End of first barrier...

Seems to me like it always rained on the first and last day of the examinations. Today, the turbulence of the wind was worse than before.I nearly lost my umbrella to the wind and almost destroyed it due to the air resistance. Anyway, today was the last paper,finally.

We were in the canteen, talking about which questions to expect and going through the formulae one last time, before heading up to the hall, prepared and ready. I did not expect the questions today to be simpler than I had expected.There were only a handful of questions that were hard,but solvable,although I have the doubt I will not score well for these questions.

Anyway, I'm dying to get this post over and done with, so, let's just skip over to the final moments...Ms Lim had our post-examination treat waiting for us in the canteen!Nice!I could skip lunch and save up morethis week(make up for the money I lost due to forgetfulness-did not know I left my ruler in the bag, and had a spare pen in my pencil case).Thanks MS Lim!

The most surprising thing, was that many people I knew were boarding the same train after the examinations today.Strange, but maybe it was because it was the adrenaline rush to do some post-examination shopping with someone close(Right, Siang Ling???)...

Anyway, going off for now... hope that tomorrow will not be feeling so bored...

Hate to say it, but why did many friends made their wrong decision 2 years back and are only feeling remorseful only now?Why din't they appeal,and why did they not thoroughly consider their applications before submitting their choices???

Recovery...

Today, my main focus for the examinations was to recover from the wrekage I caused on Friday. We had our Science(Chemistry) paper 2 on Friday. I messed up for my time management, as I read the wrong time. It was suppossed to end at 9.17am, but I misread the time as 9.47am, as that was suppossed to be the time for the Secondary 4 Normal pupils. Well, this was the first time, but once is ENOUGH. The carelessness was enough to kill me of my target of A1, which was my grade since I took this course.This is going to be my first and last time I got a grade lower than that.

Anyway, back to story. Today the 6 pure students were not here, as they did not have any papers today... So, the eight of us, being the minority who took the Science(Biology) papers, had the first 8 seats. Fortunately, I finally got the chance to seat under an air-conditioner!Call me sick and everything, but I enjoy the cold. I did better this time round, aceing through paper1. the questions were challenging, of course, but there were more questions that required thinking. I went down for a drink of coffee so that I would not see the wrong time again(luckily, this time there was only 1 paper). As I did not have the habit to do last minute revision for all my examinations(since primary 1), I decided to relieve myself by tutoring those who took the Science(Physics) paper 2? Their notes were downright simple! 1 thing that I found out about most students I helped(no offence), was that they were not strong with thier formulae(common for those who did last minute revision/did not do frequent practices) or had weak concepts(I'm one of them under this category).Hope they did well for the examination though...

Anyway, that's all for now, there's the last paper tomorrow which I am not so worried about, excpet that I have yet to conquer my weaknesses in the topics I'm weak in...

This brings the "O" Level Mother tongue paper a lot closer, to 2 weeks away, which is the following monday... All the best for all those taking this examination!

Elites???

Yuan Ching Secondary School,Semestral Examination,Day 4,Thursday,10th May 2007,Secondary 4,Express Stream,English Language Paper 2, Physics papers 1 and 2.

Reached school at 7am to meet Andy, Steven and Jun Jie. Revised Physics notes, formulae and concepts 4 hours before the examination began. Summarised version of today:

English paper started at 9am as school starts late on Thursdays. It was considered to be an esay passage together with practically simple-to-answer questions. I am confident of getting near,if not, hitting distintion this time round.Sadly, although the paper ended really early at 10:40am, the 13 of us had to stay on for 2 papers which started at 11:25am.

Headed to the canten, watched the "unpure" people heading out of the school gate one by one. the boys gathered at the canteen, stocking up on our mental fuel. We struggled through the final moments of memorising to ensure nothing was left out during the crucial two-and-a-half hour papers.

11am. The whole hall was empty, leaving only the pure and the "elites"(Randall and I thought of that name for the thirteen of us) to dominate the whole area. During paper 1, we were seated wrongly, as if free-seating was allocated for the paper(damn it, should have taken the table all the way at the ohter side of the hall). Anyway, an hour later at 12.23pm when the first paper ended, we were rearranged in the correct order this time round(luckily, still no air-con spot). We agreed that this time round the multiple choice questions were very straight forwars and easy to answer. Fortunately, there was a ten-minute transition period before the next paper started at 12.34pm. I headed for the washroom first,since I had a stomache during the first paper, but luckily,it did not cost me much of my concentration. The paper started,and I was perspiring like anything in the hall. Who had turned down the temperature of the air-conditioners?I did not care, just keep the jacket on(who would want to waste time on trivial matters?). I lost concentration at the start, due to that problem, causing me to "donate" a couple of marks to the marker. Anyway, the rest of the paer went on quite smoothly, and I managed to finish it 10 minutes before time-out. After that,left for home immediately at 2.19pm...

imagine us on the actual "O" Level examination, The Elite Sanctum having their Pure Physics paper in the hall, taking up only 13 places and leaving the rest of the seats empty...

Conflicts

The events that occured today all revolved around this word, "conflict". The first incident occured as early as this morning, as I was struggling to wake up. Now,being a "fine" Tuesday morning, the journey to school was short, and yet filled with many incidents. A female student and another teenage girl having a conflict at an escalator landing, followed by two paramedics leaving the Clementi MRT station shortly after 6.30am. No wonder those flashing lights were turned on at the opposite site of the road.

Now, in school, I had some sort of an emotional conflict?Should I tellthe others that the classroom can be opened, or should I not, since it was almost seven in the morning, and that meant only twenty minutes before school actualy started for the day. Never mind, just walk on, and there they were, at the staircase opposite the admin block. At first, I thought, should I go over?Unfortunately, I was spotted. Am I such an ominus person(as Im someone who seemed to be the least interesting)? nevermind, let's just head over to the canteen, have a little chat with Gabriel before heading over to them later on. Went there, took a short break, saw Ms Lim with Zing Zai heading to the office to get the keys to the classroom.Headed up the stairs. Where have they gone? 3N2 classroom. Andy,Steven,Banu and the both of them, as well, were in there(See that, I still can't make up my mind whether or not to list their names down!!!). Helped Andy with his revision, since, if I was unable to get those acts in, might as well help those who were still willing to take the risk and make full use of the last minute revision.

After assembly, the whole class was wondering which way to take, since we were the first to head to the hall. Once there, examination started, I could not make up my mind about which essay question on conflicts would help me sustain a 2 this time round? Guess, after that futile attempt,that grade would only be wandering in my dreams. English Language Paper 1. My favourite. Did the question on "Singaporeans today are more demanding and impatient becuase they are more educated. Do you agree?"This one was much betterthan the two essays I did earlier this morning. I finished it in twenty minutes,inclusive of planing time. Guess what?I broke my record for writing a discussive essay(previous best:30minutes, inclusive of planing time, as well as using only a piece of paper to write a single essay for the first time), Here,I had a battle of words to propose about the ideas for the letter writing, with the main attraction being my one hour of pondering over the format to use for the proposal. In all, I used up an hour and twenty minutes to complete this section. The remaining 5 minutes? I did a mindmap about the title,"Freedom". If you had watched the anime series, Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, you will know what is the freedom Gundam. Well, you guessed it, I wrote out a plan about the description of the Freedom, as well as the conflicts it and its pilot went through.Surprisingly, I took only 2 minutes and a half to come up with the plan, but, I sort of erased the plan in case someone found out about that.

Anyway, after that, headed home, had a mental conflict this time, Should I even touch the computer? That was my undoing tonight, for I had wasted 3 hours' worth of revising for the coming examinations, which I have completed only 90 or so percent. Seems like its time to stope here, as I have brainwashed everything that had happened to day right here... Seems like I won't have to worry about today until the results are released next week or the week after...


Until today, I have never known the true meaning of stress, not even last year, when I fumbled while at the frontline of the uniformed group. Till today,I only know that I had met my worse enemy, fear, and stress has yet to make its first appearance. ..

Preparation for the storm

It's drawing near, so I'll keep this short and simple. I did my second "long distance" revision, or revision marathon today. I had been laxed since the start of the year, not doing much intense reivision and such, I had even ben sleeping in class and skipping homework? That was the first time it ever happened...Now, the consequences are showing up. Forgetting some basics, unable to reabsorb most of the information taught in class and such. It has past. Now, the best thing to do is to try to revise as much as possible before the final moments draw near.

Anyway, forget about that for a moment, and just take a short break for now. It's not like I can just go on without refuelling. Anyway, many things, both pleasant and unpleasant have surfaced this week, however, these things seemed to have been more intense than those I faced during the past few weeks. Whats more, impossible as they seem, it's like the past is being repeated somehow.I just don't really know how to phrase all this for now, so, maybe I'll just think a little more in depth for the moment, at least, till the startof the examinations.

Friday, did quite little, and the only two events that I remember were the netball finals and the Jurong Point trip. Although our class did their best, they did not come in first, but second. They are not at fault, since, the nature of this class is more toward the frontline on the examinations, the class of the elites, as we have been told many times. Anyway, even though the break for them was a pathetic 2 minutes, but they seemed to have more or less recovered from the previous match...

After that, went to Jurong Point with Andy and Zhong Rong, for he had wanted to buy a few items for the examinations. After that, we went to Macdonalds to grab a bite, talked about the future of the CCAs and a couple of societies, before calling it aday and heading in our own ways....

It seems like we will all see each other for a few more months, before we all part in our own separate ways the same way when we all first came in and met one another...

Official Step Down...

Finally, I have got a lot less things to do in St John Ambulance Brigade and as for ELDDS Drama Society, I'm not so sure whether I have officially stepped down as a member or not. Today was no doubt pleasant right from the start of the day.

Something strange happened to me this morning on the way to school. I somehow managed to get the feel of my legs being restless. With that alone, I seemed to accelerate very quickly, and went beyond my top speed within seconds? After that, I overtook almost everyone on the way, and an ambulance passed by... I sort of got carried away from it, and before I knew it, I was heading for the busstop outside the the school. Stange,ain't it?I entered the school the traditional way. However, I did not see the "advertisement" at the bus stop this morning. maybe it was taken down by someone?For more, visit Damien's post.

Biology, don't wish to talk about this. next, English lesson. We went to the computer laboratory to do some essay assignment, with the title "River Swimming", and the situation as while you were swimming in a river, something shiny caught your attention...Damien finished it even before the lesson started, as he finished it at home. During recess, Mr Liew came and asked Augustine and I to help with the stapling of 45 past year Mid-year Additional Mathematics papers. As I was holding my new,unstapled Biology paper, I felt that I could use the stapler as a service charge.Now, let's head to the time when it's after school(the main course).

I arranged the tables as soon as everyone left the classroom, which is like, solo work?It was definitely a one-man show back there, but as I liked to kill time by arranging tables and chairs to perfection, I did not mind that at all,even at the cost of having to rearrange them again a few hours later(hope Siang Lin sees this). I went back to class to help one of Andy's secondary 1 student to write a letter (err, Andy, what was her name again?). Another area of my interest, and soon, I was so engrossed in it that I sort of exagerated a little?

Finished the two-page write-out in twenty minutes, and headed down to the parade square to watch the 4E1 netball team own the whole inter-class games. We pawned most of the upper secondaryclasses!Went back to class after it started raining, and that was where all the drama tok place. A small group of three were studying, and that area accumulated after some time. Well, the others were playing a short game of Monkey when Siang Lin finally came in, and exploded?Semed that way to the secondary ones, but after that, she was smiling behind their backs...Well, they sort of got shocked, as Andy and I felt that it was perfectly fine to stay in the classroom, which did not seem to be the case, as priority goes to anyone who was studying in class. We packed up, and went to Jurong Point after that. As today was suppossed to be Sara's, Xu Wei's ,Darren's and my last day at the St John Meeting in Yuan Ching Corps, we were prepared for 3.30, however, that timne never came as no one assembled at the study corner...Or was it, suppossed to be next friday? Maybe let's just wait for further news for now, yea.

Went to Jurong Point to celebrate my Last CCA day? notreally, we went there to relieve our stress, four secondary one students(Sorry, but I seemed to have forgotten your names),Zhong Rong,Andy and I. Stayed there till 5.50 before heading home, to prepare for tuition at 7.30pm. Now's already 11.05, and I am here posting, after a day of hard work.

These four years in St John has been a great one, howver, I was not ableto help the corps to break free from the bronze barrier, but we actually did not break the 3-year chain of bronze awards. Although my time in Drama was a pathetic two years, I managed to find committment n the CCA and did my best in acting as well. That Secondary one student, looked so much like her when she was Primary 6...please, don't tell me that I am going to sccumb to the same fate andoutcome I faced four years ago???

The day when More comes to light...

The title's said it. Todays the day when another outcome of the choice I made four years back has come to light. It dates back to the day when the PSLE results were posted in 2003. The were expected, at 214, but we were prepared. Right away, we set off. Visiting schools that meet my requirement. There was this school. It was old. Though it was, there was this clitch about this school. The staff in the compound were kind and friendly, and most of all, the more we went back, the more I felt that it had to be the one.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, a newspaper article today prompted me to write this down. The title of the article "'Ganster School' Fights Back" speaks a thousand words about Yuan Ching Secondary. 29 years old, it is progressing at an amazing rate. Though there is much to say, I believe, that they should be said at a later date... Anyway, I can feel that I had made the right choice, which was choice no.2 on the list.

Yuan Ching Class Quest???

Nothing interesting happened so far except for that, and although there was another incident yesterday, well, it might not be good to include that in here...Now, allow me to take you back to the annual NAPFA Test of Yuan Ching Secondary held on Thursday, 19th April,2007.

3pm. Everyone gathered in the hall for a short briefing. Andy sure was a little satisfied, since this was the first time 30 or so Chinese Dance members were relocated out of the hall for the sake of 9 classes of secondary four and five students. But since Randall was telling me some facts of the sharinean guild quest(MapleSEA), I thought of typing a walkthrough of the NAPFA test in the same format.We had entered the hall after taking our attendence(registration).Anyway, we were given our Station(stage) order after that, and the first was the standing board jump.A test of the classmates' leg strength and jump distance(haste, scrolled for jump equipment and teleport strictly not allowed).There were 18 boys today, as 4 were down for intensive practice for SYF. I made my attempt, with my final score at 226(second attempt).

Second stage:Sit and Reach. A test of the classmates' flexibility.Here, one must sit on a board with a metre that has a metal slide in front of him, while he is supported on the back by another board and a belt preventing him from bending his knees. I wasalways the last to attempt, so I could have gotten the upper hand. I think that I had gotten the highest for the class, at 50cm. CLEAR! We move on to the next stage.

Stage 3: Pull Ups. A test of the classmates' arm strength.Here, one must hang on a 2-metre high pole before lifting himslef up to the rod, thus having only his chin above it. Once done, it is counted as one, and he must get down again, straightening his elbows before going on the next attemptand so on. For this, the top scorers are Andy, at 11 pull ups,Kamal at 9 pull ups and the others who did 5 and got a "C" grade. Many classmates "died" at this stage.CLEAR! We moved on to the next stage.If I was not wrong, this was a "boss" stage, but since it was not the second last stage, it think it cannot be considered to be one.

Stage 4:Shuttle Run. A test of the classmates' agility(Haste and scrolled for speed equipment strictly not allowed). kamal broke the record of another class by hitting 9.78 seconds on the clock. I got another "D"grade by clocking 10.77 seconds. CLEAR! We moved on to the next station.

Height and Weight. A checklist of the classmates' height and mass. Well, this is simply to kill time, and also to restock a little on our lost liquid intake. Well, it was certainly a joke to have my height read as 136.5cm(humilating, eh?).Ont he second attempt again, it seemed better, but I think I had shrunk by a centimeter, from 170 to 169.No CLEAR, as it was more like a transition than a stage.We simply moved on to the next stage.

Stage 5:Boss stage for class 4E1, boys' group. Sit-ups. A test of the classmates' endurance and stomach strength(if that is what they call it). This one'sa though one. No one got killed here, though it was the most tiring after the pull up station. I did 41, and Randall did 43. Just one more, and I could have gotten an "A" grade! CLEAR! We moved on to the Bonus stage.

BONUS Stage: classmates get to re-attempt any one station he did not do so well in. Randall and I returned to the first stage, the standing board jump station, and we got slightlymore satisfying results.

Caualty count(injuries): 3. Gabriel who experienced a bit of thoigh preoblems before his attempt at the standing board jump station, Andy who crammed his left leg at the sit-up station and me, for a crammed thigh at the sit and reach station.

Casualty count(failed attempts of classmates): i did not pay so much attention for this, although I know that about less than 10 failed their pull ups.

First aider(Cleric): Me,of course... :P

I'm finally out of the bronze barrier after 7 years,but a silver's not good enough for me...

SPCA Flag Day

This might seem a little outdated, but i have just only found time to write about it tonight. Anyway, I woke up at 4am in the morning to catch up with my maplesea account...Strange eh? I would not have anymore time for that once it hits daybreak. For your information, I am a ludibrium-based level 44 cleric in the world of Delphinus of MapleSEA. My IGN is RY91D. Soon, I will be creating a new character. Anyway, back to topic. Ended at 6.30 to prepare for the Flag Day. I reached Jurong Point at 8am, as it was the reporting time. The people from SPCA came late, at around 8.25am. Andy,Randall and I formed a team, collected our can and flags(not stickers) and headed out to on our quest to "beg" for donations.

First stage, Jurong East MRT Station. As we travelled by MRT, we were among the first to arrive. Weselected the first spot, the traffic crossing. It was extremely fast, though, within less than an hour out of the 2hours and 30 minutes allocated to us, Randall had already completed our first page of flags! However, as time passed, so did more groups pass by. Time to change our collecting location.

Next stop, Jurong West Market. We headed back to Lakeside MRT STation, rehydrated ourselves before heading there by bus 187. Sadly, we hardly sold more than 10 flags there. 3 groups of 2 had already taken that spot. So we moved on to the third stage at our final location, Ghim Moh Shopping Centre. We rehydrated ourselves again before taking bus 99.On the way there, guess what? Yong Chuan(pardon my spelling),together with a few others was playing basketball at a nearby basketball court!Wow!There they were,slacking away while having a job to do. Think about this, someone having 2hours and 30 minutes added into his CIP hour bank for playing basketball??? Anyways,back to the scene.Andy did a little while outside the shopping centre. By then, our can was already three quarters full. I took over after that, and completed our 100th flag before going off for a lunch break at 11am. We went back at 11.35pm to fill the last quarter. I managed to get out of my shell this time, ask anyone who came our way to collect a coin or two.There were kind ones, morale boosters and also, those who would not like to make a donation or they had already made one. That, was in fact the hard reality of society.

12.10pm, I sold the 150th flag that filled our can to the brim(RECORD BROKEN!!!) 5minutes before time. We took a bus straight back to the end point, Jurong Point Shopping Centre. We were praised by the collectors at the collection point, for achieving a grest collection that filled the can. That day was the second time this year that I participated in a flag day. The last time was two weeks ago when St John Ambulance Brigade had one, but I did not have to "beg", as I had Mathematics remedial that day. Now, what comes after each party quest in MapleSEA is completed? The BONUS Stage, of course! We got a certificate of participation and a bottle of water for the hard work.

I headed back to Jurong East after that to buy some paint and brushes for my model set, which is already nearing its completion, due at the end of term 2. Headed home for lunch and to get ready for tuition at 2.30pm(that's why I could not make it to the school's Chinese Dance troupe's full-dress reharsal at 3.30pm)...Tuition ended at 4.30pm, and I prepared for the next one at 6.15pm, at Bukit Panjang... Finally, at dusk, I reached home at 7.30pm,had my dinner, completed somerevision before participating in Azure Sanctum(my MapleSEA guild)'s next attempt at the new Sharinean Guild Contest and guild quest...

For now, maybe its back to a little more training before i reach level 50 and help the guild once again...

Annunal Sports Meet 2007

Today was possibly the last time I attended Yuan Ching's annual sports meet. Woke up at 5:30am(15 minutes earlier than usual) to pack some essential items before leaving for Clementi stadium at 6:15.As expected, reached Clementi MRT station at 6:24am and the first person I saw was Alex. Stayed with him for a moment before heading off for the stadium(had to reach there before7).

Once there, there were members of the public jogging, walking and exercising at the stadium. So far, as much as I could see, Andy and Fong Yong were the only ones there at the time...Went to meet up with the other St John members, before having our briefing for the day. Joined the class for National Anthem and pledgetaking before reporting for the first aid staton on the other side of thefield with Xiu Wei and Brendon... We had a little "party" there, with snacks and drinks, since we were expecting the least casualties to appear at that area(only track events that consist of distances over 400 metres were our area of concern). However, we still had to liase with the other three stations as they were running out of certain equipment before the first hour after the first event started.

10am, went back to class. Well, this is the first time in four years that I actually joined the class for the annual sports meet.After that, went to meet up with Andy to take a walk around the grand stand...A stormarrived at 11:34am, causing the last few events to be cancelled, and of course, the finale of the meet was pushed forward...There was cheering at last, comingfrom the secondary four area, which had been almost quiet since the start of the day...Really had fun back there.

Went with some of the boys to Jurong Entertainment Centre after we were dissmissed for lunch,before heading home earlier than expected.I had wanted to go watch Mr Bean's Holiday with them, but I was going to watch it with Andy and Randall on Saturday anyway...

Sometimes,being physically lonely does not always mean that one is emotionally and mentally lonely...

Turning 16

Today sure was one normal day. Although it might have been my birthday, I believe that is just a small significance to this time of the year. However, no matter how fast time flew today, I still had a chance to celebrate it, and that was during supper, since I had SJAB after school followed by tuition at 7.30pm. Well, we celebrated the occasion with Chicken,coleslaw, Mashed potato and a 1.5Litre Pepsi bottle, not to forget, the cake. Other than that, although I did not receive any presents in the real world, I did receive two in the virtual world(seems like the virtual world of Maple sea is full of surprises, just like in the real world)...

There was a course today on making plans in life, no matter how short term nor long term they may seem. This course is known as the Compass Programme. Was it interesting and exciting? From my point of view, it was, though I found myself falling asleep, not because that the course was boring, but I was so comfortable with the pace that I lost concentration and almost drifted off to sleep. That occurred after Mr Liew left the class(he sat beside me during the one period after our recess).

Shortly before and after SJAB ended today, it was just too close for me, since Damien had left for home soon after the Compass Programme, I was on the Most Wanted List for birthday bashes. Everyone was chasing me for a short period of time, but the sudden but vital appearance of Ms Lim for the CCA debrief saved my line. That marks that my first and last birthdays in YCSS do have have such a thing as a birthday bash...:)

Such times like these are rare,but I believe that that is what gives a family portrait a rainbow of colours...

Closing in

The start of the new term marks another step closer to the examinations. however, there is still time(except for one) to make improvements...

This time, I will simply be doing a short summary of the things done since the start of the holiday...till today.

Monday:
Biology remedial. Late start and late end with little being learnt defeated the purpose of the lesson. Went home and did more revision after that. However, little did I expect a calm after the storm, when Clara invited my brother over to her place to do his job week(He's a scout), whereby we enjoyed an ice-cream treat before and after the job was well done.Her parents sort of brought us out for dinner on our way back home.

Tuesday:
Today was a little more interesting. Mathematics remedial in school.Although I was late, still managed to catch up with all that was learnt since that morning only yesterday. After lesson, went home, more revision(that's the best time to do my revision, for once the school starts, there might not even be a decent time for proper revision).

Friday: Only tuition...

Saturday:
Went for a friendly match against Cazua's friends at the field near Commonwealth MRT station. We were trashed 13:2 with weak defences and attack strategies. However, I managed to learn one thing about my capabilities for the 2000 m fartlek relay held during the Sports heats on Tuesday. After that, we washed up and headed to Jurong Entertain Centre for lunch. After lunch, Darren and I went to a model shop to take a look at the models there(offer on going).I saw something I liked, and returned that evening after tuition to purchase it. What was it? Maybe I'll release it at a later date.im done with the fixing phase already. Now there is just the painting phase to be done.

Start of Term 2

Monday:Other than the fun activities during drama, I dont seem to remember anything else...

Tuesday:
This was what I found out on Saturday's trail run on Saturday.I had only 1 good chance of sprinting successfully, and that has got to be appropriately timed, for a blunder could bring disaster to both the team and myself(during the trial run, I was on the verge of collasping). To make things worse, I could only sprint for 300m during the last lap after cruising on my first lap and another option which was also very risky, was to sprint the moment I received the baton, for that way, I could complete the first 600 metres at top speed should I be in top form on that day, however, I will not be able to run normally after that, as I would have exhausted all my energy on the early sprint. When it was my turn finally for the relay, I took the second option, which really turned out as I had expected, since I had only looked at the short term goal for that part of the race, which was to gain back the first place and maintain speed(which I would most probably fail to do so). The disaster occured when I found myself only able to sprint to second place for the first 500 metres before losing all that energy to last me the next 300 metres. When almost all others passed me, I made that lethal gamble: To make that second sprint to finish in 4th, but I will most probably faint upon reaching the finish line. I did that, but on the last 50 metres, I found myself starting to lose my sight, causing me to crash into Clement. By right I should be slowing down, but for unknown reasons, I was going a little faster, only to lose out to him at the finish line. After that was when I made a successful attempt to get back to my friends. Although we lost, I know for sure that I had put in more than 100% into that final leg of the qualifying round.Bad news was, my legs were in terrible shape after I reached home at 8:20pm, with a really bad muscle ache and temporary paralysis.


Thursday:
Today during PE, Though my legs had recovered quite a bit, they were not really in the best condition for a long distance run. Surprisingly, I could run without stopping for 2.4kilometers and still complete the run within the time limit! I had expected myelf to fail terribly...
Had Geography remedial till 4pm, before going back to the classroom to do some bio revision for the test tomorrow. Reached home, had second session of tuition with cousin before doing this now...

Anyway, tomorrow's going to be another tough day with a test, a course, CCA and tuition...


Though there was hardly a chance to relax, those good times would still arrive, sooner or later...

Prelimary examination comes early...

The English prelimary oral examination was on since yesterday, and might not be ending till around Friday. Today was actually to clear those in 4E1,group 3 who did not have any CCA today.

Anyway, though the day past really fast again, it's only another 3 days before the March Holidays start, bringing us another step closer to the final examination. We got back our Pure Physics and Science(Biology) Common Test paper today. yesterday, I received my Geography Elective and Science(Chemistry) common Test papers. The marks are as shown:

Geography:16/25
Physics:19.5/30
Science(chemistry):25/30
Science(Biology):25.5/30
Science(Chemistry/Biology):81/100


Today, Pei Xuan came to school with a bandage on her left wrist. Well, from a distance, it looks like a wristband, while on close scrutinity, it looked like a bandage made from a piece of thin paper. Though it sort of reminded me of the month where I had the cast on, I felt that I was lucky to escape from the fact that I did not have to go through the torture of doing an experiment in the science laboratory(wonder how it was like using only one arm to turn on the bunsen burner and use the spatular)... At least though she said that it was her injury that got worse after dancing on Saturday, after helping to do some housework, but I felt that it was more like retribution?

Tomorrow I am finally going to get back my Mathematics and Additional Mathematics paper, and possibly, my misplaced Chinese common test paper?

Happy Chinese New Year-Part 4

Today's the 14th day of Chinese New Year. What's the significance of this day? Well, I don't really know, excet that today is the third gathering and reunion dinner... redundant eh? It might seem that way, but the time we spend was worth it. Though weonly had dinner and watched the Liverpool versus Manchester United Leg of the English Premier League(my second or third time watching the league)...

For food, there was sushi, fried rice, pasta and noodles with some respect to Chinese New YEar tradition(where you mix the ingredients together with auspicoius words and use your chop sticks to aise the noodles up as high as you can), and although that was the third time, I quite enjoyed it, for thosewere the onlytimes when you find it meaningful to play with your food, I guess. Finally, I am so glad and relieved that my stomach has recovered from it's worst nightmare this month, that is, I can eat like a normal person again!Yeah!

The match liven up the atmosphere of the gathering tonight, and that was the main highlight for tonight, with ManU scoring 1-0 to Liverpool. As I am sort of like a neutral party in soccer, I dintreally care which team won or lost, I just looked out for the sportsmanship of the two teams, though. While at that, My mother was sort of talking to my cousin's mother about what we did for our CCAs in school, as usual, and guess what, I learnt even more about my cousin's CCA, however, I don't really know whether that is something good or bad...

We took 5 photographs before calling it a day(Our usual finale itemfor most gatherings), at 11pm. By the way, right now, I am right here typing this, and soon, it will be time for a good rest...

This is the record number of times we ever had gatherings over the 15days of Chinese New Year... Maybe there might be 4, or even 5 next year???

Week of the Tests

This week was another sign that this year is filled with challenges. The first "examination" period for the Academic Year of 2007. English Language(Paper 1) and Social Studies on Monday, Mathematics and Geography Elective on Tuesday, Science(Chemistry/Biology) on Wednesday, Pure Physics and Additional Mathematics yesterday and Chinese Language today.

Well, of course, there were bound to be moments of relaxation in between too, for they are mainly lessons, events in class and games of soccer today. If you are asking about the events, they all occured yesterday. First was Mr Liew's talk session, which srt of knocked some sense into the class about the efforts Ms Lim to bind the class together. Next was free period, as Ms Lim was on the way back from a conference from Suntec. While discusing about the class-T, Pei Xuan actually gave me, Damien and Chi Kai some sweets. However, I had doubts, as the sweets had a weird taste. Indeed, I was right. Since this morning, I had been in and out of the washroom for almost 10 times now, including a visit of which I went straight into the toliet cubicle around ten minutes after arriving in school. After that, we went to the hall for an inspirational talk of a very successful former student, followed by the class chairmen investiture.


Today, it was lessons, Chinese common test, followed by two games of soccer before heading home to prepare for tuition inthe evening.... What happened during those times? It's sort of like a long story... Damien's page would have the best typeout for this area...

After this today, there is another gathering at my cousin's place again tomorrow. Hopefully I will be in good health to savour the food tomorrow...

Times like this are rare, but...

Happy Chinese New Year-Part 3

Last public holiday for Chinese New Year. Here in Singapore, we celebrate only the first two days, unless the first or second day or both fall on the the weekends,then we will have four days of celebration.

Today was not a very busy day, unlike the previous two days, as it's back to school tomorrow, so I can't really stay up till 3 or even 4am tomorrow to hog the PC, or else I will lose out in the 4 periods of Maths tomorrow...

So went with my brother at 10:24am as we woke up late at 10, to our uncle's shop for a hair cut... When we came back, cousins were waiting to have lunch(first time I am spoiled for choice during my meal at home, since there were so many dishes to choose from!!!). Today did not do any revision, except to attempt the SS homework that is a week overdue(I had actually either forgotten how to do, or I did not know ow to do the questions... How should I answer to her tomorrow???).

After dinner, went to visit my mother's sibling(Last stop for the year of the pig), before coming back to prepare for school tomorrow. The S$19 jersey(me only, as mine was a Special Case)was really comfortable and light!


Throughout these three days of celebration, I had collected a 3-digit sum. Exactly how much, maybe I'll keep that cofidential. Anyway, with three reunion meals spread evenly over three days together with a different activity on each day, it's a great way to pass 36 hours of the New Year, although time flies at warp speed during such festive occassions...

In fact, any day, at any time,as long as the family is together, seated around the dining table, it can be considered a family reunion meal, especially when it's dinner time...

Happy Chinese New Year-Part 2

It's almost an hour since I returned from my cousin's place. We sure had lots of fun there! 9-odd hours of celebrations at the Windermere Condo. This morning, waited for cousins to arrive before setting off together. It was past 1pm by then.

Lunch was ready when we arrived. Had a sumptuous buffet, before going off for 2 hours of a hardcore game of billiards together with my cousins and uncle. When we thought we the games room, where the billiard table and other table games were located, was booked from 1pm all the way to 10pm, we were wrong. At around 4:30 pm, someone came in and told us that she had booked the place for two hours from 4pm to 6pm... Out we went, back to the function room for a game of table tennis and some Chinese Chess...

We had wanted to go over to the basketball court, at the basement level, near the carpark. However, it there was a bad thunder storm and I happened to find out that my cousin's basketball had no air. So, other than the KTV room(I don't sing), there was the function room, where there was food and a table tennis "court". As the rain stopped at around 5pm, two of my brothers and two cousins went down for a swim, coming backaround an hour later.


Finally, it was dinner time, at 7pm. The caterer had come to clear the equipment, so there was abit of a rush to place all the food in containers and large plates so that as everyone ate, the caterer could clear their things. Finally, at 8:00 pm, we had full control of the games room again. All the way till 10pm, when the security guard came and told us that the rooms were going to be closed for the day. While helping Clara to bring her rice cooker and thermos flask back to her apartment, I learnt of more things about her CCA. Well, what exactly did she tell me? A long story, I guess.

As I am not a camera-totting youngster, there no photographs here. Even if there are, there would be a new place to view uploaded photographs. Where, wait till I'm done then. Anyway, you might want to check out Caderina's site, for there are a couple of photographs of Clara's estate there...

Anyway, there is going to be another gathering later at 12 noon, although it is not as large scale as today, I can expect lots of humour and fun coming along...
Such large family gatherings are just the best highlights of every year. They just never fail to be placed on the annual calendar...

Happy Chinese New Year-Part 1

Yep, today's the second day of Chinese New Year. Yesterday,played the computer till around 3.10 am(latest ever) before sleeping for 4 hours, waking up later for breakfast. Cazua sent me a question, when can go to Ms Lim's place? I replied as going out soon, reply by sms later. Sure enpugh, I did, and Ms Lim gave her reply, Saturday. Although we know that we are going to be at her door step at 11 am, we have yet to confirm the meeting time and place. Before that,went to temple to pray to departed grandparents.

Went home, tok a short nap till around 2.17pm before continuing from where I stopped that morning. Went out again at 3.40pm, this time to watch a movie, Just Follow Law, at Plaza Singapura with my cousins. Good, with lots of humour and some vulgarities. At 6:00pm, went for dinner, before going into the last round for the day. Visited my grandmother and relatives at Tanglin Halt and Holland Village respectively.

It's still quite early now to do anything, so, maybe get some good sleep, for it's another big day at Clara's(cousin) Place later, as there will be buffet lunch and dinner, as well as a day at the billiard room, swimming pools and the basketball courts!Till then, wishing you a prosperous New Year!

Hectic Month

I can hardly find time to place a decent post here these days. Much work and revision to be done and such. Anyway, Over the past few weeks, there was an educational trip to the Parliament House(too bad the class cant really get to tour the gallery below, other than the last time I went there, when security was not as tight), a few talks on Thrusdays as well as other rants about the school life and the Chinese New Year celebrations today( not as good as last year). So far, at least close to 20 tests have been done...

Anyway, it's the Chinese New Year period, with lots of festivities and new experiences after this week(more tests)... So, maybe just relax and enjoy the atmosphere before the hard times return...

Too good to be just a fleeting dream...

I really had to post this this morning, even though the day had just began.

Simple... dreamt about something, but could not wake up.

Saw some friends at Clarke Quay at between midnight and three in the morning, walking down the same stretch where Andy, Randall, Gabriel andI did our Walk and Talk competition. Instead of them, this group comprised of some of the familiar people like Ze Yi ,Zhi Kai, Cazua,Damien and Dom( no offence). Everyone was dressed in black, from top to toe, and had headsets( looking like those bluetooth headsets) for communication....

Went with them to UOB plaza, before seeing them running up the stairs to the office levels. From what I can remember, they had guns and military knives? I had nothing other than a bag full of first aid equipment( guess it was to drees up any wounds they had), a pistol and a knive. They sort of shot at any police officers who stopped them, and pushed me aside before going into the offices to check on the area before proceeding upwards... Surprisingly, did not hear any alarm or anything in there...

Went to the top, and came down by lift. We managed to hear someone on the radio, saying that a group of at least 5 had infiltrated the area. He spoke commands by radio, saying to close the car park gates, have armed guards at all entrances and exits. I saw an armed officer, wearing a bullet-proof vest with the word" POLICE", carrying a rifle of which I forgot the name...In all, he looked like one of those who usually patrol the MRT stations, just that he has got more equipment this time round...

Headed to the carpark to plot our escape through the closed gate. However, we were spoted by a nearby survelliance camera which gave us away. Soon, we found more of those officers coming in from all the possible exits, except the car park's two main exits. We surrendered and were led to the police bus, before being led to another complex for interrogation... I blacked out on the way, and awoke to find my cousin and her CCA chairperson behind me... well, after that I was in a dze, din't really know what was going on, other than the phrase "wanted for murder and robbery" . After that, I found myslef in great anxiety, wanting to get out, seeing death as a way out of all that chaos, not wanting to have done all that in the first place. Soon, after hearing another explosion sweeping through the place, the same group of us, this time including those who were at the complex and were related to those who infiltrated the UOB plaza fled on the same bus, heading for a jungle( which I do not know of)... It was only then when I was woken up by someone( at 10 30 am)...


What could this mean? Could it be a dangerous day on Monday, or when the class has got a gathering? Could it be a possible terror attack? Maybe I am just thinking too far...Maybe, just maybe, whenever such dreams occur, I can count on it that something bad always happens...Hopefully, my brother who's in Brunei for an 11 day trip would not come to any harm...