Returning to Calm

It's been a week since the school holidays kicked in, and for now, things seem relatively calm. In less than a week's time, new challenges would start pouring in like water, and I would be frantically struggling to handle one thing at a time. For the rest of the semester, I have a one day holiday every Tuesday till October when the second semester begins. That provides me with the hope to regain my streak of As which I lost during the common tests.

This week, I'll start off with CCAs, and with the mornings from 1 to 3am to do some studying. Next week, we're back into the stormy, turbulent sky. Here's one of two poems which I composed the night before. The second one seems relatively long, so I would not be placing it up here.

Among the stars,
She lay on a stream of moonlight

Beaming with hope,
She looked down upon the world.

From the depths below,
He gazed into the wonders of the skies above

Among the moonlight,
He saw her lay elegantly on a star.

I'm getting close, I really am. I got lost once, but not this time. I know it, I really do. I took many wrong turns before, but this time, that route just has got to be the ONE. It's just a matter of time, before I reach that next stop for a gift that would stay by me for a lifetime, like most gifts do.

16609

Today, was the opposite was yesterday. Things got very bad the night before, but the waters were very clam and crystal clear in the morning. Today, the morning was very stormy, and things were extremely ugly, though at night things got better. After a long, long time, I am sure that I would be able to sleep well tonight. This morning, I was woken by a very agonising dream, a dream which materialised into my life as soon as I woke up. Allow me to share this dream with you.

A little introduction to the time I dreamt about this. It was around 5.45am when I woke up, spent about 10 minutes thinking of how the day would go today, before falling asleep again unknowingly. I returned to Dreamland.

The setting was pure darkness. The surroundings were totally pitch black, and it was dead silent. I did not see myself, nor was I able to see any faces or figures. I could not feel myself or anything around me either. I only heard voices. Voices of my friends. Everything started with greetings to one another. There were four of us, two girls, and two guys. Things progressed rapidly, from small talk about almost anything under the sun for quite some time. It felt really great to have found some great friends. However, soon we began having feelings for one another. The atmosphere had changed. Things were reather stable for quite some time before cracks started appearing in our bond. From small hairline cracks, they rapidly evolved into serious, structural cracks which threatened to end something so precious to us. Slowly and steadily, one by one, we broke up. The once lively group of friends is now history. Time check:9.00am

So far, this is what happened from five and a half months ago till today, excluding the last part. Hopefully, the last part would not happen at all. I am doubting the decisions I have been making since the year began in January. Before last December, I have never made any decisions that were wrong which carried very serious consequences. If there was anything that caused the cracks to appear, that would be me. My old self from close to 10 years ago is beggining to make a comeback. I can't let it happen. Never.

I have decided not to change the blogskin for June, as I am currently making preparations to switch to the new codes that are used by the current Blogger. Currently I'm still using the old html codes that are used for webpage design. This coming Sunday I might be adding some new links if I have got the time to do so.

Common Test June'09

This week has been one of the most physcially and mentally challenging week of the semester. 5 papers spread over 4 days, lots of last minute work, accompanied with other stuff that I could have totally ignored.

Monday was AM, and this was one of 3 papers that was purely last minute effort. 100% do-able, would get at least a B grade.

Tuesday morning, was purely suicide. I entered the hall with only 3 hours spent on revision the night before. If I could even pass, it would be a miracle. The afternoon, was more like a stress-reliver for me. Unlike the morning IAM paper, the EM3B paper was a breeze. I finished it in a record time of 50 minutes(the fastest of all my papers for common test this semester). Definitely an A+ grade.

Wednesday, I went in with lots of mixed feelings. TH was the only paper which I did not drink any coffee 30 minutes before entering the examination venue. 30minutes is the time taken for the coffee to take effect. This was the third paper which I did some last minute revision. I did the paper as with little difficulty, but came out with lots and lots of different answers from my friends. A definite pass, but the grade I'll be getting for it would not look good. Went out for a run while getting some fresh air, and helping a friend think of a solution to her problems at the same time that evening. Met Xing Dan on the way, and she showed me a new route that was more challenging than my current route. Would be trying that out tomorrow evening if there is time.

Thursday. Nothing happened, except for a revision class for IA, which cleared up lots of my doubts.

Today. Woke up full of energy at 10, but within an hour, the brightness of the day faded away. I became extremely moody after that. At 12pm, I left for school. Studied for 2 hours before going to the classroom for the IA common test. I'm confident of a B+ grade, but if the marking scheme is lenient for question 3, I would not have much of a problem scoring an A. After the paper ended, went to the market with friends, and went to the Alumni Club House for an urgent meeting which went really well, and I enjoyed the dinner.

Estimated grade tally: 1A, 2Bs, 1C, 1F.

All right then, that's all for today. I doubt many things would be happening over the weekend.

Deep Thoughts

I'm back at square one again

What exactly have I gained?

Memories, of good times and bad times. 

I have yet to hear the clock's chimes. 

Day in, day out.

I see, I hear,I feel.

Things never seem to change much.

The past is known,

The future is waiting to be unwrapped,

The present is here, revealing its surprises before me.

So, what am I going to do next?

What am I going to do about tomorrow?

Will the change I make today change my finish line?

In the end,it's almost as if I'm letting history repeat itself once again.

This is another self composed poem. It would be a coincidence if this was composed before I did tonight. Anyway, I feel as though I'm still dreaming. Finding it hard to explain directly, I decided to return to composing a poem after a long period of time. Lately I have been feeling pretty much lost, unsure of what to do. Hopefully the answer would come soon. 

060609

I can't think of a title for tonight's post, and decided to use the date instead. Come to think of it, why not use the day's date when I'm unable to come up with a nice title for the post? This is the first post which uses the date as a title. 

Today felt somewhat refreshing. I stayed up to study from 2, and I spent so much time trying to figure out one question I feel asleep while thinking of what to do. I woke up at 8.10, and scrambled to prepare for school. The day started badly, but as it progressed, things got better. 

Had Engineering Mathematics 3B lecture for the first two hours, where I managed to solve almost every question for the past 2 common test papers. I can be sure of scoring at least 90 for the common test this Tuesday. Next was thermodynamics. We had a test to prepare us for the common test, and the quiz was rather easy, even though the questions were once problems I did not even know how to solve. I got the feeling that I would be able to get an A grade for this as well. IA. I did improve somewhat, and at least right now I got a better understanding of the module. With that, I declare that I am left with 3 modules to revise. AM(online exercises), IA and IAM are left to revise before I'm confident of getting straight As for this common test.

Somehow this afternoon, I felt high all of a sudden after a group of students entered the lift at the third floor. Apparently We were going up, but they wanted to go down. I couldn't help it but giggle. Oh well, at least they laughed in reply. I was expecting something worse, like a stare. What's more, one of them even said "goodbye" after I left the lift. Wow. 

At the entrance of the classroom, we noticed a group of students from Zhenghua Sec having a buffet outside our classroom. We had our share of the food as well when they left, until a lecturer came out from the staff room and looked at us. We looked back blankly at him for a moment before we walked back into the classroom. He opened the door halfway, stared at us for a moment, before going back to the buffet table. We laughed like there was no tomorrow. Human nature? I guess so. 

I felt sort of 'high' after that, and was not really able to concentrate in class except for the more important parts of the session.Tonight, I have decided not to do any revision unil tomorrow afternoon when I return from the driving centre to book my practicals in advance. I'll be doing AM and IAM tomorrow, but there would not be an all-nighter this time round, as I don't think I'll be needing it tomorrow night. Wednesday night? Let's see how the revision goes till then before I decide to go on with it. 

I have been thinking deeply lately. All sorts of stuff. The more I think about those thoughts, the more child-like I feel of myself. Its happened many times before. How do I control my thoughts? How should I handle myself? Other than saying it to a few trusted friends, would it be fine if I told it to the person of whom my thoughts concerned? If I did, would I end up scaring him or her? If I wanted to let him or her know, was the time and setting right for me to say it? 

Pre-June Common Test All-Niter

Anyone game for it? 2am to 5am later in the morning? i have 2 tutorials due later, and a test as well. I'm prepared for the test, but my tutorials are half complete. For me, I come alive after midnight, and I'm at my best in the evening between 2am and 6am. Since there's going to be school later from 9am to 4pm, I'll have only 3 hours. Whatever that's incomplete, I'll have no choice but to do some copying later on. 

Today things went rather well, and I managed to find out the topics I still required some revision in for IAM. EM3B is going to be rather easy. I'm all set for TH and AM. I'm still very unstable for IA. Right now, of the 5 papers, I'm confident of scoring at least 3 As, 1B and 1 C.

Went for a run in the evening, but gave up halfway after I started feeling unwell. Went on the 3km route, but ended up walking more than 1km. Maybe next time I should either take a bottle of water or buy a can drink from a stall during a route that's 5km or further. 

Over the next 1 week, it's going to be intense. I'll be having an all-nighter from 2am to 6am on Saturday night, and from 1am to 3am on Thursday night. Tomorrow, I'll not be studying in the evening, to prepare for the intense week ahead. 

Less than a week to the June Common Tests 09

TP's Common Test Week is coming to and end this Friday. NP's is starting next Monday. More time to study? Definitely. Less time to relax? Don't think so. A week less only equates to more time to cherish, although it also means less time to do lots of stuff over the holidays. 

So far, I am definitely ready for 4 of 5 papers. With my current knowledge, I'll get very mediocre results of Bs and with only an A or two. I might even fail a paper. Alright, actually, it's going according to plan, so it's nothing to worry about. I'm cramming over 2 months to knowledge into 2 weeks, and this is the second week. A straight string of As just like what I did about a year ago. I can do it. I just know it.

That's not really the actual reason for today's post. Right now, I'm not in the right state of mind for the tests. Somehow, I feel lost, as though something that was always here, is missing. I'm frantically searching for it, but still, I wonder how it managed to go missing. I hear voices, telling me to let go of the insecurities of my wandering thoughts. Those voices were seldom wrong. This time too. It's those voices that seem to allow me to 'see' the future before it unfolds before me. It might be a little too late by now, but it's time I really woke up from my year long slumber. I'm not going up that stage like last year until I ace September with that perfect score. 

Compounded Dilemas

Without all that's been happening lately, today would have been rather uneventful, plain, and simple. This might be a bore to some, so if you feel you're going to dose off, why not just head on to another blog which might have a more interesting post? Let's head back to yesterday for a moment. School from 9 to 4.

Reached home, took a short break, and went for another run. This time, I joined nearly all 3 usual run routes together. Toh Tuck to Jalan Jurong Kechil, path to Bukit Batok nature Reserve's carpark, looped at the bus interchange and back home, except that I ran it reversed(so that it would be a downslope run toward the end). A little dangerous with a number of works going on along the route. The last part was really fun, but risky as well as the final bend was sharp at the base of the slope. It was the first time I ran the route, and as expected I walked after exiting after the Shell station. Estimated distance was around 5km. WM wanna join me in the full route some time? I'll be trying out a couple of new routes after the common tests are over.

Next would be today. Slept really late the night before, and woke late this morning. Went to school to study with friends from 1 to 6, before going for dinner till 8. I drank coffee again today, which got me on overdrive. Managed to clear most of the stuff tested for TH and AM today. Very confident of at least a B+ for both so far. I realised that when I enter overdrive, many countless thoughts run through my mind. As a result, it's easy for me to get confused very quickly if I don't keep up with what I'm doing. Just wondering how things would get over the next few days until the common tests are over.

Intensive revision May09

Today's sort of the first day since the week started that I did intensive revision for close to 5 hours. Started at 12.30pm, and went till 4.10pm before I got really tired and went to take a nap till 5. Started off with Thermodynamics, and did the first 2 chapters. Managed to understand fully before taking a short break and went on to IA at 3. Did the first three chapters once again, though I managed to grasp only part of everything.

Guess tomorrow it would be more or less the same. I'll be at the driving centre in the morning for the final theory evaluation, so the morning's more or less gone. Some modules to be covered tomorrow: IA, AM and if time permits, EM3B and IAM. Monday doubt I'll have much time for revision, though the main modules I'll cover would be TH and IA, and if I'm still not tired, I might have an all-nighter for Double Engineering Mathematics till 2 to 3am. Tuesday would be intensive revision once again, and I'll cover IA, TH and AM. Double Engineering Mathematics would be covered in the evening from 8 to 10, and might continue from 1 to 3am since classes start at 1pm on Wednesdays. Tomorrow would be yet another mentally draining day.

This evening, went for dinner at 5pm, and came back at 7.50. Since it was still not 9pm yet, decided to go for a shorter than usual run till 8.40pm. Did not go as fast as usual for it was the first time I went for a long distance run after sunset and I might not have the stamina to keep up at the speed I used to run at before I came down with illness.

Tomorrow, I'll try going in the evening again,around 7pm in the evening, this time changing my direction to start along Toh Tuck Road. However, I would not be going slower since this evening I found that my stamina had kind of gotten better over the week I spent on recovery.

YCSS SYF Gala 09

It was sort of unexpected for me. I had no idea there was such an event until one fine Monday morning when I received Andy's SMS about the event that was going to be held this evening. Today rushed off to Jurong Point from school after classes ended at 4pm. Met Andy and Randall for dinner at 5.15pm. Catched up on the times, and I just got my next polytechnic T-shirt today! Singapore Polytechnic's off the list. Went to walk around the shopping complex with Andy after sending Randall off at the entrance. Met up with the rest at 6.50pm at the bus stop outside the school.

The new school building was finally completed, and there was also the new indoor sports hall. We went to the Multi Purpose Hall which had two really gigantic fans, providing lots of wind for everyone present for the concert. This evening, we did not have to purchase any tickets, as we were part of the alumni. The environment sure has changed much over the past 2 years, but the atmosphere is still there.

Somehow, I managed to become a little "high" during the three hour event, but still, the feelings died away as it was only nearing the finale item when I started feeling that way. On a side note, it takes lots of effort just to make someone like me to become "high". Took lots of photographs before, during and after the gala, and you can find them here, and here. After it ended, Gabriel, Edward, Hong Yong, Zhong Rong and I went to the coffee shop behind the school for supper, and I had to leave halfway through in orer to catch the last bus home, as I still did not have a license to drive yet, nor do I have my own vehicle.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing really intensive revision for the upcoming common tests which would be arriving in slightly more than a week's time. Hopefully, I would be able to go for a short run to regain my stamina lost during the period I was unwell and ended up in more than a week of abstinance from exercise. Sunday I would be having my final theory evaluation for driving, and upon passing(I strongly hope I can clear this in one shot so that I can start my practical lessons in October without the need to use an extra two to three hours a week for theory practices and tests), I would be taking the Final Theory Test, which I really want to pass in one shot as well, so that the time and money would not be wasted.

My "Blacklist":
NP, SP, RP, TP, NYP

200th Post

Yes. We're on post 200. Did not post for some time now, as there's not as much time as I once had. Nowadays I see myself pushing for time instead of doing stuff to kill time. Last Sunday had camp, then went home with something extra. The next morning, woke up with a bad flu. A consequence of me sleeping before the clock stuck 12 once again. Somehow, something or someone does not like the idea of me falling asleep between 10pm and 12am.

I have been going to bed before 12am for about 4 times so far this year. And all 4 times, something bad has to come out from it. This has been happening since one fine day while I was still in secondary school. Damn. The first was the night before the championships at NTU. The second was when I was overseas in the Philippines. The third and fourth were last Sunday and Thursday.

On Tuesday, I still felt relatively fine, but that was also the day when things plunged. In the morning, I overslept and woke at 11am. my nose started running badly after that, and after lunch, I realised the air conditioner was leaking. After I was all set for school in the afternoon(school starts at 1pm on Tuesdays), I realised I was coming down with fever. Went to school as usual, and we had a presentation during the photography lesson. Had little time for preparation. Turned out pretty well, and it ended really early as well. Went straight home to rest. On the bus, I hit my head aainst the ceiling of a double deck bus just before I went down the stairs. That night I slept for the first night since we moved in, without any air conditioning on in that room for the night.

On Wednesday things went rather well, and the flu that I had was still under control.

On Thursday, it was a long day and just after the first part of the morning, my condition started to plunge. Decided not to go for any CCA that day, and went home straight after IAM. The air conditioner was repaired, and I could sleep with the air conditioner on again. That night, I developed full-blown fever when I could not sleep after going to bed at 10pm.

Friday I woke up at 5.45am feeling very terrible. Blurred vision, lack of balance, burning sensation in the stomach. I realised I had slept for only 4 hours. Decided not to go to school, and just sleep the day away. Did very little, and slept alot.

Great enough, that one day of rest was worth it. On Saturday, I was well enough to go to the Driving Centre to attend close to 3 hours of theory lessons and a 40-minute practice session. Went straight to City Hall to meet Chong Siang before we went to the Esplanade for the concert Distant Worlds:Music of Final Fantasy. It was damn nice. Definitely one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Even the composer was there to attend to Asian Premier of the concert! Sadly I forgot to purchase a copy of the CD. Thanks to Chong Siang, I was able to watch the concert live that afternoon. At the opening time of the ticket sales, I was at the airport waiting to board a plane for Cebu, the Philippines. If not for his help, I would not be able to get a ticket. All three shows were completely sold out 3 months before the concert. Wow. Once again, as expected, there were 2 encore pieces played, the best being One-Winged Angel. Before that, there was a poll of the audience(vote by volume of the cheers among the audience) for new pieces that would be added to concerts to be staged around the world in the coming year.

After the concert an hour after the scheduled time of 4pm, I met my parents and we went around taking shots of people for the final portfolio and third shooting workshop of the Photography module. It was tough taking shots of complete strangers. They would either give you stern looks or stare at you, or simply look away upon noticing the camera facing them. We then decided to take shots of young children. Shots of them were the most interesting, natural and easiest to take. We went to Harbourfront for dinner, and on to Vivocity for a free outdoor performance by RED. Many great shooting opportunities, but their movements were fast, which made it hard to take quality photographs.

As the shots we took we not enough, we went to take more on Sunday and yesterday. The shooting session at West Coast Park on Sunday was cut short as I was not feeling well toward the end. Today was the last lesson, and once again there was a presentation. I was first to go, and it was the same as the previous week. The module ends today, and I can declare that I have successfully completed 2 modules for this semester!

Tomorrow would be a really long day, 2 40-minute practice sessions at the driving centre, tutorial and lectures from 1pm to 5pm, followed by CCA from 6 to 9pm. Anyway, I have decided. In the first week of October, I would begin on my practical lessons for driving. The theory component of the license would be cleared earliest by 18th June should everything go well. The earliest I can get my license after clearing my Practical Test is somewhere around mid November.

It's also two weeks to the common test, and today, I officially begin on my intensive revision.

Entering Turbulence

Today marks the end of the fourth week. Encountered some turbulence this week, but at the moment, things are still relatively fine. Meeting with some minor problems with TH for a week now. All because I stayed up late last Wednesday, I ended up sleeping through almost every lecture the next day. 2 days to clear my doubts, catch up on sleep and plan for the week ahead.

Monday was pretty fine, except that the first Taekwondo training let me with three blisters and the inability to walk properly probably till next Monday, a result of skipping a month of training. Tuesday we went to the Botanical Gardens for the outdoor photoshoot, and I took a taxi back to school, just in time for the make up practical session for IA back in school. Nothing much happened on Wednesday.

Thursday. School in the morning was normal till 12pm. Went to the driving centre to sit for the basic theory test. Reached the room 3 minutes before the start time, and passed it within 20 minutes. Nice. But I won't be able to settle the adminstrative stuff on that day as the system to update my results was down, and I did not have enough time to book lessons and tests as I had to get back to school by 2pm. It was 1.20 when I completed the test. Took 985 back to school at 1.24pm. Thinking that it would make a loop at Upper Bukit Timah Road, and being a lazy person, i decided to alight 2 stops after the bus made the right turn. That turn did not come at the junction. Instead, I was en route to Geylang! It's Alright. It's ok. Good thing I informed the lecturer that I would be arrving latest at 2.30pm. If I had alighted at the previous stop, I would have arrived in class at 1.50pm. Not too far away on the expressway, there was a jam. What a good day to relax on a bus. Seems like I'm going to have to take service 1 back to school once again. Went to the bus stop outside CJC, flagged down a cab, and reached the classroom at 2.25pm. Parted with 8 bucks(was supposed to be more than that but he was kind to give a rebate of 20 cents) for that serious careless mistake that took me on the best bus ride of the day. In the evening we had the Toastmasters AGM. That was the first time I experienced the meeting as a normal member and a committee member simultaneously. The difference was very great. A normal member would feel carefree about the proceedings, while a committee member would have much more than just seeing that the meeting goes fine. Honestly, if I were not a committee member of the club, I would not have turned up, as I was holding a post in the Videography Club, which happened to be holding its first meeting during the exact same timeslot on the same day. My greatest fear is that I would not be able to cope with the amount of commitment and studies, all at the same time. How great if the end of the world came shortly after I accomplish everything on my wishlist except getting a job.

Today, there's nothing much as well, a relatively normal day. Tomorrow would be a tiring day again. Got to spend time studying once again. Sunday morning I'll be back at the driving centre to settle the adminstrative stuff, studying again in the afternoon and updating this in the evening.

It's starting to get tough, and this time, the difficulties set in just 3 weeks after the term has started. I don't know exactly how long I could hold out under such conditions. But I certainly know that next year, I will have to leave the main committee of a CCA, or worse, both. It's extremely tough. I have found the red line, and every moment, I'm stretching it, inch by inch. I'm afraid that I might just give it a tug and the line simply snaps. It's too late to leave the posts. I'll have to remain where I am, do what I have got to do and wrap up with no regrets. Not that I totally detest a lifestyle like this, but it's for the future. As long as I can find happiness along the way, meet great friends and reach our goals at the end, it's worth it. Period.

Botanical Gardens Shoot

Today we went to the Botanical Gardens for our Outdoor photoshoot. It was hot, tiring, interesting and new. Even before we started on our shoot, I was perspiring already. Yesterday I had the first training for taekwondo after a month, and the evening's training was great, and although I joined them 3 weeks late, the trainings were still not very tough. Today, for the whole day, for every step I took, my feet gave an exhilerating sensation. After an hour of walking at the gardens, the pain become something like a second nature. It just disappeared. Took lots and lots of shots, some good, some bad. At 12.35pm, when we were dismissed, I walked at my usual pace to the bus stop. I was in luck. A taxi had stopped just behind the stop line, and I just got on. No need for any flag down.

I reached school at 12.50pm, and just went straight for the make-up practicals for IA. Sadly, we were not going to use any compressed gas today. I miss the hissing sound of the gas. At 4pm, went with Yin Feng and Hakim to the library to study. The new strategy is going really well, and I managed to score 100% for 2 quizzes within 2 attempts for both.

It would be the same for tomorrow, though there would only be 3 hours, from 5 to 8pm. Thursday. I'll leave school for the driving centre at 12pm for the Basic Theory Test, held from 12.50pm to 1.40pm. Hopefully I can pass it within 20minutes, update the system with my results and once again, take a taxi back to school(no choice), as I would have IAM from 2pm to 4pm. That evening is also the time of the Annual General Meeting for the Toastmasters Club, and sadly I'll miss the first meeting of the Videography Club(don't worry, I'll be there every Thursday from next week). Friday. There should not be any events after 4pm, so most likely it's back to the library for a solid 4 hours of slacking and study. Coming Sunday, I'll be updating more links(missed out a few links).

Third Week'09

Tomorrow's the third week of the term. Anyway, I have updated some stuff, and I'm sure it's easy to spot them. Don't really have time to list in detail, but should not be a problem to notice which are the items that have been added ya?

Overseltp this morning and I ended up with less time to take good shots at the nature park. Seems like I wasted an hour there taking shots that are not revelant to the assignment, and I'll have to take some shots tomorrow again. Hopefully there will be time in the monring before I head to school.

Cruising Soon

It's been 2 weeks, and I'm almost at cruising altitude. Things are starting to fit into place bit by bit, and I find the clouds clearing up once again, revealing a boundless horizon of blue. Yesterday had the first ever outing with the photography club committee, and it sure was fun. met up at 3, went to the gardens at 3.20, and spent more than 4 hours there. I'll be back on Tuesday, this time better prepared for the morning shoot at the gardens. Tomorrow, I'm heading to the nature reserve at 10am to complete some assignments due on Tuesday. Hopefully I'll be as lucky as today when I went there to look for great shooting spots and found squirrels and birds up close!

Tomorrow, i'll finally be able to find time to clear up the messy room and update the stuff in the blog. THese things have been postoned for over a month now, and it's piling up every day.

Time Management Level 0

Before reading on, these are just some self reflections. If you don't really have the interest to read on, you don't have to feel guilty when wanting to move on to do other stuff.

I seriously need some lessons on time management. It would be great if someone could give me a good lecture on that. Anyone? Just one day after I released the flood gates, I started feeling the strains. I see many things undone. Even if they were, it's nowhere near the 80% quality mark. Thousands of things to accomplish in a minute. Easiest one first? Toughest one first? The one requiring the least amount of time first? The one requiring the most amount of time first? The one that brings me one step close to the end of the long term goal first or the one that brings me to the end of the short term goal first? I'm starting to have doubts of my capabilities. 4 core modules, 3 electives, 1 refresher class. 2 Main CCAs, 1 intermediate CCA and 2 spplementary CCAs. All that in accompaniment to the many other things that consume time.

Right now, if there was one thing I could do, I would close up the flood gates and leave 3 CCAs, or worse, all 5 of them. However, I don't think it's a good thing either. There's nothing wrong with joining 5 CCAs. Call me lifeless, but after the 5 hour and 48 minute walk home from the Merlion Park on the first morning of the year, I could see it coming as we go further into the year. Just a question of how long before its arrival. Most of the difficulties I face now would die down only after the June holidays and even more after the September vacation. October will see a new addition to the list. The road ahead remains unluminated. Right now, I really have got to think wisely, and plan carefully.

It's the halfway point of the second week, and I'm still slacking heavily. There's some progress, but at the rate I'm accelerating, I would not be able to make it to the sky before reaching the end of the runway. Not really thinking that any of the activities that I decided to join are bad, but it's the way I schedule my time to fit in everything that's bad. It's either I end up underperfoming in my roles, or I end up with grades that are below expectations. Parhaps it's really time to consider, after 11 years of studying, to lose some life to make ends meet.

Taking Off Into The Second Year

A couple more seconds to midnight, and I'll be taking off into the second year of study at NP. The first year was filled with many challenges, surprises and memories.Aced every single test in the first semester, but crumbled in the second. Joined a total of 4 CCAs, 3 in the first semester, and one in the second. Went for the first TDP activity, also the first overseas trip in NP.

This year, it's going to get tougher. Tomorrow's my self-declared first day of school, where all lessons are in full swing. I'll start attending CCA meetings from tomorrow onwards, but there would be the problem of which CCA to attend on which day, as I have 2 CCAs being held on the same day, and that's going to be a little problem.

Today, did not really clean up the room again. Went out in the morning with my mother to get the notes binded and in the afternoon, went to look for a DSLR with my father. Everything, from research, sourcing for the best deal, travelling and finally getting the camera, took 5 hours. Went to West Mall at 12 to determine our targets, and came up with the D70, D90(way over budget), 500D(over budget) and 1000D. Went home, had lunch, did some research on EBAY. Finally scaled down to the 1000D and we went to SLS. The deal was really attractive! However, the price was still above the budget by a small margin of 99 bucks. After making several considerations on the spot for over an hour, the salesperson decided to throw in a couple more stuff, and we decided to make the purchase as well. So on Tuesday, I would be bringing the 1000D to class. We've come down to this, as during the last three weeks of lessons, my brother would be in China on a study trip, and I would be left without a camera for class. Thus, to cut a long story short, we decided to do what we did today.

The first semester of the second year seems to be well planned out, except for one main problem. Prioritization of time. Lots of revision and studying accompanied by 2 days of CCA a week. And once a month, I would have 3 CCAs in one week alone. Every Alternate Tuesday starting this Tuesday, there would be foreign language classes. Twenty evenings a month minus nine CCA evenings a month equals eleven evenings of proper study time a month(excluding weekends and public holidays). That's half of the evenings in a month to do some serious studying. Each evening I'll spend two to three hours on revision. No worries about tutorials, for they are usually completed before the tutorial session ends in school. Mathematics practices and tutorials are done on Saturday afternoons.

Starting this week, things would start getting ugly. CCAs and study don't mix. Having these two present in a reaction with time would only equate to an explosion plus stress plus altitude loss. I barely survived the previous semester with a GPA of 3.52. This semester, I'll have to time things so that I'll have an equal balance of up time and down time. AND, I have to push the blog updates further back to this weekend(long weekend, easier to get more things done). This coming Sunday, I really want to clean up the room.

First week of 2.1

Another week's past. 15 more weeks before the September Break's here. A quick introduction to the modules for this semester. Mainly theory-based, with 5 out of the total 7 modules having laboratory sessions. Double Mathematics(most probably the first and last time I'm using the term during the three years); Engineering Mathematics 3B (EM3B) and Introduction to Advanced Mathematics (IAM), Applied Mechanics (AM), Industrial Automation (IA), THermodynamics(TH), 1 Talent Development Program Seminar (1TDPS) and Exploring Photography (EP). Modules that I can definitely score As for: EM3B, AM, IA, 1TDPS and TH. Modules that I might face difficulty in scoring As for: IAM and EP.

Today, it's just the first week of school, and I found myself dosing off in class(something that occurs only in the second half of the semester). EM3B lecture. After tutorial for TH, we had the first practical lesson for IA. 1pm to 4pm. Very basic foundational stuff. Simple, yet fun. I miss the sound of the exhaust air gushing out of the valves. It's a sound that's something similar to when the brakes in the bus are applied (easier to notice in really old public buses). Not sure if this is allowed, but it would be great if I could take a short video of what is done at the labs.

Tomorrow's a great day to start all that revision, and Sunday's great for cleaning the room (after a month of business). next week, I'll personally declare it's my first week of CCAs. 3 meetings after school next week for 3 different clubs. We'll see how it goes, and perhaps adjust my timetable to suit the schedule.

4th Day of the Week-Engine Blows

I shouldn't have gone for that evening run today. My engine blew, and I ended up too tired to do anything related to school. Turn the computer on, stared at the screen, listened to music, played games, quizzes and surveys. I have to send 2 emails out before the following Tuesday, and it's only right that I do so. Right now, I have got no motivation to study or do any revision at all. One thing that's on my mind, sleep. Damn.

Alright, tomorrow I'll not go for any run, but instead say home to complete all the assignments, tutorials and revision that I was supposed to have completed at 10.30pm. At least we're almost at the weekend now.

Today ws relatively slacked in the morning. So far, in school I'm going at top speed, without any difficulties in the way. I found out one great news about the Diploma Plus Programme that I am currently taking. The details I have here might not be accurate, as I was half asleep when the lecturer was tellingus this. The Certificate of Advanced Engineering Mathematics(CAEM) is the A Level equivalent of Mathematics. What's more, at the end of clearing the clusterand geting the certificate, I can be exempted from taking the Mathematics Proficiency Test that al Polytechnic students must take upon entering an Engineeing Course at NUS. In other words,I get to skip a module upon entering NUS, if I was granted a place there of course. Currently, my ultimate goal till the day I graduate still remains as; get into a local university, preferably NUS, after graduating from NP.

Won't be making this post very long although I noticed many things today. I'll stop here for the day, and seriously,I need some sleep to prevent my engines from failing into the last 2 to 3 hours before the day's lessons have ended.

Third Day Being A Level 2

Today's the third day as a second year student. So far so good I guess? Today's modules were Engineering Mathematics 3B(EM3) and Thermodynamics. EM3. No, I have not been demoted from being a 2nd year polytechnic student to an EM3 student in a prmary school. It's just the short name of the module. Anyways, the stuff we're learning there is related to EG2, except the concepts are more in-depth. Onec again, I have high hopes of getting at least an A+ for this module. Next is Thermodynamics. Lectured by our advisor, this lecture is one session that's worth looking forward to. With constant work and effort, an A's definitely achievable.

Tomorow, there's going to be the introduction of the 6th module I'm taking this semester(excluding 1TDPS). That's Itroduction to Advaned Mathematics(IAM). Basically, it's Mathematics, but its syllabus covers the first year topics taught at NUS. Road's going to be tough, but afterall my aim's to get into a university. It's never too early to start. After the brief insights about the module, I have a few doubts about the sucess rates of getting an A grade, but still, there's tomorrow to make a good estimate, and the rest of the semester to find out how far I can go. After tomorrow, it's down to business, and it's officially time to start working towards the dream result slip(similar to, or better than the one I had in the first semester).

Something I noticed about this semester, is that what we have learnt back in the first semester was going to be applied across all the modules we'll be taking this semester! Engineering Mechanics, EG1 and EG2, Electrical Technology and Engineering a Creative Profession. These modules are being applied in Applied Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Engineering Mathematics and Industrial Automation. I also have the feeling that EM3 would be applied in IAM, meaning that if I were to face any difficulty for EM3, there's a high chance I would come across obstacles that could be many times tougher in IAM.

Reducing Overdrive

I had been on overdrive on the first two days of school. Prematurely early, and it's great that the very first hurdle of the new semestrer has passed. Next up, would be the Basic Theory Test, where I would likely miss the first hour of Introduction to Advanced Mathematics(IAM) on 7th May, the following Thursday. Next MondayI'll be going down to the centre to top up the account and book 2 practices before the test. Once done, I'll be allocating Tuesday and Wednesday mornings for practical lessons, before school starts in the afternoon. Saturdays would be for theory lessons and practices. We'll have to see how I can fit in the last two tests.

Today was really fun. In Photography, only the lecture was held in the classroom. The practical part saw everyone moving around campus taking shots. The first lesson went pretty well, and we were able to see for ourselves what good cameras we got. So far, it seems that the chances of getting an A in the module are pretty high, though we're still only at the beginning of the term. Tomorrow, it's going to be the first Mathematics lesson and Thermodynamics lecture for the semester. Things are going to get real great tomorrow, and the first step to the next 2 targetted As will be coming from these 2 modules as well. Currently, the road to achieving a GPA of 4.0 and reclaming that spot on the list for the semester appears clear without any major obstacles in the way.

And about CCAs, I'll start attending them from next Monday.

First Day As A Level 2

I have levelled-up! Alright, we're on a higher level, but it also means that the difficulty of the journey has increased a notch. This semester, I would be having difficulties prioritizing my activities. 5 CCAs, 7 days a week. With the driving course included, my schedule this year would be the most packed during the 3 years.

Today's the first day of school, but within the first 5 hours, I was more or less dead. At 1pm when we reported to class, I was feeling sleepy already! Today the lessons were relatively light. On Mondays, I would have mainly practical lessons, which greatly reduces the effects of the Monday blues, though I would reach home at close to 11pm after CCA, only to fall asleep in bed in less than 30 minutes after reaching home. Thursdays would be the same, except that lessons are more dry, and CCA would not be very tiring. With Mondays and Thursdays gone, I would be left with Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays for revision. On a side note, the modules I am taking this semester have extremely low success rates if i were to carry out last minute revision for tests. I have seen the syllabuses of the modules, and there's only one where there would not be much of a problem if I did some last minute work.

April is another new year's day for polytechnic students, and I have come up with a few resolutions(though it's way past January 1st), in no particular order:
Get a GPA of no less than 3.8
Regular revision of at least 3 hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays
More active participation in CCAs

Tomorrow, would be another tiring day, which runs from 10 to 5pm. The day after tomorrow would mean that I would be able to return to my normal track of sticking to the usual school life. And yes, from next week, I have decided to head straight to class 15 minutes before the first lesson of the day commences in the morning(8.45am daily, for morning lessons only).

The Hours Before Leveling-up

We're less than an hour beore I level up to level 2. Already, I'm feeling the jump way before the day is here. I'm getting the feeling that, everytime we enter the holidays, we're actually taking 7 weeks to prepare for the 6-month-long climb from the first floor of a building up to the 1000th floor. Let's say, that, for every 1000 floors, there is a break, so after every 6 months, we take a break of 7 to 8 weeks. After that, we make a climb again for the next 1000th floor. Of course, in between at every 500th floor, there is a short break of 2 to 3 weeks, before we prepare to complete the next 500 floors. As we know, as one gets higher, the air gets thinner and colder, making the climb more difficult with every step. so far, I have climbed a total of 2000 floors, and tomorrow, I'll begin the next climb for the 3000th floor. I have another 3000 floors to climb once the September holidays are here. Our progress is nothing compared to our JC friends, who, instead of walking, sprint to the 6000th floor in less than 2 years, with little or no breaks in between at all. Upon reaching the end of their 6000-floor sprint, they have to make that final sprint at top speed, in order to go further. By the way, no such building is existing in current history.

I'm already feeling the tension, and I'm seeing the amount of stress I would be going through the coming semester. Right now, I officially have got 5 CCAs, in short form and in no particular order, are MES, NPCC, NPTKD, NPSTMC and MPVC. My uncle is encouraging me to join the adventure seekers, but as of now, I am seriously doubting my capability to take up another CCA. I currently hold positions in 2 clubs, and I have 2 CCAs which will have weekly meetings, of which, one has 2 meetings a week. That is equal to 3days times 4hours, which is the same as 12 hours a week of my study time. Each month, I set to lose up to 150hours of study time from CCAs alone. Academics wise, I see little trouble this semester, as the modules are gernerally theory-based, and that would give me an edge over the others. A great chance to get my hands on 4.0. What's more, I have cleared an IS module earlier on Wednesday, so that leaves me with Tuesdays without school after the June break. My schedule has also been great this semester, giving me 3 days a week to pursue my driving course, mainly Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. As the timeslots are all in the morning, I would be having my driving practicals before 1pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the off-peak hours, and theory lessons and practices on Saturday afternoons. If everything goes fine, assuming that I will pass everything on the first attempt, I would clear it latest by the first two weeks of the October semester.

Lots of stuff to do, and I have got relly limited time to complete everything. DAMN. I just hate it. When you have got all that time to ponder over what to do, but time comes running after your pitiful back once you have started on the task. Each task slows you down, but it accelerates time as well.

Neither too slow, nor too fast.
Just have got to select the pace that's just.
What's past, what's present.
Important to finish the task that's urgent.

Saly, yet again, I'm left with no time to give my room a little tidying,as well as update the blog links and playlist. Well then, we'll just have to wait till the coming Sunday, hopefully we'll have the whole day to really get the simple things done...

42 Hours

So far, I have went on for 42 hours, of which sleep contributed 5 hours. The rest of the time was spent on travel and activity. Friday morning, woke up at 5.50am, prepared for two consecutive days of barbeque, before setting ut at 7.40am. Met up with Joel and Joey at 9, before we went to get the stuff for the barbeque. Joel went back to school to collect our airport tax before heading over to Joey's place at 1.30pm. Gerald arrived at 12.30pm. At 4.30pm, we set off to our barbeque destination near Dhoby Ghaut. In all, there were 14 of us; Joey, Joel, Gerald, Koon Teck and his girlfriend, Tricia, Yi Ting, Denise, Emily, Ms Yeo, Germaise, Violet and I. Not as many people we had forecasted were present, and we were left with lots of uncooked and leftover food. The night went on with Joel, Joey, Gerald, Koon Teck, Ronney, Germaise, Fiona and I. Played some games, before heading over to a nearby place at 2am for beancurd. True enough, during that night, I could really feel that I had heightened alertness after midnight. Once we returned, we slept till morning, with breakfast served haflway through. I slept only 5 hours.

Crashed an event as volunteers at Scape Youth Park with Gerald as we had nothing better to do. We left later on as I had to get to Bedok to meet up with Jian Hui, Jun Jie, Hamzi, Jenere and Amanda at 5pm. Took 401to East Coast Park, endured a 4.5 kilometer hike to the pit where Izzat and his friends were at, before we were joined by Wei Yong and Yin Feng. Ate, watched planes(managed to catch the landing of an A380) and stars and chatted before we left for home at 9pm.

Right now, I'm faced with lots of uncertainties of whether I did the right thing by taking up an additional responsibility, for holding two posts in two CCAs is really something that requires lots of commitment, and yet I currently have got myself 5 CCAs, of which 3 require my regular commitment. It's too late to say that I do not have what it takes to hold the positions and simply step down. Perhaps I should just do all I can for the first 6 months, and see how it goes before I decide on what to do next. It's not even the first day of the new school year, and I'm already feeling the strings tightening themselves with every second, something I felt only during the closing weeks of the previous semester.

It's too late ok?! It's too late! What you have done during those times, you have to face the results yourself. Well, of course, if you wanted another chance, let's just hope that your lucky star is shining its brightest on your lucky night. Even chances like that day don't come often...

NJC-NP Joint Comminuty Service Project to Dumaguete City, Philippines-Part 7

Today was relatively slacked, and it's the first and only day I will feel that way. Monday's the start of school, and tomorrow, I'll be on a 36-hour rampage without sleep, away from home. Ok, here's the last part of the trip, and it's the perfect timing to post something short, for I have to get some sleep to prepare for the very very long day ahead. The night before was the first time I stayed up all night without sleep in a foreign land.

Soon, it was time to leave. We said our last goodbye to the centre, and unwillingly boarded the vehicles that would take us back to the ferry terminal. Everyone took the ferry together to Cebu, where we parted with Mr Chan and Mr Saceda. Compared to leaving the children, that moment was the hardest moment during our trip. We had already felt like a family, and left almost as soon as we came. Hazel, one of our hosts during the trip, would accompany us to the airport, but she was taking the bus which carried our bags. I was touched by her generosity. Even if it were me, I would not want to travel eight hours back and forth from the centre to the airport and back, of course, unless I was the one driving the bus. As we drove off, I felt lighter. I had left another half of my heart back in Dumaguete. The journey home was quiet, and everyone, unlike the journey on the first day where everyone was active and alive. At the airport, we said a final goodbye to Hazel, before moving into the departure hall. There, we were greeted with another surprise. We had to pay 550 pesos per passenger as airport tax!

Sadly, we were not seated close to one another on the return flight, and thus, the flight back was slow and steady. I managed to catch some sleep on board the plane before we touched down on home ground. After clearing the immigration, I found myself adapting back to my old, fast-paced lifestyle.

Alright, please don't expect any new posts tomorrow or on Saturday, as there is the possibility I would be away from an internet source during that time. Sunday I'll be doing a small update, with a short post, but don't expect the photos to be up so soon as well(over a thousand to upload), as I'm still trying to figure whether to upload all, or just select a few. So long then. Next few updates on the trip would be photos taken during the trip.

NJC-NP Joint Comminuty Service Project to Dumaguete City, Philippines-Part 6

Today marks the last day of the module 1TDPS, and I will have 1 less module to deal with this semester, meaning 1 day of holidays (might be able to clear my driving course on Tuesdays) after the June holidays. The presentation went very well, though therewere a couple of hiccups along the way, but not as bad as I have expected. That, was the first time I took part in a presentation that lasted for an hour, in formal attire. Ok, that adds on to the list of "firsts" which I told everyone in the room during the reflections section. Went for lunch, before going to West Mall with Joel and Joey by cab. Met Ronney, went to Subway, before I left in a hurry fr the drivng centre. Started the Basic Evaluation Test 5 minutes late, but I finished it in 5 minutes. Checked the test till there was 15minutes left and decided that I was getting bored looking through the same questions for over 20 times. Submitted, found out I had 91%, which meant a pass, and left for West Mall. This time, I went on foot. Call me crazy, but today's walk was nothing compared to the near 6-hour hike I had on 1st January. Met up with the same group at 5.30pm, and this time, Xing Dan and Tricia were with them. Went to slack till 6pm before heading home. Anyway, let's get on with the sixth day of the trip, which also meant the last day of service to the kids at Candau-ay Elementary School, and the closing of a new chapter.

We have come to the sixth day of the trip, and sadly, another new chapter in our lives was about to come to a close. That morning, myself, together with a few others, decided we would walk to the school. As usual, Joey led everyone in the warm up, and we played some games. We then went on with our reflection session with the students, before they were released for a break. I went with Ivan and Mierco to the roadside stall to pay for their food and drinks. I felt that, it was the least I could do before I bid them farewell. After returning to the classroom with them, John brought us guys to take a look at the progress of the dirty kitchen. It was nearly complete!

Finally, it was time to bid the children farewell. It was painful to even think of doing so at first, but nonetheless, we had to say goodbye sooner or later. I was reluctant to leave the school. I very much wanted to stay behind with them as well. However, we had other plans. We could not afford to waste anymore time. There were other children who needed our company, even if it was going to be just an hour or a day spent with them. I made a promise to Dellwen, Mierco and Ivan, that I would see them again in future, whether is it going to be soon or somewhere in the future.

Shortly after lunch, there was a change in leaders for the afternoon. Samuel was going to take charge of our brainstorming session with the staff and principal of Malaunay Elementary School. Once there, we went straight to the principal’s office, and we began with the meeting.

As there was still some time left before the closing ceremony after we returned, we decided to head back to the river for another small adventure, except that this time, we would head downstream. I learnt the songs we would be using for our closing ceremony as we went on, to make full use of the time and peace. We passed houses along the way, and we came across a retired teacher and his neighbours who were at the backyard of their homes. They were really hospitable people, and they never hesitated to welcome us! What I least expected was, the teacher actually apologized to us that he was not prepared to provide anything for us, which he would have done if he knew we were coming! When we were about to leave, he said that we were free to go as far as we wanted, and cautioned us to be careful, for the rocks there were hard and sharp, and the area was badly damaged by a recent flood. With that, he thanked us once again for visiting, wished us a pleasant journey, and hoped that we could return in future to Dumaguete. Unfortunately, we preceded only a little further, before a large obstacle blocked our path. Yet another part of the restraining wall of the river had collapsed, destroying our hopes of venturing further. We turned to look at the river, however, there were insufficient rocks for us to use as stepping stones. As we did not have enough time to go further, we started taking photographs, before heading back to the centre to make our final preparations for the closing ceremony.

That night, we had yet another different style of dinner. We were having a restaurant style dinner, and were served by waiters, though it was still a buffet dinner. That night, was the night of the nights I spent at Dumaguete. The team leaders and teachers gave their addresses, Mr Chan as well, and we also performed two songs for the educational representatives, as well as the teachers and principals from the two elementary schools which we visited during the course of our trip. Later that night, we went over to Mr Saceda’s residence once again, for a sing-along session. It was the longest and the best session we had.

Out of fear I might not be able to wake up the next morning, I decided to stay up the whole night. I went star gazing, spotting a shooting star. The stars in the night sky were something that could not be seen in Singapore. That was something I would miss once we left in the morning.

Tomrrow's post would cover our return journey back. Anyways, tomorrow is the first day of the holidays for me, and it happens that it's also the only day I would be bored. The only thing I want to do badly is wake at 5.50am, and go for a jog between 6.15 and 6.45, before continuing with games and stuff, napping from 3 to 7, before having lunch, and sleeping the night from 12.30am to 12pm the next day, just for tomorrow. Friday and Saturday would leave me awake for at least 36 hours, with 2 barbeques on 2 consecutive days. Sunday, I'll have to give my room a major facelift. The current situation is so bad that you might want to consider taking up life insurance bfore entering. Just joking. The room seems as though the place was the aftermath of a magitude 6 earthquake.

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.

NJC-NP Joint Comminuty Service Project to Dumaguete City, Philippines-Part 4

Well, before I begin, I just remembered a dream which I dreamt about around five years ago when I was 13. At that time, I still could not remember how many people I was travelling with, but we were travelling in a vehicle, something like a van, but it had horizontal windows running along its sides. The rear was exposed and there were no safeguards to prevent passengers from falling out. I was standing at the rear, after managing to run after it and jump on board. We were travelling through a mountainous region on a two-way passageway, with little traffic regulations in place. Come to think of it, that dream came through as well! Although I can't relate it to exactly any actual incidents we did over there, I am sure that we did visit the city in the dream on such a vehicle. If I'm not wrong, the vehicle is a jeepney.

Ok, here we go, for the fourth day. I can't really remember much about the exact order of activities that happened at the school, so I'll just post what I do remember up here. For days four to six, the reflections posted here were only briefly included in the report to suit the maximum number of pages allowed.

The fourth day was the first day of our three day visit to Candau-ay Elementary School. We took a 15 minute walk down to the school, which was a stone’s throw away from the centre. As there were no high rise buildings in the area, we felt the full effects of the blazing sun. There was also no wind to reduce the heat that we felt. We were greeted by many children who were waiting at the gates for us. Everyone settled down, and in our facilitator groups of 2 to 3, allocated 3 to 4 students to a group. My group consisted of 4 facilitators and three students. The facilitators were Yiting and Grace from NJC as well as Samuel and myself from NP. Samuel joined us on the second day when Grace fell ill. The students were Mierco, Dellwen and Ivan.

Soon after, Joey led everyone in the warm up, and we played games to break the ice. There was a short presentation by Violet, Xing Dan, Nisha and Li Chen on Singapore, Japan, India and China respectively. The presentation was aimed at getting the students to know more about their neighbour countries and the region. The children were very attentive and were very interested to know more about the world that they lived in. As there was much time left, we invited the children to take us on a short tour of the school compound. We played more games and found out more about them before going back to the centre for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the school for more activities. We had a Spelling Bee contest, where the class was broken into four groups, and a representative was sent by each group during the group’s turn to spell a word. That was followed by an activity where students and facilitators each had a piece of paper on our backs, and others went around writing good comments on the pieces of paper. The purpose of the activity was to increase the self confidence of not only the children, but the self confidence of the facilitators as well. Following that, there was an origami session for the students. Gerald’s group came up with the idea of folding paper planes and having a flying competition, to compare whose paper plane could land the furthest. In the evening, everyone concluded the first day, and we returned to the centre.

While preparing for our dinner, we noticed a large fire at a farm near the centre, and as we heard dogs barking, we initially thought that it was an emergency, and went to inform Mr Saceda, who told us it was nothing to be alarmed about, as it was normal to see large fires in the evening. Although we ended up laughing at a false alarm set off by us, we were glad that we were alert and observant of our surroundings. We still had the “Kampong Spirit” that is slowly becoming extinct in Singapore.

We realized during our planning for the second day’s activities, that things did not go very well according to plan that day. There were too few activities to last at least two hours for each session, which had us thinking on our feet after completing the day’s activities before the day ended. For the next day, we planned to have only one session for our activities, so as to make time for our final rehearsal for the Cultural Night performance.

Later that evening after we were done with our planning for the lessons for the second day at the school, we went on with our second attempt for the camp fire. This time, we invited the farmer who started the fire we saw earlier to help us in the setting up of our campfire. As expected, he did not even use half of the bottle of kerosene to start the fire! When we started the fire, it was a burning success! We managed to keep it burning 10 minutes before our rehearsal, up till the end of it! It was a night filled with success. The final plans for the Cultural Night were confirmed and rehearsals got into full swing that evening. Due to time constraints, we decided to do away with the skit, and instead, perform 4 songs. We would also be putting up a short fashion show of the ethnic costumes of the Chinese, Malays as well as the Indians in Singapore. As for the finale item, we would be performing a dance item, choreographed by students from NJC. The rehearsals went well that evening, and we managed to get ourselves more familiarized with the songs and the order of items we would perform on the stage the following evening. I have never felt so great during our trip, where I experienced for the first time during the trip, that the NJC and NP teams had truly become one with one another during that night alone. Although we were all tired to the point of falling asleep, there was pure cooperation among the members, nothing like what we experienced back during our past meetings and briefings.

Last night watched the movie August Rush after finishing the previous post. it was a great movie, so great that although at first it seemed to be like a movie inspired from a true story, but as you approached the last scene where the chracter August Rush composed his piece, it seemed more of a fairytale. The music was not very original, and part of it was from a piece composed by a famous composer. After doing some reflections, the perspectives people see music can be observed from the movie, without a doubt. Not to spoil things too much for those who have not watched the movie, the movie is filled with coincidences,where one coincidence would lead to another, bringing the whole story to a short, but disappointing close. I prefer clear-cut endings compared to endings that end half-way, leaving the audience to ponder about what happened next. Two more days before we're done with the module. oh, and I guess I better get to sleep soon so that I can wake in time to go for my first ever morning run alone, at 6.45am, maybe earlier at 6.15am. It's part of my training to wake early for school, as lately I have been waking at around 10 to 11am, even with 3 alarm clocks working to wake me up.

Once it's Sunday, I'm going to spend time to update the music piece(might leave the current one there) as well as the links list.

NJC-NP Joint Comminuty Service Project to Dumaguete City, Philippines-Part 3

Alright, here's the longest post. Day 3. The day that was filled with the most number of surprises, both good and bad. That day, left the greatest impact on us.

3. Day Three
On the third day, after breakfast, some of us went on a venture to the farm behind the centre. Although it was meant to be a visit to the farm, some of us decided to go further. We wanted an adventure. We walked up stream along the side of the river behind the farm. However, due to time constraints, we had to return to the centre shortly after reaching the side of the damaged dam. Later on upon returning to the centre, we were greeted with a surprise. We were going to the beach! We took about 20 minutes to travel there. On the way we passed the Airport which serves the domestic flights from Manila. The runway looked decent, but the fence was similar to that of a private house. How good it would be, if terrorists never existed, and Singapore’s Changi International Airport had fences like those? The waters at the beach were crystal clear, not the very salty, bitter water we have back at Sentosa’s beaches. One could wade more than 20 metres away from shore, but the waters were no higher than just above the waist. The houses there were mainly attap, with only one or two modern-looking bungalows lining the backdrop of the beach. When some of us went to wash up, the tap we used was something that was extinct in Singapore. We had to pump up water from a pipe into a pail!

In the afternoon after lunch, we met up with students from Candau-ay Elementary School, who brought us on a short tour around the village. Firstly, we visited a dumpsite serving the city. Once there, it was not the majestic hills of refuse that shocked me. It was the people who did. There were scavengers, young and old, scavenging for recyclable items among the hills of refuse! Some of the young were still children, and were students from Candau-ay Elementary School! It hit me that the families who were hit with poverty had a key to help them escape the poverty cycle. The key was their children. The community gave out scholarships to top students who deserved to carry on with their studies at high school or college. If the children were able to move on with the help of a scholarship, there would come a day when the child of an affected family helps the family to break free of the poverty cycle.

Next, we walked back to the centre, and along the way we explored an avenue, looking at the extent of the damage done to the area, caused by a very serious flood on 7th February. Once back, we decided to continue the adventure from where we left off earlier in the morning. This time, John, our teacher in-charge decided to come along with us. We went further up stream this time round, with the aid of our guide and young host, Elaine. Many of us discovered something about ourselves during the short expedition. We had the intention of reaching a waterfall, which Elaine said she knew of. However we had to turn back once again as we were running out of time to go any further. During the journey, we met with many dangers. However, with us working closely as a team, we overcame every obstacle and everyone returned safely. Along the way, we observed the immense damage caused by the flood on 7th February. It was shocking to see the amount of damage caused. Even the rock wall which protected the village from flooding was badly damaged.

Dinner that evening was very special. We were going to have dinner under the stars! On a side note, almost all of our dinners at the centre was candle-lit, including the dinner we had that night. The guys also had a pleasant surprise, when we were given a bottle of local beer to drink. It tasted very different from the local brands we have back here, and it was better, in fact, although the alcohol content was similar.

That night after dinner, Mr Saceda invited us over to his residence for a sing-along session. He taught us two songs, Seasons of Love, and If We Hold On. Those songs showed me the spirit of the people of Dumaguete City, nicknamed The City of Gentle People. Although it was just the second day of the trip, we were already feeling the warmth of the people there.

Upon returning to the centre, we had our preparation for the first of three days of lessons for the students of Candau-ay Elementary School. That evening, we also managed to clear the grey areas in our purposes for the trip. After we were done with the planning of lessons, some of us decided to integrate a small campfire with our rehearsal for the Cultural Night which was to be held on Tuesday evening. We managed to set everything up quickly, but there was only one problem. We were unable to get the fire started! I even used a can of deodorant spray in hopes of increasing the intensity of the fire, but that failed as well. Mr Chan was surprised that, with us using the whole bottle of kerosene to fuel the fire, we were still unable to get it started. A bottle of kerosene was enough to start two to three fires larger than the one we were having that evening. Although we failed miserably, we decided to try again the next evening. I felt that, although it was a failure, it was good that we admitted our failure to the group, and decided to not give in and try to have the campfire again the next evening when we were having our rehearsal again. The night ended with our very first debrief session in the trip.

Today, I had a great dream. We were back at the centre on a follow-up trip, and this time, there were 2 other schools with us! So that makes 4 schools in all. We were all missed by the people there, and they were so glad to see us all back as well! The centre had been through an upgrade, and it now has 2 storeys! Facilities were better, and it sure looked like a small school with modern facilities! Sadly, for today, I had not started on the research for my part of the presentation, but I'll be doing it as soon as I post this up.
Anyways, the next few posts from tomorrow would be a little short, for I had forgotten the flow of activities we had planned in advance. Hopefully I might be able to recall as I go through the day's events one by one.
Three more days to the end of my first module in the first semester of my second year!

NJC-NP Joint Comminuty Service Project to Dumaguete City, Philippines Part 2

Today's going to be on the second day itself. Anyways, have decided to just do one posting for each day, so as not to bore people who dislike reading stuff more than 8,000 words long in one shot. So, there you have it, the second day of the trip:

2. Day Two
Early in the morning the next day, I felt surprised that, although it was only 5.45, the sun was already out! I soon figured that though Singapore and the Philippines share the same time zone, the time which the sun rises and sets are different! The sun rises early, and sets early in the Philippines.
After breakfast, we visited Malaunay Elementary School. We were presented with a warm welcome ceremony shortly after arrival. After Joey led everyone in the warm up, the group of 80 children was broken down into eight groups of 10, each group accompanied by two facilitators from the team. Soon, we were underway with our games planned for the children.

We were led to a classroom for lunch before we carried on interacting with the children through singing and dancing with them, talking to them and playing games like volleyball and soccer. The day at the school ended in torrential rain, and we had to return to the centre to prepare for the next activity in line for us that day.

During the facilitation of the station for Scissors Paper Stone, one of the four game stations, I realized that although the children wanted to have fun, they were rough as well. It was the same for the Captain’s Ball station. Although it made us facilitators and station masters worry for the safety of the children, the children took things in their stride. Even when a child fell and hurt himself during the game, he just took it lightly, and went on with the game. Back home in Singapore, one would expect the child to break down in tears upon falling, whether or not he was injured. During the lunch break, while some of us stayed behind for a game of Captain’s Ball, the children joined in as well! We also had a hard time keeping up with their pace when we ran with them. It wasn’t very surprising to see them being very physically fit as well, for there were numerous steep slopes that led up to the school. That’s nothing to the people who live on the hill, the students and teachers who go to school on foot daily. Wow.
What touched most of us, was when the buses we were on left the school, there were children running after our buses, as though they wanted to continue the day of fun with us and did not want us to leave so soon. It was a painful, yet memorable experience.

At 4pm that afternoon, we visited the urban city area of Dumaguete City. The pace of life there is very fast, with much life and vibrancy, compared to the neighbourhood where the centre was located, where things were very laid back, and where there was lots of peace and quiet. For a short moment, it felt as though I was at Singapore’s Orchard Road. We went shopping and exploring the area for about an hour. It was 6pm when we had our dinner at a Chinese fast food restaurant. Although the food did not taste like the original from Singapore, I felt back at home just by looking at the menu.


Anyway, today was a rather short day. Had the best sleep since the second night spent at the centre. No dreams, which were a good thing, but at the same time, ito me, it's a signal that something bad might happen the next day. Today, woke up after 11 hours of sleeping at 1pm. Went for brunch, and stared at the computer screen for practically the rest of the day. A day of relaxation after finishing the first part of the module the night before at 11.28pm, approximately 31 minutes before the deadline. Hopefully I would not annoy anyone when I say that, I completed everything without final checks at 3pm, at the new cineplex near Bugis with Joel and Gerald. We had wanted to go to the National Library, firstly to experience the G force of the lifts followed by intensive study. The moment we entered, the female guard asked us why were we at the library. Ironic, for people obviously went to the library for educational purposes. The library's closed on public holidays. So, I'm back to enjoying a day of holiday with nothing in mind, only pure relaxation. Did nothing, except doing random stuff and gaming. Of course, I got bored halfway. Great thing it's almost a new day, and it will soon be time to restart my engines after letting them run for 40 hours since Thursday morning without rest. Tomorrow, it's going to be more research and compilation, though not as intense as what was done over the past week. So, that would mean more opportunities to make detours while heading to the destination in mind.
I'm so looking forward to the next day, for without much to do, I'm as good as an aimless wonderer.

NJC-NP Joint Comminuty Service Project to Dumaguete City, Philippines Part 1

It's the longest report I had ever written. In 5 days, I wrote 35 pages, an estimated 12,000 words and inclusive of 2 days of research and reflection. Oh yes. This is not the actual report that I submitted to the school as part of a module. Some parts have been removed due to content sensitivity and confidelity. However, some parts have been added as well. On the final post, I'll post up all the posts as one single post. Anyways, here goes the first segment:

1. Day One
On the first day, we gathered at Terminal Two of Changi International Airport, before checking in our bags, clearing the immigration and finally, boarding the plane that would take us on the first step of our trip. On board the plane during the three-hour flight, everyone was enjoying ourselves and taking time off to get to know one another better and break the ice.

We landed safely at Cebu’s Mactan International Airport after the three hour flight. We took three buses, each looking like vans, to transport our bags and us to the SYL centre. The students and teachers from NP and NJC took two buses, while our bags took the third. Once ready, we embarked on a bumpy, four-hour bus ride to the ferry terminal, while enjoying the sights along the way.

Compared to the orderly traffic and inconsiderate drivers we have back here in Singapore, traffic rules at Cebu are nearly non-existant. Traffic is unregulated and not all traffic lights are in operation at many road junctions. If the drivers back home in Singapore are known to be inconsiderate, how would fellow Singaporeans rate the drivers we met over at Cebu? The long, exhilarating ride was tough, but was an eye opener to many of us that afternoon. Although it might have caused some of us to feel frightened when the bus we were on seemed to be on a collision course with another vehicle travelling in the opposite direction while overtaking a slower vehicle on a narrow road, it felt as though I was inside a video game. There were many near-misses with other vehicles and to add to the excitement, we were travelling at high speed!
We arrived at the ferry terminal shortly before 6pm, and the sun was setting! At 6pm, we boarded the ferry bound for Dumaguete City. The sun was setting as we sailed toward the Island, and it was definitely a sight not commonly seen back in Singapore.Upon arrival at the ferry terminal, our journey had not ended. Some of us were directed to a jeepney, a public bus, to a bus as well as the car of Mr Saceda. It was pitch black when we travelled the final kilometer to the centre, though it was not yet 8pm in the evening. When we finally arrived, we were warmly welcomed by a banner. I felt at home once again.

Well, that's all for tonight, the second day will be up tomorrow!

Back into the Ordinary

So sorry it's been way too long! At 3pm on the 23rd of March, I got the best birthday gift ever! And, it was also from my laptop! Yes! It gave me a Damaged C Drive with all my data still inside. How sweet! Anyway, I had it repaired, and in one week, I got it back from the service centre, to find it as good as new. So now, I have to go look into my external hard disk for some of the backup files. I happened to have lost all my presentations, assignments and projects, all worth more than a millions bucks. Good thing I kept my personal files safe, for those are priceless.

Moving on, I have completed 95% of my trip report and reflections, of which it would be posted up here for all, well at least most of it. Some contents from forbidden to be released. Everything should be compiled, completed and submitted by Thursday at 2pm, if everything goes fine. I had wanted to submit it tomorrow, but it seems that there are missing details that need to be filled in. I'll be releasing them in parts, before posting the report and reflections as a whole. The first post is expected to be up on Friday.

Right now, I guess I'll be taking a break from writing the report tonight, and would continue it tomorrow evening. Thursday's my self declared deadline. Although I had a good sleep from 5am till 11am this morning, I am regretful of my return to dream land after I managed to wake at 9am. I had dreamt of something extremely terrible. So terrible that it would be thousands of times more terrible if it were to happen in real life. By the way, it's got nothing to do with the desturction of the world, so there's nothing to fear. I'll just let you know about the time and setting of the dream then. It's set in the month of January at a new shopping complex. I have no idea of the exact year and date. Time wise, it was either in the evening, or in the afternoon. In case you're wondering how terrible the terrible was, I felt a kind of fear that I have never felt before, the one that occurs when you did something that you should not even have thought of doing.

Next, tomorrow I'll be having an NYAA meeting in school, but I have doubts that the outcome of the meeting would be good. Lots of stuff to confirm and prepare, and lots of adminstrative work to be done as well. In the afternoon, I'll be rushing down to the Driving Centre for the first basic theory practice. Hopefully nothing goes wrong there. And, heaven seems to be on my side this semester, for I have Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to take care of my driving lessons. Afternoons are reserved for classes in school.

Thursday, it would be pretty much the same, minus the NYAA meeting in school. Friday's Good Friday, a public holiday. I'm so going to use that day to catch up on sleep, play some games, and slack the day away.