoon
venue: some function room large enough to hold 40

Confirmation of OMF applicants(announcement by 2 members of panel)
>failed interview
>>students who were asked questions about selves, studies, trip-related = accepted(no names mentioned)
>>>first meeting for successful applicants held on 14th _____(month)??
>joel,glenn,sarah..
[END]

Apparently, the dream started with the flashback of the dialogue session held on the 28th. Somehow, after the session, when everyone went for another round of refreshments, a white board was brought in. A piece of paper covered the board. 2 members of the panel came in. Silence was in the air. One of them said,"students who were asked questions about yourselves, about your studies, or any trip-related questions would be accepted without ay questions asked." They left, without mentioning any names, and with the board remaining in the room. I accepted it as though nothing had happened. In the crowd, I saw only familiar faces. Something that woke me up, was the fact that there was no way I could communicate with my friends who were successful. Whenever I tried to congratulate them, it was as if I appeared to be non-existant to them. Even as they bumped into me, they just walked on to the others as though nothing had happened.

Last Friday, the results were known. Today, the 8th of Februay 2010, the results were released. It might be disappointing, but, it wouldn't be fair to hog a vacancy for someone who's better wouldn't it? Back on Tuesday, 19th February 2008, it was similar to what I may have felt after waking, but today's pain, is nothing compared to what I felt that day. Not getting into the course I wanted badly migth have been a great deal back then, but it has become some sort of a blessing in disguise as my parents might put it. If not for that one extra point, all this might not have happened at all. I got a feeling, this time round, yet another blessing might be just round the corner, waiting for me to receive it.

The next challenge awaits!

NJC-NP Joint Comminuty Service Project to Dumaguete City, Philippines-Part 5

Today's a very special day. It marks one year after I first entered the school for my first lesson. The first lesson I had at 9am was Engineering Math, and we were doing some basic tutorials on functions, practically A Math stuff. Ever since I left MI, I wondered whether the choice of going to study in a polytechnic, where the style of learning and the environment were very different from what I had been going through for the past 10 years, was the right one to make. Before that, the past 4 years I had were eyeing that one spot in a junior college, until last year, that one month of experience totally forced me to make serious reconsideration. If I was operating at 80% capacity in a centralised institute and yet score single digits for every test in the first month alone, I might not even stand a chance going beyond the first term in a junior college. Thus, I made the decision to go to a polytechnic. I had wanted to get into aerospace technology, but perhaps I was destined to take another route, one that had easier competition and more doors to many portals. In February 2008, I was posted to Mechanical Engineering. So, after all those months of work and slacking, I'm now here. Indeed, being posted to a course with a sky-high cut-off point was a blessing in disguise.

Anyways, on to the fifth day of the reflections. If not for the posting to my current course, I might not be here today posting stuff about a joint community trip to a foreign land. So, off we go, with the fifth day.

It was the fifth day, and also the highlight of the trip. In the morning, we met up with our students before having Joey leading the warm up, playing games such as before we settled at a corner to ask our students about their ambitions. Ivan wanted to be a nurse like his mother, so that in future, he could use the money he earns to build a house for her. Dellwen wanted to be a chef to cook delicious food for his family in future and others. Mierco wanted to become a scientist who would come up with new ingredients and food to contribute to the community. I was taken aback by their dreams, for although they still young children, they had already have made rough plans for what they wanted to do in the future! I remember that even at that young age, all that I ever wanted to do, was to study hard and clear my PSLE so that I could get into a good secondary school. Dreams could come later on in life. In addition, the students all wanted to take their education to a higher level, to go on to study at a high school before going on to a college or university in future. The children were also given the assignment of letter writing. They would reply to the letters written to them by friends from NJC. As they were not veterans with their usage of grammar and vocabulary, we stood by them, providing them with assistance in correcting their mistakes. Although the letters they wrote were simple as compared to the letters written by an average 10 year-old child in Singapore, these children wrote their letters with great sincerity and effort, and that was what made their work stand out.

We returned to the centre for lunch, and started off on our rehearsals for the Cultural Night performance. It started out badly at first, for most of us had forgotten some lyrics to some songs. The Cultural Night committee went straight into an urgent meeting to find a solution for the problem at hand. We decided to not sing for two song items, but we would go on to perform all the songs with actions. We noticed some of the children from Candau-ay Elementary School who had come down five hours ahead of the Cultural Night to watch our rehearsals and attend the concert later in the evening. Although we wanted very much to spend time with them, we had a goal, to put on a good performance for our hosts at Saceda Youth Lead, representatives, principals and teachers from the schools around Dumaguete and not to forget, the children we made friends with.

Soon, it was dinner, and an hour later at 8pm, it was time for the Cultural Night. We were greeted with another pleasant surprise when we were told that a traditional percussionist band was there that evening to not only watch our performance, but perform for us as well! The opening ceremony of the Cultural Night was very solemn, with the singing of national anthems, but once that was done, the mood changed in the blink of an eye. Everyone was in high spirits, ready to celebrate the time we had that night.

Our performance that evening went very well indeed. It was followed by a performance by a cultural percussionist band, and there was the finale, where we all danced to the music played by the band! The band’s music was something that I have never heard before, very original indeed. Their music gave me a feeling of peace in my mind and soul. I felt like I was floating in the air, relaxing, forgetting my worries. Moreover, the instruments they played were all hand crafted by them, from recycled materials. Remarkable. After the Cultural Night ended, some of us stayed behind to admire their instruments and their music, before they left on their journey to perform at another location.

That night, was also the only night where we had supper. We were given eggs to eat. However, the eggs were only the tip of the iceberg. There was something more to the eggs. Inside each egg, there was an embryo. Some had tiny bones and feathers, some had none. Yes, the egg yolk and egg white was still in the egg, so except for the embryo, the egg was still normal. That is the Balout. It was voted the Second Most Exotic Food in Asia by the National Geographic.

For consuming the Balout, we got a reward. It was a biscuit covered with bread crumbs, with a layer of cream sandwiched in between two pieces of biscuit. The cream tasted like vanilla ice cream, only better. Once again, the night ended with another debrief.

Tomorrow's the final day of our module, and after that, it's freedom for the next few days before school reopens again. There would be a group presentation in the morning, followed by lunch, and everyone would go for a movie after that. However, for me, I would be going to sit for an evaluation test for basic theory at the driving centre. Hopefully I would be able to pass it, book practice sessions every Wednesday for 11am slots and sit for the actual basic theory test on Thursday, 7Th May. Once done I would be taking lessons every Tuesday and Wednesday from 8 to 10.40am, before going to school for self study and lunch till 1pm. Hopefully, I would clear everything by July, latest August, so that I can break the time limitations of taking the public transport home before 12am in future.I just hope everything can go well without any errors tomorrow.

JAE 09 Day 4

Today's JAE duty, was not really a duty afterall, it seems. Today, would definitely be the most relaxed day for me over the week.

I overslept, waking at 7.40am this morning. However, I was in luck for I managed to arrive in school at 8.40am. The lessons for today had a rather light schedule, allowing me to get some rest before 3pm.

However, it turned out that all that was uncalled for, as when I arrived at the convention centre for the final slot of the JAE duty, the place was very empty, and people were already starting to clear the area. Signed my attendance, and within minutes, I too, found myself helping to clear some of the exhibits there. I got the best job of all today, helping to carry the gigantic plane model(a scale which you would not find at the usual plane model stalls). The feeling was simply great! Comparing it with the A380 model I have at home(I sort of forgot the scale), I must say that this one is about 2 times its size! I'm still regretting that I did not take a photo of the model(although it might not be allowed).Guess someone's starting to get jealous. Along the way, it seems that others knew about my performance during the last semester, even though I tried to keep a low profile. It's almost the end of the second semester, so I guess even if they knew now, it's fine, as I have gotten over it, and I doubt it would affect my performance for this semester(extremely high times almost always spell really low times for me).

Throughout those four days, even if there was no cash to claim, or no points to be awarded, I would say it was a rare experience, to get to know more friends and lecturers, as well as gain greater insight about the course that I am currently pursuing. Apart from that, I have met students from all over the country, and perhaps, maybe even from around the world, although it was only for four days. It sure was interesting and fun, as well as a pleasure, to work with lecturers from the academic schools, although I do not know the majority of them. With that, I am so coming back to help again next year in 2010!

After that, I forgot to pack my texztbook for the next lesson, so, with the remaining time, I rushed home to repack my stuff, and headed back to school once again with a lighter load. Class was fun today, and at 8.10pm, we left for home. Looking forward to waking late again tomorrow, slacking the morning away and working myself to sleep from 2pm to 6pm over the weekend.

JAE 09 Day 3

*Before I begin, some parts of the post might not be allowed to be posted in here(I'm not sure if everything I have posted here is allowed), so, if there is a certain segment of the post which you might not wish to be included in here, please do leave a tag. Thank you.*

Today, for the first time this term, things seemed to be coming back onto the right track, at least academically. CCA wise, I'm still on the downside.

Today was the day for interdisciplinary Studies modules, and I'm still taking up the modules Individual And the Community and Communication Toolkit. Our survey questions and interview questions were great, meaning that for now, we're on step closer to the coverted 'A' grade for the module, thus, the need to carry on at the current pace.

As for Communication Toolkit, things were getting better, as I got damn close to the targeted 'A' grade. I got a B+ grade instead for the 2 minute impromtu speech, which I guess I did put in some effort. I lacked the courage, as well as the proper pronunciation which has always been my weakness. I can still remember parts of the speech, though it might not be the actual or complete version of what I presented in class today:

"Well, before I begin, I would like everyone to imagine. You are on a plane, which is already in line with the runway, and is about to land. Suddenly, you feel the aircraft land on the runway. Next, you hear the steward's announcement," Ladies and Gentlemen, we have landed at Terminal 3 of Singapore Changi International Airport. Thank you for travelling with our airline and have a nice day!" Everyone, we are now in Singapore.

Well, my topic for today is on Tourism in Singapore, and I would like to inform you about the up coming tourist locations in Singapore, as well as give a brief introduction about the nightlife of Singapore.

Firstly, Singapore has many upcoming tourist locations, such as the Integrated Resort at the Marina area, which would be completed in future. The Integrated Resort would provide 10000 jobs for the people in the tourism industry, and it also houses one of the first two casinos in Singapore. Next, at Singapore's island resort, Sentosa, there are resorts and golf courses, as well as three beaches there. I'm sorry, but Australian women are not allowed to move around topless at the beaches. Next, There are also new shopping centres coming up along Orchard Road in the near future.

Moving on to my second point, I would now introuduce briefly the nightlife in Singapore. There are nightclubs mainly at Harbourfront and Clarke Quay, and once there, you would hear the frequent exclaimations of 'Cheers' among merrymen after they are served their alcoholic drinks.

Finally, in summary, I have informed everyonr about the upcoming tourism locations in Singapore, as well as given everyone a brief introduction about the nightlife in Singapore. I believe that, as long as the Singapore government could overcome obstacles like the Singapore flyer incident where visitors 'enjoyed' five and a half hours of free flight without any air conditioning, and of course, without the wheel moving at all, in future, at the rate Singapore is proressing, the tourism industry in Singapore would definitely prosper.Thank you."

For now, my current grade should be around a C grade. Just have to do well for the remaining 3 weeks for both modules, and I would be able to gain at least a decent GPA of 3.5 just for these 2.

After class today, went to the convention centre for the JAE once again, but today, it was a little boring. There were nto many people of whom I knew who were there today, though I managed to make a couple of new friends along the way. After 5.30pm, I was mentally and physically drained once again, and left for CCA, which left me even more mentally and physically drained. For now, I just hope that I would be able to wake in time for school tomorrow, which would be my fourth and final day at the convention centre for the week and the last day of JAE.

JAE 09 Day 2

The third day of the JAE is my second day on duty. I could not take time off the day before due to the Economics lecture that I could not bear to miss. Speaking of yesterday, it seems that I was so tired after the meet that I was feeling sleepy all the way, although I slept through the night. Today's post might put some people to sleep, so try not to read this before doing anything boring if you don't wish to fall asleep just yet.

Here's briefly what happened. We arrived at Tampines MRT Station very late, and by the time we arrived at Temasek Polytechnic, the sun was already setting. It was about 8 when the first round started, and many things happened after that. I did not really keep track of the time throughout. It was my first time taking part in a friendly match, and I definitely did not know what to do, only until advice came in at the break in between matches. It was definitely the same feeling I had, 2 years ago while taking the Additional Mathematics paper. Mainly thoughts and worries about failure, little about what should be done to make everything go on the right track.
It was about 10.30pm when we all left for home, by bus, then by train. As expected, I was going to miss the last bus from Marina Centre if I alighted from City Hall MRT Station, and even if I managed to reach Bukit Batok Station at 12 midnight, i would miss the last bus home by mere seconds. So, the last option was, take the bus from Clementi Station(not much of a difference actually, but I was tired of climbing the stairs to get to the bus stop).

And, with that, we're on to today. I reached home at 12.20pm, and went to bed at 1, waking at 7.40am this morning. Although the feeling of sleeping through the night was damn nice, I still left home half awake at 8am.

I managed to reach class just in time today, which was unexpected. The Materials lecture was somewhat manageable, and at least the writing kept me awake through most of the lecture. Lunch was fine, but I guess I overdid it by eating a little too much, which made me even more sleepy after that. I was practically dead during the Engineering Mathematics lecture, struggling to listen to the first example before I gave in to sleepiness. That's the only module that I do not mind slacking, but still there is the need for revision, which proved to be true during the tutorial later on at 2pm. For the first time, I required help to answer all the questions. Got to ask about the remaining three questions on Friday again.

At 3pm, left for the convention centre for duty. Today was definitely more busy as compared to Monday. I don't really know what to say here, for many things happened during the 2 and a half hours. I guess everyone there went home with something today. The moment I reached home, only 1 thing was in my mind. Sleep. Took a bath, felt more refreshed, had dinner, felt tired again, and finally took a 30-minute nap before doing some revision(definitely not mathematical nor analytical stuff). Hopefully, tomorrow, I would not feel so dead.

JAE 09 Day 1

Today's the first day of the JAE for 2009, and it's also the day where the 'businessmen' get to relax the most. Instead of telling the 'potential customers' or potential students about the course, we ended up talking about lots of stuff during the first 2 and a half hours of the JAE week, which started at 3pm, although the results were released at 2pm. We came up with a couple of theories about why on the first day of JAE, or rather after the results are released, there are usually few students who visit the polytechnics or take part in the online posting. One was that the students are out celebrating or have broken down after knowing their results. Next was the students already know exactly which path they want to take, so there was no need to visit the polytechnics to undergo course counselling or seek advise from the students and lecturers there. During the time there, I did manage to notice a few schools today at the convention centre, such as MI, Bukit Batok Secondary, St. Margaret Secondary and a student from a CHIJ school. There were others as well, but I was unable to identify the schools by the uniforms.

Today's post is going to be short as well, for this week is one busy week, and I'm giving myself only an hour to post this up.

Next up, was CCA at 6pm. Trained a lot today, and it ended pretty early as well. I guess it's been confirmed. I will be going to Temasek Polytechnic for the friendly match tomorrow evening, and it will also be the first time I'm there(do expect some photographs, if I can remember to take them). So, tomorrow, I'm expecting myself to fall asleep during the journey home, and risk falling asleep again in class on Wednesday. Good thing I'm not down for duty tomorrow, for I might consider skipping the lecture on Wednesday morning if I'm too tired after a day's work tomorrow night.

On Saturday, I can gurantee that I will make full use of the time to sleep and slack in the morning and evening, while having 6 hours to revise my Engineering Mathematics 2, Engineering Drawing and Economics. By the way, the same goes for Sunday, except that I would be going to bed a little earlier at 11.30pm, if there's no one to talk to online.

Great, at least I can control myself a little for now. Just hoping that it does not get out of control, for doing so simply equates to me doing badly in my studies,the same way I did badly after Secondary 1.

Another New Start, Perhaps?

I just have one thing to say about myself over the weekend. Pathetic. I was supposed to be doing revision and project since Saturday, but i ended up getting very little done. Economics, I ended up getting stuck, not knowing how I should go about with the assignment. Mathematics, I must stop slacking as soon as possible, before I fail the the final test in slightly more than a month's time. So far, I am only glad that I managed to make some progress in the project under IAC. Alright. Let's stop all the nonsense talk that not studying carries chances of getting straight As. That was only possible as I had the so-called beginner's luck with me during the first semester. Now, it's coming to the end of the second semester and I'm still living in the sea of beliefs. If I do not navigate out of there soon, I might just get drawn into the whirlpool of failure.

I know I have to get my drive up and going soon, but it's not this week, due to the Joint Admissions Exercise. Damn. Just as much as I want to help others, I want to help myself get the grades and make the mark once again. Alright. I hate to say it, but if nothing goes well this coming week, I might consider suspending myself from CCAs all the way till when the exams are over.

[Blog Update]
Anyways, I have updated the playlist on the blog. This time it's from the game, DJ Max. The song sounds a bit like the one you hear in one of the maps in MapleSEA. I have forgotten which map though, as I seldom play games nowadays.

Please, don't let it happen again. I have made a promise, and I'm trying very hard to keep it. Please, even if it must be broken, at least allow it to be broken in March during the holidays. Just not now. It's still too early and I'm still in the first year.

First week of school in Calendar Year 2009

The first week of school this year was the most chaotic week since I first stepped into a polytechnic. In the first 5 days alone, lots of things happened. First was the common test results. On Monday, the first shock came. 62 for the Engineering Drawing test. Actually, I could say that I did well for the paper, as I have never gotten more than 60 marks for drawing after secondary 1. On Tuesday, I did up to my expecatations for the Economics paper, at 61.5. I was expecting something worse, like 55 out of a total 100 marks. Really could have done better if I had not misread the last question and scored there. Wednesday was the best day of the week, seeing me getting As all the way for the Engineering Materials test and Engineering Mathematics 2.
Here's the summary for all the commom tests in the last term:

Engineering Drawing 62/100
Economics 61.5/100
Engineering Materials 88/100 (my favourite grade)
Engineering Mathematics 91/100
(could have done better, for I lost a total of 9 marks due to carelessness. Damn)

Next up, we have got projects. Note the 's'. This time, I have got 5 projects due in just 4 weeks time. And the best part of it is that, I have not started on a single one! I'm going to be so dead, but anyway, there's still time to change the results of that. First up, we got the very first project presentation that was held on Thursday. That, was purely 100% last minute effort. So all I could say is that, we deserved the C grade. The presentation on that day was a total disaster. I won't elaborate more on that, but I will definitely come back with at least a decent B+ grade, or if better, an AD grade at the end of the semester for the module, Individual And the Community.

The second project would be the Engineering Drawing project that has been going on for some time now, it's still going well, and I'll definitely contribute more the next time we meet up to do our drawing.

The third, is my Economics assignment, which is the only one that requires me to do alone. I have yet to even look at the question for the assignment, which I plan to start on tomorrow afternoon, and complete by Sunday if it's possible.

The fourth, is the first and last official group presentation for the module, Communication Toolkit. Somhow, I have been made the leader of the group when the lecturer wanted a change of leaders. Guess now I have the chance to make a difference for our group, to help all of us get at least an 'A' grade. I still want my 4.0, even if it might seem an impossibility this semester.

The 5th, is the Engineering Materials presentation on an automobile part. We plan to present on the exhaust pipe of a car. I'm still not sure how we're going to do our research and presentation as yet, but I'm sure over the next couple of days, something will come to mind.

Next, on to number 6. There's going to be a 2 minute impromtu speech next week, and I'm hoping that it would not eat into 3pm, for that's the time when I'm helping out at the School of Engineering section at the Convention Centre for the Joint Admissions Exercise. I'm confident of doing well for the speech, and I'm aiming for at least a B grade. Just have to have a good attention getter, interesting points and other stuff to craft out a nice speech that would interest everyone.

Finally, last but not the least, project number 7. This project just came in today. I have to come up with an historical event in Germany, and present it to the class. Actually, for the module, it's not the project that is making me afraid. In fact, it's the class size that's making me afraid. Well, you see, there is a small number of us taking the German language module in the polytechnic, and if the class size falls to below 10, we will not be able to take the module at a higher level in the next semester.

Well then, that's all for the week, and the coming week is going to be worse than this week, for each day, I will be going home very late in the afternoon, or even late in the evening. But I am sure that it's going to be one of the busiest days of the final weeks of the first year, of which I'm starting to gradually lose the confidence of getting a Grade Point Average of 4.0 out of the maximum 4 points for the semester. Oh, and I'm updating the Links List again soon, if I have the time for it.

Simple Goodbye to 2008, Challenging Introduction to 2009

Hi there again! It's been some time since I updated. Alright, first up, the top 15(decided to bring down the number as I felt it might be a little irrelevant).

15. 1 Month long PAE(provisional Admissions Exercise) at MI, from 2nd January till mid February.
Although it was just a month-long stay, I sure made many friends from all over the country, and till today, I still keep in touch with some of them.

14. Many long breaks and holidays.
School life up till the third quarter of last year was pretty slacked, with breaks lasting from as short as 2 weeks to the longest ever of 7 weeks. Even during the school terms during the first semester, the lessons were easy to understand, compared to the second semester where things gt tougher.


13. JAE(Joint Admissions Exercise) posting results

At first it came as a big blow, but over time, I gained much interest in my current course, ME(Mechanical Enginering) although I had very much wanted a place in AT(Aerospace Technology) before that.

12. Combined Toastmasters meeting with RJC and students from Hong Kong.
1 word to describe that 1 reason: Memorable.

11. 4E1-07 Class gathering at IMM.

That was definitely not a night to miss, when we invited Mr Liew to dine with us to celebrate Teachers' Day.


10. 42km runway cycle.
That was the first time I ever cycled such a distance, and on a heavy bike as well. I successfully cycled the distance, but with a couple of stops along the way for breaks.

9.Cycling the East Coast Park- Changi Village route twice in a year
The first time I travveled that route with friends from the Cycling Club, it was one tough challenge, with a short stop over at Changi Village to stock up on water and have lunch. Instead, I went to buy chocolates to eat while cycling back, which made things a little worse on the return part, as I could not cycle at the normal rate while eating. On the second time with a couple of friends, this time, we were able to cover the distance over a much shorter period of time, even though we stopped quite a number of times to watch planes landing an taking off from an active runway of Changi Airport, not too far from the cycling track.

8. First birthday celebration organised by friends
Earlier in March this year, it was a single sms that made me realise that I was actually noticed in class(I used to be so quiet that I always had a nice, cosy corner to myself). Really have to thank them once again for the gifts, dinner and cake, so thank you guys! So, getting a year "younger" to 17 was great I guess?

7. No Camps in 2008.
If I remember correctly, I did not attend a single camp in 2008, although I did attend orientation programmes organised by the Mechanical Engineering Society, Cycling Club and the Student Toastmasters Club.

6. Collection of 'O' Level stuff from YCSS
Decided to fill in this spot with something different, so ya. I guess that might be the last time I went to the school's office to collect a document that belonged to me, unless, in future I return as a teacher(which I'm still considering if I have not made up my mind on what I really want to do in future).

5. 08S6(PAE class) gathering at East Coast Park
This was the very first class gathering that I organised, which turned out very well, except that the weather was not in our favour that day.

4. 08S6(PAE class) second gathering
That day was the first time I brought girls home(please notice the 's'). Yes, that was the first time. Usually I brought only guys to my place for projects and the like, but that day, was solely to slack, just one day before the posting results were out. That, was the first successful barbeque for the class, and I hope it might not be our last.

3.Earned a place on the Director's List of Students
I had expected to be in the list, but never to claim the top position for the first semester. For the second semester of the academic year, I guess i might not be so lucky, for to date, I have quite a number of B and C grades, and possibly failure grades as well.

2.New Computer
The third laptop that I owned since 2003. This time, it's a Windows Vista operated Fujitsu S7211. At first during the first term, I used it purely for studying, but over the months I started installing games to kill time. Now, it's become such an asset that I don't really know what to do should I lose it.

1. 2 day 1 night stay at Downtown East Resort.
Learnt many things during the night of the stay, some of which came in handy when I walked the longest distance ever back home from the Marina Countdown.

So, now that you have the top 15 of 2008, let's head off into 2009! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

The first minutes of 2009 was welcomed with a big bang. Met up with a few friends at city hall at 6.30pm on Wednesday, 31st December 08,and we ate quite a lot at Swensen's, before going to the esplanade, to slack, before going to Merlion Park to find a place, stay there for 2 hours and watch the fireworks at 12am, on the first second of 2009.

The next part is practically about madness. After the event, there was a large crowd moving toward the City Hall MRT Station and the Raffles Place MRT Station. I got lost after they went to take the train home from Raffles Place MRT Station. So, somehow, I ended up at Tanjong Pagar after 30 minutes of walking at 1am. Over the next hour, I set off for Raffles City via Clarke Quay and Chinatown(somehow I managed to do that, though i did not know exactly where I was headed). That was the worst part of the journey, but I won't go on with the minor details(it's going to be one long story). At 2am, I found myself back on the route home when I arrived at Raffles City. So, from that point on, it was mainly the physical part of the journey. For the next 2 hours, I continued traveling on foot from Raffles City to Clementi, with 3 breaks of 10 minutes each. The toughest part was at Holland Village, where I had to take a slightly different route due to the on-going construction works there. I still enjoyed the 10 minute bus ride home though I had to pay $3.50 just to cover the last quarter of the journey. It was very difficult to complete the last part of the journey without transport, as although I had passed that area many times over the years, I still do not find it safe to walk there, as it's an industrial site.

At 4.40am, I reached home. After waking up at 10am, I did some calculations, estimating that I covered a distance of at least 14 km from Raffles City to Clementi, taking my average speed to be 6 kmh and total time spent of walking as 2hours(excluding resting time).

Anyways, I just hope that this year would be a better year than last year, though this time round, it just felt as though the digit 8 in the calendar was simply replaced by the digit 9. Since the journey home, I had been thinking of some resolutions, though I have not come up with the list yet(don't worry it's not as long as you think it is).

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!

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.

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!

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.

On Vacation'08-Part 1

Yep! The holidays have officially started this week, and it's been a busy week so far. Oh, before we go on, this is the first of a weekly seven part series, on every Friday. Bringing weekly updates into the holidays as we progress into the next semester. The first week, was like a catapult on an aircraft carrier, propelling me into the holiday mood.

Monday-Tuesday:
The first ever class outing on this vacation seemed a great way to kick off this vacation, as we had a 2 day 1 night stay at a chalet at Downtown East. Met up with Yin Feng at 1.55pm, before An Yan came and we took a bus to the resort to meet up with the rest who were already waiting to check into the chalet. The chalet was way smaller than the one at Aloha resort, which was at least three times larger than our current one. There was a barbecue, followed by games and a drinking session? As the sun set, so did the aura of darkness overcome its chains that bore it down during the day. There were many parties being held, and playful pranks were in abundance, though the mess was expected, that did not stop a large group of students on a study trip to stay at the resort. As the place became darker, so did the intensity of some of the celebrations. All that I would say that, some things were unprecedented, but have taught us many lessons. At 10.40pm, Jian Hui,Jun Jie and I escorted Hamzi and Janna to the MRT Station and taxi stand respectively. That was due to past experience of what my friends experienced earlier this year, that we decided to do the same just in case something similar happened. As we approached midnight,I noticed that the place was sort of broken into three small parts(I related to them as the partying area, the middle line and the peaceful zone). We were in the Middle Line, as we were in the middle of the chalets of the partying students and those where tourists and students stayed at for the night. That night, a series of events brought us closer together, as well as a series of lessons that we will never forget.

Wednesday:
Today would have to be the day that I found courage to go for my first job interview. I had a strange, monotonous tone during the interview, which I had never experienced before. Strange. Well, till today, I have yet to receive a call that I have been selected for the job later during the vacation. Anyway, if by next Friday i have not received a call, I doubt I would have the time to get a job, and would be back to studying in preparation for the next semester's modules. After the interview, I decided to have a preview of the Comex, by walking to Funan to take a look at the games,earphones and tablet add-ons for my laptop. The pricing for some of the products were reasonable, but,I thought that maybe I would get those gadgets if I had received my pay, should I get a job. Headed home at 6pm.

Thursday:
8 days before the registration for Basic German 102(sequel to the Basic German enrichment programme that ended last semester) closes. I went back to school for the registration at 3pm, but sadly, I forgot the last digit of the pin. Oh crap. This was the third time I had forgotten something as important as that. The first time wasn't that important as it was a game, the second time, it was for the gym, the third was my password for my library account. This is the fourth, and I promised myself, today, would be the last time I would forget something as vital as the ATM PIN. With all that free time left, I headed to Suntec Convention Centre for Comex 2008. I happened to meet Darren by coincidence at the fourth floor. He was there with his dad and sis. The booth layout for the fair was alot better with more space for walking, but, one thing that was missing this time round, was the presence of good deals for computer accessories. Maybe that was due to the fact that today was the first day of the fair. After two hours, I reached home at 6pm.

Friday:
Today, met up with Andy and Zhong Rong at 7.45 at Lakeside MRT Station before going back to Yuan Ching to watch the Teachers' Day performance. there was a new segment, the school's new mass dance. Though I did not know how to go about doing it, the thought of mass dance brought back memories from the first month spent at MI. I'm wondering how the teachers who took the effort to take us on a tour into the realm of life in a JC, are doing. It's been 6 months since I last entered the school gates, though I still see it occasionally as I used to live there more than 10 years ago.

Anyway, back to the performance, it's still the same as the previous years, although there were not as many performances put up by the main performing arts groups. The class parties were brought down, to be held at the intra-school level, so as to liven up the celebration, and also to allow teachers to be with more than one class at any one time. Kudos to the organising committee for overlooking those factors.

This was proven by some of the teachers we met today, and this year, the school saw many former students coming back to see their teachers. I must say, that today was almost like a reunion for 4E1, with at least three quarters of the class being present in school today. Mr Liew even joked about going to one of the classrooms for a recap on differentiation and integration to bring back the memories we shared during his lively lessons which I till miss till today.

At 1pm, Andy,Randall, Gabriel, Chong Siang and I left for Boon Lay after collecting our testimonials and certificates. Andy had to head home to get ready for his swimming training, while the rest of us headed to Jurong Point for lunch. At 2pm, Randall and I left for the bank to reset my ATM PIN, before we went to Singapore Polytechnic so that he could submit a form for a camp. We the took bus 74 to Ngee Ann Polytechnic for my second attempt to make the payment for the Basic German 102 course. At first, the machine could not read the card which caused quite a scare, but on the second attempt, I finally successfully made the registration! Now, we went on to Vivocity to help Sean(MI friend) search for a high grade perfume that fetched a 3-digit price tag. Well then, I'm sorry, but exactly what errand I was running for Sean, must be kept a secret till who knows when. This afternoon, one thing I noticed was, every time he answered the phone with a smile, you could almost be sure that he was enjoying precious moments with someone precious. And today was no exception as well.

Randall and I rushed back to Clementi at 5.40pm to get ready for a small reunion dinner. After that at 8pm, the group of us who sat together for dinner went to the sports complex for 2 hours of billiards. Randall and I left early as we were too tired to continue. many Thanks to Randall for accompanying me for the whole afternoon today!!

Right now, I realised that I am feeling lost again. Would I meet that person soon? Is that person already in my life, just waiting for me to take notice? I have got no idea, and I seem to have lost my resolve in holding the bow and arrow, which could be the explanation to why I am feeling lost. Perhaps, dreams could help me see the answers to these questions, and hep me overcome these times once again.

A day ago,
we exchanged greetings.
A week ago,
We engaged in conversations.
A month ago,
We went almost everywhere together.
A year later,
Would those times still be there?

One day,
We met.
Every week,
We promised to be together always.
Each Month,
We would catch up on lost time.
A year,
Could our hopes last?

No one knows for sure what exactly could happen next. For now, I will just keep searching for the answers, hoping that one day, I would definitely find the precious stone and treasure it like there was no tomorrow.

Return of the long-term break

The holidays have arrived again! Yes, this time, standing at 8 weeks(including this week), it's longer and perhaps, far better than the long break after the PAE period. This might seem all too appealing to the JC students, but, I don't really like the luxury of extremely long breaks, as it greatly reduces and kills the momentum that has been building up for the past 4 months. I' m considering getting a job for the first time during the break, but, I'm also not sure if I'm up for it.

Anyway, today's paper, was, as expected, the easiest among the three. Yet, ironically this was also the module that I spent the least amount of time to study for. Compared to the 10 hours I spent on Math, 6 hours I spent on Electrical Technology, I spent a meagre 1 hour on Mechanics alone. And that 1 hour of revision was done only yesterday. The language used in that paper was somewhat similar to the standard used in the "O" Level Additional Mathematics papers. Just read the question, and you would know right away what kind of question you were going to face. The Mathematics paper, for most of the time, all you had to do was simply to look at the question to know how you were going to answer the question. I would still say that the Electrical Technology paper was the most challenging, whereby each question carried a certain level of difficulty. And, true enough, this paper was definitely many times tougher than the common test which was held 2 months back. However, there is one thing in common in two of the three papers. The last question was always the one that would kill off the average students, who simply revise jut enough to pass the respective modules. The last question in both the Mathematics and Mechanics papers carried a total of 12 marks, which meant the difference between an extremely low A grade and a Distinction grade.The mathematics question proved itself to be one of the toughest any student who took the module had ever come across. As for the Mechanics paper, it was simple on first glance. But, if one were to do the calculations on paper in black and white, one would find the solution to the question to be extremely tedious, thus running a high risk of making a careless mistake.

On the whole, I will definitely secure a decent A+ grade, if not, I might be able to get my first AD grade.After the exam, half of the class headed to West Mall to catch the movie, Money No Enough 2. I won't say that the movie was not good, nor was it excellent either, though visibly, there were a handful of great actors and actresses in there. Though touching at times, the jokes also managed to pack quite a punch, creating a great ambiance at the start.

I headed home at 3.30pm, before heading to the nature park for a run after the rain, which proved to be a very big mistake. Firstly, I did not place the pedometer in the correct position in my pocket, which resulted in reading only 0.673 kilometers and less than 900 steps. Next, the frequent sprints every few hundred meters made me feel so weak that I felt like collapsing shortly after reaching home. Now, I'm down with a mild fever. So, I guess tomorrow, I might have to end up giving up on going on the Sentosa trip with the rest of the class. Even if I could Make it there tomorrow, I doubt I will have much energy for some of the activities there as well.

A leap throught time

This post was meant for yesterday...

Yesterday marked the start of the examination of the first semester. Just like back at the "O" Levels, the first paper was a Mathematics paper. It seemed easy at first, but, as you progressed along, one would feel as though he was scaling the height of K2. The last question practically killed almost everyone in the examination room. 12 Marks just to prove who could get the "AD" grade. What kind of madness was that?If my calculations were correct, I would be able to manage a maximum of 84 marks, which would secure an A grade. However, if the marker was strict, I would have to make do with 70 marks, which carries the B+ grade.

After the paper, I headed home to clear my mind of the ordeals of that paper by taking a short nap, followed by more revision for the next paper, Electrical Technology, at 3pm. I was still messing up the formulae for Electromagnetism and some other concepts. Although I managed to clear part of my doubts through the last paper that I tried, there was still the minor portions of the module that I had yet to clear. After an hour and thirty minutes at 4.30pm, I went to turn the TV on, out of boredom(I had lost my drive in revision after getting most of the tougher questions wrong on the first attempt). I happened to catch the third, fourth and part of the fifth match between Team Singapore's Women's Table Tennis Team against the South Korean Team. Well, it seemed to be going quite well after watching the fifth match, so I though maybe I should go for a short run(I planned earlier on Wednesday to measure the distance I covered on the route yesterday). My dad accompanied me on the first 1.5 km, and I continued on the remaining 3.5 after we reached the traffic light before the nature reserve. We set off at 6pm. As we covered the route, there were lots of occasional cheering from the nearby cluster of blocks of flats. From there, I could already tell that Singapore was just inches away from the window that would grant the city-state her first Olympic medal in 48 years(first ever since independence in fact).

Somehow, I managed to pace myself such that I covered 5 kilometers in 20 minutes, which was really surprising, as I had walked part of the distance and even waited at for the traffic lights to turn green twice. Maybe I should go for a second attempt on Monday to be doubly sure that I had covered exactly 5 kilometers yesterday. And upon reaching home, the Singapore women's' Table Tennis team really defeated the South Koreans to enter the finals! CONGRATS!!This also grants Singapore at least a silver medal in this year's Olympic games in Beijing.

On to today....

This morning, the second paper was Electrical Technology, another tough paper. Although the paper of somewhat manageable, I made a serious blunder at the 3rd question, which cost me 6 marks. If not for that question, I would be able to be assured of at least an A grade, but now, like the Mathematics paper yesterday, I run the risk of scoring between 75 and 84 marks for this paper. The last paper's on Monday, and that would be my last chance to turn the table around for this semester.

After the exam, went with the rest of the class for lunch, before heading to the library to get Jian Hui teach me the fundamentals of torque(a crucial topic if I wanted to get at least an A+ grade), before I head home with Jenere at 1.30pm.

Slept till 5.40pm, before I got ready to go for dinner at a restuarant at Velocity with my relatives. The food sure was delicious! Thanks alot! And, I guess I got another job offer, this time as a phone promoter, but I'm still not sure if I should head out to work, or just stay at home to enjoy life and relax as much as I can till the nest semester. I don't wish to repeat the same mistake of relaxing too much like this term, which has already potentially caused my loss in 3 A grades this semester.

Tomorrow's going to be one heck of a day, with the last chance to get at least an A+ grade on Monday(to make things easier, the Mechanics paper is always one of the easiest to do extremely well in, so the chances of getting full marks for that paper are pretty high).

National Day '08

This week, was actually, extremely unpredictable. First, I started habering random thoughts(the kind I never thought of before, but fre not, they are not the foolish kind of thoughts). Then, on Monday and Tuesday, things seemed to be going real well, but then, on Wednesday, disater struck. That's the first time I failed in something that I had so much confidence in. Yesterday seemed to be the only fine day, when I could do things normally. Anyway, the other days are over, so perhaps I should worry about those things afer te examinations, and concentrate on the up coming exams which is in less than a week's time. Tonight, I realised that I am not really myself, but still, I have got no idea exactly what it is.


On to today, I finally have the chance to return toYuan Ching again. Met up with Darren at 8.25 before joining up with the others at the bus stop. We then adjourned to school. Things have changed so much. The school budget seemed to have increased, and they have upped the number of vending machines by 3 from 1 to 4. For the first time after leaving the school, there was no parade, nor was there any performances. Well, at least the school kept that 4 year old tradition of having a carnival to raise funds for the school. Andy also gave his valedictory speech oday upon receiving the Most Outstanding 'O' Level result award and the All Rounder Award. And, Mr Hon is back! Yes, he's back, and that would also mean that the school's discipline would be climbing back up to where he initially left it a year ago. After everyone left at 11.20, Randall finally arrived. We headed to the office only to realised the clerk was not around. So, we decided to return on the 29th of August to collect our testimonials and certificates.





We went on to Jurong Point to meet up with Zhong Rong and the others for lunch. Once there, we did not eat anyting as either the queues were way too long or there were not enough seats for us. In he end, the rest of the guys went ahead to town, while Randall, Xiu Wi and I went to SP. Randall and I went for lunch, while Xiu Wei went for her lesson. After that, w went to his classroom to slack or an hour from 1.30 to 2.30pm. After that, I left at 2.30pm fo school, as the last lesson was starting at 3pm. There was a National Day celebration going on at the convention centre, but, it seemed that I din't have time for that as arrived in school right on the dot, and I was already lucky enough to be on time.





Anyway, after tonight, no, maybe after tomorrow night, then I will really start studying. I still want that 4.0!Tonight was also the opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.Oh and photos will be up soon!



Could I be experiencing what some friends know as being emotional? Or, is it some other thing? I have never experience something as advese as this before. Being irritated for a moment, followed by feeling worried during the next and then feeling extrememly high and so on. I feel as though something worse might be coming, but, I have got no idea what could happen next, other than to just take things as they come, which is not really the best way out of things in situations like this. Someone help me please...

Second Full Run-Part 2

Today was a really tiring day. In the morning there was the gym session again, and we had to do abs exercises. It was only the third or fourth exercise when everyone became half-dead. Long time since I had trained like that. Even for the running part, I lost alot of stamina and speed.

After that was CATS, and our group got an A grade for the previous assignment. Another A for the first term. CATS has got another assignment in line for us again, and this time round, we have got to come up with a video as the final product. Tomorrow I would be getting the third and final result for the common test. And I'm positive that it's going to be another A+ grade.

So, after school, went to KAP with Jian Hui, Hamzi, Amanda, Janna, Jun Jie and Yin Feng for lunch. Submitted the Eltech project there as well. So, it's back to 5 projects again.

After that, at around 3pm, went home for a short nap before heading back to school for another round of rehearsals. Slacked alittle, rehearsed alittle, crapped alittle, and at 10pm, we were done with another day's work. On Monday, it would be the first full dress rehearsal and that would also be the first time the AV crew will be in action for the actual performance.


By the way, TO YCSS 4E1 PEOPLE, YOUR 'O' LEVEL CERTIFICATES AND TESTIMONIALS ARE READY FOR COLLECTION!! Anyone free on any day to head back to the school to collect the certificate and testimonial with me??

Anyways, heres another poem that I had a sudden urge to compose, which I don't think would be a good one, since it's been a long time since I did something like that.

The night so serene,
The shadows providing shelter for the soldiers of darkness.
The peacemaker hiding among the moonlight,
Waiting for the perfect moment,
To lay his sword on the menacing darkness.

The night so calm,
The wind fuelling the coldness of the air.
The fire burns among the piles of wood,
Waiting for the perfect moment,
To conquer the icy elements.

Results

The start to the new term was sort of great, but then again, it was not so good. Here's what happened. On Monday, we collected three of our Common Test results. I had straight As for my tests so far, and I have been feeling high over that for slightly more than three days now. I had 88/100 for Engineering Mathematics 1, 80/ 100 for Electrical Technology and 95/100 for Computer Programming, which I topped the class unexpectedly.

I must admit though, though the results for Engineering Mathematics 1 and Electrical Technology were promising, I did not put in much effort into the paper. It's all due to carelessness and mis-interpretation of concepts, but, I must say, it was just because of over confidence that the paper would be damn easy, that I ended up losing the unecessary marks. For the very next examination, the Semestral Examination, I will put in 100% for every paper, so that I will avoid the unecessary loss of marks like what has been happening since Secondary school.

I'm still waiting for the revelation of the last paper on Friday, and that isthe module of Engineering Mechanics. By the way, in case you do not know what Engineering Mechanics and Electrical Technology are, they are two modules that make up your Science known as Physics. Electrical Technology covers the elctrical part of the subject, while Engineering Mechanics covers the force-related topics in Physics.

And now, on to yesterday. Darren and I had arranged to meet up on Monday to collect our 'O' Level certificates yesterday. We met at the school bus stop, took a bus to Clementi MRT Station, took a train to Lakeside MRT Station, and walked to school. On the way, we met Ming Wei who was heading home, and Chong Siang, who was coincidentally also heading back to the school with us. Once there, the security guard had changed, and we were not stopped like what happened earlier this year. Anyway, we went to the office and met some teachers who taught us back in those years.

We were told that only the testimonials for 4E3, Darren's class, was ready for collection. 4E1's(our class') testimonials were still being sorted out. So, we had to come back another day to collect them. Once done, we took a walk around the school, only to find that some new chanes had been made to the environment there. We found out that there was going to be a performance in school on the 11th in the evening, but were not very sure if it was opened to former students like us. We went to the school library to relax for about an hour, before walking to the staff room with Miss Lee. Talked alot, and we did not talk the way we used to back in those days when we still had the school uniform on us. Anyway, although no longer part of the school, I still look forward to the day that I can visit it again.

You know, I really hoped that there was one day, or maybe, a couple of days where we could just meet up and catch up on lost time. Well, but as time catches up on us, it seems like it would be an eternity before something as good as that could really become a relaity...