-ace-

clock hands

2012-01-01T16:07:00.002+08:00

Its been a long time since I posted, and I guess it'll be a long time till I post again, if ever. Haha, I know I said the same thing at the end of 2010, but to be honest, things change with time, and sometimes we should go along with it and leave things be.

Writing my personal essay recently has reminded me again why I like writing: putting the jumbled up thoughts in my head into words, capturing my feelings at the moment and then revisiting everything in the future, older and hopefully wiser but nonetheless still able to appreciate and understand my own growth and journey.

(grins) This might sound pretty syrupy and sweet right now, but I like being that sort of person. And I really enjoy relieving the crazy going ons from my past posts, from my initially super awkward form of writing (brought a smile to my face) to the more introspective pieces which I think only I will know what they truly mean and represent.

These past 6 years have been a blast. Thanks to everyone who've accompanied me on this journey, however short it was. Thanks for all the shared memories, strong friendships and kind words. Oh, and thanks blog! (:

Happy New Year!

2011-05-03T00:30:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure yet,
about life, about love,
but in time
I'm sure that I'll
be fine.

Not Sure Yet - Andy Lange

AS'11: Avalon

2011-04-24T23:25:00.002+08:00

Not bad! Back to the days where amateur dance was cool and storyline was thinly veiled links to campfire songs.

And being 01-06. (:

aitnoa

2011-04-03T00:33:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was All in the Name of Art! And it was an awesome show haha, even if I didn't get to watch everything! The rj performers were obvoiusly talented (comedy, singers and a nice original song!), but I think the kids from the Little Arts Academy really surprised me with their dedicated performances!

Was attached to their theatre group during the concert, and when I first led them out they were all hyper and rowdy and pulling on me but when it was their turn they just went into character in a snap. It was like, one moment a boy was wrapping the curtains around my leg and the next he was firing imaginary arrows on stage. Really proud of them! Then out they came and they were all flying around again haha. Plus they call me 'teacher' lol, how can I not smile at that? XD

And I think the most surprising moment of the night was when that cute little girl in the ballerina outfit just came forward and hugged each of us out of the blue.

Really, all in all I had a good time and it was meaningful too. Good job Moses and Du Xuan! :D

Identity

2011-04-01T00:08:00.002+08:00

Got the letter a few days ago. Yup, the thin, top-secret-confidential pleaselearnsomepropertearingtechniquestodelicatelyreaditscontents letter. Is it really that much more secure to send a letter sealed upon itself? Because I almost ripped it open trying to follow the dotted lines haha.

Anyway, main thing was I had to go online to complete some forms, but firstly had to register myself again, with my full name and nric and stuff, which I did quickly in a no-brainer way. Then on to the forms - BUT IT DIDN'T WORK. So typed everything more carefully this time. And the site kept telling me that it wasn't my real name and/or nric.

So after hitting 'enter' about 20 times and then checking the url to see if I was at some nigerian scam site, I called on the big guns: my parents! And they couldn't figure it out too. So they went to check my original documents, and well...

Long story short, the name that I've been using for over 18 years of my life, using to apply for all the random forms, IS WRONG. Shocked me when I saw it, my mother couldn't believe it too, thought it was an error and started chiding my father. The funny thing is, when I typed in my... correct name, the website accepted it. :O

Funny how we're always learning something new about ourselves, huh!

2011-03-20T00:22:00.002+08:00

we all want to know,
how it ends.

oh, happily ever after,
won't you know, won't you know,
oh, skip to the ending,
who'd like to know, i'll like to know
author of the moment,
can you tell me,
do i end up, do i end up happy?

Happily Ever After - He is We

position

2011-03-09T23:44:00.002+08:00

omg spelt guantanamo bay as guatamalo bay in my GP essay D: must have confused it with guatermala or something! if it sorta sounds the same will i still get marks?

was going home from NTU yesterday after H3, got into the MRT at Pioneer (2nd on line) and went to Paya Lebar (22nd on line) to change to circle line. Since it was the second stop on the line, there were empty seats, i just sat down. Begin the seat conundrum!

First decision point is when people flood into the train at a busy station, like Jurong East. That's when all seats are taken up and most people will have to stand. If there's an elderly/handicapped/pregnant person, you should obviously give up your seat, but what if everyone's relatively young? Kept my seat then, cos there was still a long journey ahead!

Second decision point is when some questionable people come in. For me, it was a slightly obese women who stood right in front of me. If I kept my seat, there's a chance that she might need it and be annoyed. If I gave her my seat, there's a chance that she might get offended, plus I still had 15+ stations to go so both of us would have to stare at each other awkwardly and/or ignore each other completely for a long time. Sense the internal turmoil!

Next time I'll just stand from the start la haha.

hutalu!

2011-03-05T23:54:00.002+08:00

First, House Party ROCKED! Secondly we ROCK! And in conclusion HH ROCKS! :D From performances (Joshua + Manfred: woah-oah-oh-oh-oh!) to the crazy dinner to the PPP lol. Thanks Hanis, Anni, Shaun and the rest of House Comm + D for everything!

Anyway, dunno why, it seems totally impossible to focus on WORK.

Didn't use to have this problem before (or at least not this bad) but now my attention span is super short. Plus I can't find a good sitting-down-to-mug spot that's comfortable yet not too snooze-inducing. Give me any surface and I will be sprawled over it in 10 minutes. And H3 is haaaaaard I can't figure it out but there's a lab session on Tuesday and the test's coming up soooooon. How come when the tutor says it, it sorta makes sense but then when I look at it again I can't see the link. Focus focus! I blame my laptop, bed, ipod, tv, bed, food, and school.

Why school? It all links back to school one way or the other haha >.< hmm maybe I should try studying in school more.

ok ok tomorrow let's try it again.

Day

2011-02-22T22:40:00.004+08:00

Today was/is founder's day, almost forgot about it until Mr Chan sms-ed that we had gotten Gold for scout and venture units last year - AWESOME. Of course there was never any doubt la (: Seems weird but scouts has really fallen out of my life this year, which is sad. Today only saw a few scouts in scout uniforms eating lunch at the ri canteen when it would have been the entire unit the last 5 years... and missed out on Ms Goh's familiar routine of "tie a knot in your scarf until you've done a good deed' haha!

Instead today was IHC opening (with a short and messy entrance), school and H3, which is starting to scare me a little. Right now its kinda okay, but the stuff we're learning, I can't imagine trying to apply it in a real exam. Its like having to crack a bomb code after going through a few theory lessons. At hwachong! Okay the last part really didn't make a difference lol.

Still, met up as scouts to celebrate Francis' (Francis's?) birthday at Fish & Co. Still remember one of our first few memorable outings as a batch was Hiok's pizzahut bday celebration in our PL year, and it was fun to just do stuff together again! Chopsticks, getting lost, airplanes and of course the 'famous' Fish&Co birthday celebration which was pretty neat (Y). The discount after that was pretty neater too haha.

Anyway happy birthday Fraaaaancis here's your obligatory embarrassing photos:

Plus, approved!

2011-02-21T23:12:00.002+08:00

Don't you feel kind of blank sometimes, like when you're going up a steep staircase and each step forward just leads to another step, but you don't/can't lift your head up high enough to see what's ahead?

Hope there's something ahead, man.

Pictures Backlog

2011-02-11T23:21:00.004+08:00

Take 5 was fun! Now wait for photos to come out :P In the meantime some photo backlog from my phone haha.

Openhouse Goodie Bags Packing lol

Standing by our purple captain!

Captains Ball (2nd place)

Jaslyn's bday cake with some... markings :D

Go On

2011-01-23T23:51:00.003+08:00

Turned 18 last week. Started on H3, made some new friends. Took SATs which some unforeseen stuff happened.

Alright, I don't really feel like blogging now, truly terrible at multi-tasking, and right now I'm listening to a pretty awesome set of music! But anyway, yup, thanks for all the happy birthdays and well-wishes, and thanks to the people who made it that much more special, in your own ways. (:

And though it's been a long time
You're right back where you started from

Heart

2011-01-08T23:35:00.002+08:00

Was content to let this blog rot here for a while, but the annoying spam in the cbox just irks me grrr. The more I remove them the faster they come back, and somehow this got me thinking about oscillation and how acceleration is proportional to speed- alriiiight, time to chill.

Came back from my holidays on Tuesday midnight, and then spent the next 3 days going to school to prepare for openhouse. Oh, plus homecoming, raffles trail and painting of house booth. Man, the black paint is still stuck on my nails. Openhouse itself was exciting, there was a buzz around school and it was nice bringing people around, especially when my cousin came down haha! Also, haphazardly fumbling through the dance and cam-whoring with shaun and jianwei lol. The school was quite packed though, with all the giant avatars of CCA chairmen and the purple avatars of Joshua and Manfred haha! And everyone wore a tie like the gentlemen we are (:

After that went to look see look see Raffles Trail with the scouts, nice seesaw structure lol. Then we went for our first batch dinner of the year (at macs) :D

H3, SATs, lectures plus tutorials coming up. Looks like this vacation is finally over :(

the adventure continues

2010-12-28T21:46:00.002+08:00

The end of 2010! I know I’m a few days early but since I’ll be going overseas soon, now will be as good a time as any for the parting words haha.

This was the J1 year. The awkward transition from Sec 4 to J1 and all that, but it didn’t seem that bad really. We still had ‘civics groups’, still attend lessons together, and there’s still a lot of work, which I think was harder, not because it’s super cheem, just that a lot of it is self-motivated and frankly, I’m not self-motivated. Especially about work. For example this holidays I practically blew all my free time away. Thanks a lot then to all my smart classmates! When you have Shawn and Moses sitting next to you, you know you better complete your tutorials haha. But besides work, class was nice. Damn fun hanging around Eric, Moses, Shawn, Ryan, Kwun, Chinjie etc. Plus, more than half of them can sing! Sadly I’m in the cannot sing half, so well, at least good music XD

Lots of good memories in the other events too… Orientation with Groovy Two Shoes (our morning meetings still survives to this day!), Y-Camp, House Comm workdays and random spontaneous outings. J1 life really was a holiday of sorts.

Still, main focus of the year was our GC term in 01. It’s surprising how much needed to be done on a day to day basis. There’s admin to do, activities to plan, tests to execute… not to mention random problems cropping up time to time, like complaints from parents and missing juniors. BUT I have to say this: I never lost my passion for scouting. Not during the card-writings, the admin work, the failed activities. In fact, I think this year really reinforced what I understood and loved about this group. I wanted to nurture my juniors, impress my seniors, and most importantly, share it all with the most special group of friends. Know I wasn’t perfect, but to me I knew I did a good job, and that’s all that really matters.

Every year has its own unique meaning. This year, being the leaders and organizing the acts and the group was both exciting and comforting in a sense. It’s a kind of feeling that everything has come full circle and you’re right where you belong. Especially with Jack, Francis, Joel, Kenneth, Anurak, Hiok, Amos who are the absolute best friends I can hope to do this with. From the late camp nights talking cock, to the contentedness of being one team to the rainy afternoons hiking through puddles. From the bottom of my heart, thanks for a year I will never forget.

Don’t know if I’ll post here again. It’s funny, I started this blog as… I don’t know, a sort of diary of my RI journey, and it just sort of evolved into a scouting log for the past 5 years. I know I (sometimes) talk about other stuff besides 01 but well, majority of it is about acts or thoughts or camps. I think even if I do post I’ll definitely post less frequently. It’s going to take time to adjust to this new life, and I want this blog to stay just the way it is, a tribute to this part of my life.

Coming to 2011 soon, and the future never looked so uncertain without CCA to look forward to. I'll set some new goals to drive towards. Hopefully I can now focus on the other areas of my life (which I have almost totally neglected haha) and find new interests. Should be fun! But I have a sneaking suspicion that nothing will ever come close to 01.

So! Thank you 2010 for being an awesum year, and here's to a great 2011! (:

End Game

2010-12-23T01:49:00.002+08:00

I'm starting to realise that this is the end. This is the end of an era, and its weird to think that we'll all be venturing into our own unfamiliar grounds now on.

You know what? It feels like I've gone through all the stages of growth over the last 5 years, and now we as 'old' boys are putting down our whistles to let the young 'uns take a swing at it. Its necessary, but I'm really going to miss all the highs and the lows of one heck of a journey.

Like what Hiok says (for a totally different thing), its not a game, its a lifestyle.

All set, ready to go?

mickey mouse camp

2010-12-05T00:42:00.002+08:00

GTC is over... bittersweet. As a trainee, as a SS, as a venture and now as a J1.

the rush of inspection
the sense of direction and purpose
the blind bashing
the cunning checkpoints
the bag dropping relief
the simple meals
the inevitable rains
the gigantic pavement lakes
the petrol kiosk taps
the late-night charge
the groundsheet aches
the insect swarming
the cold feet mornings
the misplaced optimism
the facepalm frustration
the looooooooooooooong roads
the jungle trekking
the "just a bit more!"
the early bird satisfaction
the shoes-off moment
the J8 meal reward
the nostalgic forum
the night call
the endless point clearing
the egg. the arm folding. the trainee jokes. the bizarre situations. the late night discussions. the teacher quotes. the whistle call.

the final horseshoe.

haha soon, it'll be time to turn the page on this awesome chapter, but I'll be sure to ink in those closing lines it deserves.

stress act

2010-11-21T21:58:00.004+08:00

Hiking through the muck that is the MacRitchie trail in a pouring downpour was totally wet and sick and yet strangely satisfying. One day, when there's no deadline to exceed an hour by, it'll be nice to just stop in the rain and soak it all in.

Anyway, the worst part of Saturday was really when Arsenal lost to Tottenham. What the... gifford and shaun stop smiling! But it was a nice soccer-watching marathon. Cereal and cheesecake at 3am (:

Dobby is a free elf!

2010-11-19T23:52:00.002+08:00

Coming to school to watch econs videos was an anticlimatic end to J1 haha. What happened to the bang and the shizzaz? It was more like trudging through 1.5 hour listening marathons for the past week, but hey, we made it! Next year the seniors once again!

Watched Harry Potter with 11S06P. The movie was so-so, action sequences were cool but the story kinda became super long and draggy, and I ended up doing a mental checklist of the important scenes that occured rather than focus on the actual movie. But there were some little quirks here and there - random dancing scene, and Dobby is super funny haha. And sad. :'(

Really enjoying the moments now. If only they could last.

2010-11-16T23:43:00.003+08:00

One and a half hour lessons aren't working. I beg everyone to remember why Men decided to invent the 60-minutes hour and not gamble on 90 minutes. It's because it has been shown that certain people cannot tolerate lessons longer than that. Certain people being me.

I prefer my learning in short, brief doses, thank you!

Loved Our Ride.

2010-11-08T22:36:00.004+08:00

thank you jocelyn before starting on our project we researched on our TR1 Copenhagen Denmark you may ask why Copenhagen well Copenhagen is THE bicycle city in the world in fact the International Union of Cyclist or UCI for short officially recognised Copenhagen as the first and currently only bicycle city Copenhagen has won acclaim around the world for its pro-cycling policies and its efforts to promote a strong cycling culture where else can you find a city where 9 in 10 residents own a bicycle and more than 1 in 3 who cycle to work daily for Copenhageners cycling is not just a recreational activity or an occasional means of transport cycling is a way of life so what makes Copenhagen so SPECIAL after analyzing the growth of a cycling culture in Copenhagen we identified 2 main approaches taken from 2 alternative perspectives namely city planning and changing mindsets I will now elaborate on our first approach city planning in Copenhagen cyclists are seen as a major group of road users and the government has accounted for their welfare in the urban planning and transport policies respectively firstly Copenhagen has a comprehensive cycling network which directly connects cyclists to their destinations in the shortest time and the shortest distance this network is over 300 km long or about 6 times the length of Singapore with such a network cyclists are able to get around the city without any risk of interacting with the street traffic which is safer other safety measures put into place by Copenhagen include speed limits on residential roads and warning signs in areas with heavy bicycle traffic as well cyclists are allocated special benefits such as being able to travel in both ways on one way streets as well as being given preferential treatment at road junctions on the other hand car demand is lowered with a high road and vehicular tax as well as a reduction in the surface parking lots available to vehicles the ubiquitous city bicycles also provide a convenient bicycle sharing system for all Copenhageners to enjoy however there are some drawbacks to this approach namely cost in Copenhagen over one-third of the total road budget is allocated to the investment and maintenance of the cycling network which is costly as well by giving so much preferential treatment to cyclists it may strain relationships between cyclists pedestrians and motorists as cycling paths vehicular roads and pedestrian walkways all compete for space thus this approach may be too costly and undesirable to work by itself another approach used by Copenhagen addresses another facet of the issue namely mindsets in Copenhagen there is a strong public education campaign which culminates in the annual bicycle to work campaign this campaign was started in 1997 and now has over 110,000 participants having such campaigns lets the government encourage cycling as well as teach residents the right way to cycle the result of this is a halving in the number of serious accidents over the years as well as a more enjoyable ride overall the government also regularly seeks feedback from its residents through the annual bicycle account however there are some drawbacks to this approach as education must be backed with the proper physical infrastructure as well education is a long term approach which requires time to set in herein lies Copenhagen's formula to success it combines the two approaches and addresses the weakness of one with the strengths of another there is also a strong emphasis on safety which is intricately linked to both approaches thus it is crucial that all approaches work in tandem to achieve the optimal result and a multi-pronged approach namely education enforcement and infrastructure will be better able to create the unique local cycling culture that Singapore wishes to cultivate now I'll pass the time on to Kathleen who will speak about the situation in Singapore Kathleen please.

If only to let me remember the hard work, the good times and a whole bunch of words which I once remembered.

Thanks Joce, Kat, Vincent! (: We did it!

Report

2010-11-02T23:13:00.002+08:00

So, today we received sheets of paper. Sheets of paper that kinda totally defined our year. The great experience at Y Camp summarised into 3 words and numbers, a year's worth of studies into 5 alphabets, and our dedication to 01 into - well, pretty sure its just a technical issue, we'll sort it out soon enough. But still, don't you feel like precious memories and experiences are being roughly thrown into a box, and you're just left with a misnamed label of its contents?

Still, happier cos I seem to have bumped a grade up for Physics! Funny how my actual score and my expected score is probably a difference of a percentage point or so, but it can change my whole impression of it. Hey, who cares? Up one is still up one (:

And I'm not sad or anything, don't think I have any reason to be! Just being my usual self, whatever that is.

2010-10-31T12:34:00.002+08:00

The future me should just step through a wormhole, shake me and point me in the appropriate direction, because it all looks the same shade of grey to me at this moment.

2010-10-24T22:55:00.002+08:00

2nd time lucky, this time it didn't rain at all!

And I think I'll make a good movie director one day. Cut! Action! Also, the most steady videographer on two wheels. Or alternatively a bicycle thief haha.

We will take these clips and rock them! :D

|HH Boom Boom|

2010-10-23T00:11:00.004+08:00

IHC is FINISHED (unless they decide to un-cancel amazing race, hockey and soccer -stupid indonesian fires-) and we won!

From the bottom of the totem pole working our way up to our well-deserved high position sia. Too bad IHC sports couldn't pull us up all the way but yea still pretty awesome! And its nice to see the pop-out cardboard horse I helped to draw sitting pretty near the top mwahaha. Even with its broken leg and all haha.

Took part in 400m (total failure), 8x50 (omg redefines 'short run' haha) and Netball (overall champion!). Nice to contribute to the house for once! And its quite a nice surprise watching HH owning most of the sports. Good job Manfred, deserved it! (:

Promo results coming next week, dreading it. Hope it turns out well yea. And sadly I'm not qualified for ASPIRE yet, so will keep at the component until I'm ready.

I say a Hadley Hullett boom boom boom BOOM!

11S06P Bike Nite!

2010-10-16T23:38:00.002+08:00

11S06P Class Chalet was EPIC. Rented two rooms for the night and spent the whole night out cycling instead. XD

After school, most of us went home to pack or went for CCA, and only went for the chalet much later. Arrived at 4.30pm with Chin Jie and Shawn, and we met up with Vincent and Gary at Aloha. They went to get static-fied with the xbox and as more people came, we had a few rounds of bridge. Li Khee the sly one haha! And it was pretty lucky that CJ went to the bike rental shop at 6pm or else we might not even have bikes to cycle on, in the end walked a pretty long distance over 2 bridges to get to a small shop with a kind uncle who gave us baskets and water bottles for free. Excited over free stuff, yea.

Bought food from Popeyes and Pizza Hut for a dinner which was too little then too much... While eating Mr Teo shared his worldly views and got into debates with Shawn, for subjects that may/may not be of a political nature haha. Then, a little more bridge / xbox / singing before we set off on the epic journey.

We started at 11.30pm.

We ended at 6.30am, 7 hours later.

Like I said, epic. We were doing well until we hit Bedok Reservoir, coincidentally where our PW group got lost the last time. And history repeated itself, only we decided to just cut south instead and got into a bizarre situation where we crossed empty roads because of dead-end underpasses. When we arrived at East Coast it was already 4am, and we decided to hit the Changi route, which was this freaking long stretch, and it was both boring yet calm to ride. Does that make sense? I didn't think anything made sense at 5 in the morning hahaha. But yea, pit-stop at Changi before a last dash back. Surprisingly, besides a few gear malfunctions and cramps, no harm done to any of us! :D Adventurous, fit and awesome: that's us! Not to mention severely brain-dead at that point hahaha.

Everyone kinda conked out for an hour or so (except xbox addicts), then we had a few games of fifa and halo (where I killed Moses in the first kill of the day before he learned to wield his plasma thing) before returning bikes, and sleeping home with Eric, Brander and Chinjie.

And for the IHC meeting after that, totally brain-dead but hakka was fun. (: Even though I already did it before for scouts XD

Sleep came easy after all that (:

post promo post

2010-10-11T23:36:00.004+08:00

11S06P outing last Tuesday! Funnn. Ice-skating with varying levels of success, from the 10-round gang to Eric to Kwun and TY being caught for reckless skating. Plus, the cameraman on ice! And yea, once you go a few rounds you feel warm instead of cold. After that was bowling which was a close fight to the bitter end hahaha. Quite thankful to my parents for exposing me to both sports early on so I can enjoy them better now. (:

Saturday was a bizarre house comm meeting involving a hip-shaking dance, a war chant, pizzzzzaa, expensive brushes and an awesome marble-colored horse with a broken left leg (i swear there was nothing wrong with the head. seriously) HH heartbeat!

And this is the structure we built today for IHC. Surprisingly easier than I thought it would be! Its been a long time since we built a structure like that, even if it was small. Can't help thinking the last structure we built before that was more than 6 metres tall, but yea, still a nice solid little structure siaaa. What will people do without scouts? <-- Rhetorical question.

phee-double-ewwww

epic

2010-10-08T00:07:00.004+08:00

omg how things have changed...
but i'm glad for the things that don't. (:

just great, yah?
haha.

-end of paper-

2010-10-04T23:50:00.004+08:00

Promo's are over! Its been a rough period, the papers seem to get tougher and tougher each year, paper by paper. Couldn't even finish the Physics paper today, oh gosh. Think its something to do with my exam skills... just cross your fingers and hope for now...

Anyway, Golden Rooster and ice-cream were a nice way to celebrate hahaha. Looking forward to more carefree days, at least until our teachers bring us back to reality in a week or so haiz. Plus, our last few months of scouting... so fast haiz.

Umbrella

2010-09-30T23:41:00.003+08:00

Today while it was pouring a nice lady waiting for her son lent me her umbrella so I could walk home without getting drenched. And she just trusted me with it, even to the point that she didn't mind if I couldn't pass it back.

Luckily I managed to go back and return the umbrella. But these kind of things just makes you feel (insert positive word).

And nope, I have nothing else to say. (:

2010-09-12T23:02:00.003+08:00

But we're gonna start by
drinking old cheap bottles of wine
Sit talking up all night
Saying things we haven't for a while, a while yeah
We're smiling but we're close to tears
Even after all these years
We just now got the feeling that we're meeting
For the first time

For The First Time - The Script

Outran DPM Teo Chee Hean at the Bay Run haha, and he had a head start. I mean, how cool is that? XD

cycling in the rain

2010-09-09T00:23:00.005+08:00

After hiking in the rain, cycling in the rain is nothing! (:

Cycling recreational/data-gathering session with Jocelyn, Kathleen and Vincent, the awesome PW group mates! Otherwise we would have completed our WR about cycling in Singapore without even cycling ourselves. Imagine the irony haha.

Skies started cloudy today, unleased its fury mid-morning and never really stopped. Took shelter at joce's cool new house with its cool new features playing bridge until the rain lightened. But it got progressively worse until we were basically cycling in a heavy downpour for most of our journey. All the way to Tampines too! And guess what? We just carried on, being awesome as we are. Lol hope none of us gets sick after this. Still, had fun with the screechy brakes, orbital, muachi, bucket list and so on. Plus nice photos for the WR haha.

Now that's a productive PW meeting!

night hike

2010-09-07T23:35:00.004+08:00

Night Hike started with a little rain, which continued in dribs and drabs but it didn't dampen our spirits. Went through a great route passing the henderson waves, esplanade, helix bridge and finally ending 23km later at East Coast Park at 1.30am. Then we sat at Macs and talked till the next morning, where a bunch of zombiefied people finally left for home.

Its so different, day and night. In the day all seems bright and sunny and life goes on as normal. Hiking in the night, we get more contemplative and reflective. Thought about many things. Maybe its the fact that GC's coming to an end that gives us a sense of urgency, to address the issues that would seem awkward in any other scenario. Anyway, talking to people along the way was enlightening.

Congrats to the new CCAL/ACCAL 2011 Jin Kiat and Eugene! We picked you because we saw the potential, so do us and yourselves proud yea.

Night Hike's over, for the very last time. As kenneth/eminem mentions, life is no Nintendo game. But I really enjoyed this level!

'holidays'

2010-09-04T23:19:00.001+08:00

It's the 'holidays' again! Note inverted commas, which in GP terms means that the author is trying to convey the opposite meaning. Oh wait, or was that irony?

I think a lot has been said about the death of holidays. Summary: now work > slacking. I mean, how unfair is that? What happen to the free market and freedom of choice? Don't we have a say in how we choose to waste our time? Kinda makes you want to stare blankly into space for a few minutes to rebel against this injustice.

(space) <-- stare here.

I call it the Law of Diminishing Slackivity. Basically as you grow older, your marginal ability to slack decreases due to the overwhelming supply of homework coupled with the increase in scientific knowledge. Known as economies of past year papers. This continues until you reach a age where the slack you have is zero (about the age where you discover PW). But unlike the free market, you'll just continue until you slack a negative amount of time, therefore overcompensating with extreme work. Or break the time-space continuum, but that's you against Einstein, so yea.

Haha raaandom. But it's funny how in the past you're told to finish what you've been given, now you're instead told there is no finish. Done your tutorials? Do the practice papers. Finished the practice papers? Go redo them. All done? Go memorise pi. No wonder people are feeling the pressure.

Me? Drew out a study plan, it's pretty tight, and I'm gonna try my best to stick to it. But there's a logical limit to the amount of work I am able to take, so I'm not going to fret if I decide to pause for a while to enjoy the nice sunshine outside. You're invited to join me. (:

Night Hike in 2 days!

our guiding lights

2010-08-31T23:04:00.004+08:00

Teachers' Day Eve started with a concert. Slightly disjointed and a bit boring at times, but Chia and Hanis were zany emcees, so it was quite nice haha. After that, we gave our tutors awesome t-shirts decorated by a talented Yimeng and signed by our class! Messages are super funny, and all our tutors were so touched by our love they couldn't wait to take it off (sadly). Although I don't see the shame in winning the nobel prize Mr Tan! Then back to RI to visit some ex-teachers and watch Mr Koh get caked. For the third time haha.

Finally had my epic carrom game with Zhong Jun, in which I emerged victorious in the tiebreaker after we both had a win and a draw apiece. Ahh good ol' times!

Then, went for 4M class lunch with Mrs Tay and Mdm Bek. It was nice meeting up with 4M again! I know we may not be the most united class but there's always a sense of comfort and content talking to my old classmates again, like lionel, huihao, xiaolys, pat, dex and junlem. Good friends come in all packages, and you are all good friends, even if we don't get to see each other much now! And Mrs Tay and Mdm Bek were still the same caring teachers they were last year... miss them already!

Somewhere in history, someone came up with the bright idea to celebrate the efforts of teachers everywhere with a day of celebration. Firstly, he's right that teachers deserve some appreciation. But more importantly, why is it only for a single day? We should shower our love for our teachers everyday and give them less grief. ~~Or alternatively, we could declare a few weeks off to properly thank our teachers and let them go for their little vacations.~~ Heh.

To all the teachers who have been the source of inspiration to so many others, Happy Teachers' Day!

halo

2010-08-28T22:29:00.011+08:00

Mini-Olympics was fun although I didn't get to play anything. Just get to watch them play soccer and frisbee (and other sports). Another reason why organising can be such a pain in the ass haha, but its good to see the SU enjoy themselves before the term ends. We're happy when they're happy. Pity about the heat though, really was baking out there near the end of the act.

And house comm meeting after lunch was freaking productive, we made the good luck charms, all 240 (that's 2-4-0 - yes 3 digits) without any prior knowledge or experience (except me of course xD) The rest of the comm learnt it on the spot. The sheer amount is mind-boggling. And its so pretty too haha.

Saw a sun halo in the sky during Mini-Olympics - really beautiful. A lot of people missed it (around noon time), even though it was just above their heads. Sometimes you just have to stop going through the motions and look up once in a while.

transit

2010-08-26T23:05:00.002+08:00

I don't feel like blogging specifically about my life today, but if I did it would probably be like this: house comm o + striiiiiings! jasmine's bday party! footdrills! illness + sprain! botak cheng long and mr teo! feed me! What? I'm hungry k.

So, after 2 weeks of games, the YOG finally came to a close tonight. It was quite fun to watch on TV, seeing all the young people our age doing crazy stuff like jumping off 10m platforms and doing cartwheels on balance beams. Makes you think what you're doing sitting there in your comfy chairs going to lessons everyday huh? No, don't answer that, it was rhetorical. Anyway, nice one la Singapore, now let's aim for the senior olympics, I'm sure our uncles and aunties will do great at the taiji aesthetic display or something haha.

Got a new phone with all the initial awkwardness, especially since I'm transitioning from keypad to touch phone. Nope, not an iPhone, a nokia. Still using a touch phone is quite cool, although for some reason i have to double click to select stuff. -.-

And I have to put my personal touches in again - one of the things that makes transition so frustrating haha. Its the feeling when you are typing an sms and your sms lingo isn't in the dictionary, where you want to set a reminder but it doesn't remind you the way the old phone did, where you click on the menu button to unlock then realise that it's now a sliding unlock button cos there's no '*' button for the old system to function anyway. Missing my old dependable phone, but I'll give the new one a chance to endear itself to me lol.

I remember the time when I missed taking the bus, but now I think I can't live without the Circle Line hahaha. I guess we all just move along with the times, but we'll put up our best efforts to cling on to the little familiar bits. After all, personal experiences aren't personal unless you make them to be, right?

Invictus (an analysis)

2010-08-19T23:51:00.003+08:00

Out of the night that covers me, It is night right now and outside's pitch black.
Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I'm experiencing a blackout so inside's pitch black as well
I thank whatever gods may be I hate myself
For my unconquerable soul. Why I spent an hour on a single Physics question without moving on.

In the fell clutch of circumstance My situation sucks
I have not winced nor cried aloud. I'm surprised I haven't commit suicide
Under the bludgeonings of chance By sheer luck
My head is bloody, but unbowed. I keep banging my head against the table when I get drowsy but I can't fall asleep.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears After the torture of homework tonight
Looms but the Horror of the shade, I must face the angry teacher
And yet the menace of the years But no matter how old or fierce he/she is
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. I just don't care la.

It matters not how strait the gate, Don't care whether I enter the classroom late,
How charged with punishments the scroll. Or if I get remedial for failed assignments
I am the master of my fate: I will decide when I get to sleep
I am the captain of my soul. I will decide whether homework gets done!

Raaaaaandom.

podium rush

2010-08-16T22:20:00.006+08:00

Caught a slice of YOG history yesterday morning, down at East Coast Park! We watched the final laps of the women triathlon race, and saw the first YOG medals being given out. The spectators were nice, applauded every single athlete from Vanuatu to Zimbabwe and yes, the Singaporean who finished the race last, but received the loudest roar. The winner was a Japanese, Yuka Sato.

the top 3 athletes

Haha all of them don't look 17-18!

And yet in a way, all of them are just like us.

Youth Olympic Games, it's a good thing. Peel away the surface apathy of Singaporeans and the forced optimism of the organising committee and you'll see a noble idea with all the right intentions. And Singapore, we'll do great.

why i love being in 01

2010-08-14T23:15:00.003+08:00

'cos our scouting moments are really just priceless.

after the rain

2010-08-11T23:41:00.004+08:00

Today's one of the last few PE lessons of the year. Already! I feel like some slack PE rep haha, didn't do a single thing maan. We played soccer as a class, which was quite fun, quite a light-hearted and easy game, and I managed to bundle the ball into the net after hopping with it between my legs around 2 classmates. Epic win haha!

And RJ flooded in the afternoon during some severe thunderstorm. One minute it was clear and the next it was literally a wall of water crashing down haha. The carpark area around the basketball courts managed to flood up till the cabin floor of the cars, which is a heck lot considering its quite a large area. And one freak wave generated by a car trying to escape caught me by surprise and drowned my shoe while we headed towards LT6 for a GP talk. Why are shoes so absorbent?

And ironically the speaker giving the talk was saying how Singapore has a good environment and there's no natural disasters AND FLOODS like other countries. Then he paused for a moment as he realised how funny it was, amidst the PA announcement to car owners to move their vehicles out of the wading pool that was the roads haha.

It's true what they say, when some doors close, others open, so we never have to stop in our tracks.

fill in the blanks

2010-08-08T21:11:00.006+08:00

Yesterday, we went to _____ to recce for patrol orienteering. It was raining in the morning, but luckily by the time we started moving it was over, so it didn't affect us too much. Everyone was late, which was kinda expected but I was there early to plan the route. Hiking again with the rest was fun cos we haven't done it in ages, plus we get to do random stuff without being scolded by J1s. Like we were in patrols again haha. I was the 'patrol leader' while Kenneth was the lazy-bug, Joel the foamy APL, Francis the lagger, Anurak being clumsy (as usual xD) and for Jack it was a half-finished hike. Ahh fun times. This time, with the _____, its different, but I think it'll work quite well. (:

For all you cunning people out there, don't bother counting the spaces in the blank, they all have 5 spaces (ie same as the word 'blank'). I'll fill this post up when the time is right!

(EDIT) haha ok filled up most of the blanks cos it doesn't spoil anything much. SU peeps, look forward to a fun hike on Saturday! I'm sure some of you read the GC's blogs lol.

together, as one

2010-08-06T11:04:00.006+08:00

Lots of random stuff this week. There was First Class Hike, RECAC and RGAA on Saturday, then the two Ironmans during scouts. Ironman was fun to conduct, especially the 24 storey climb (Aaron did a sub-2 minute run o.o), but I think Sergius coming back to speak was quite memorable also. Its nice hearing about his experiences, cos in a way I really just agree with everything he says. Could imagine the same words coming out of my mouth haha.

Oh, and I didn't get chosen for the O team, which surprisingly isn't really a big deal for me. I mean, its a bummer alright, but it isn't something to cry or get angry over, like Kwun says, there's more to life than that! And if I'm going for O team to make myself feel important, well, its kinda missing the point lol.

Anyway, yesterday was RJ's national day celebrations. 5 straight periods of lessons followed by Learning Journey to the Civil Defence Museum, but luckily (or unluckily) we had quite a bit of free time as well stoning and waiting. For me it consisted of a lot of standing and walking and eating haha. Fat.

But when we finally got into Zouk it was a pretty awesome place. Its probably going to be like a long long time before I enter a club again, so here's a general description: funky shapes, flashing lights, packed to the roof, drugs.

Okay, no drugs, but everyone was pretty high by the end. The performances were awesome especially the street dancers (ye oon!). Shien was being his usual funny self and obviously Manfred buffed around haha. And the community singing might make some people cringe, but I think there's no good substitute for the kind of camaraderie and emotions those songs evoke when sung with friends.

Have a great birthday Singapore, you may not be perfect but you're very much an awesome home.

Dinner after that in Dulge (lol) before watching Salt. Its a spy-action movie with a girl instead of James Bond. Action was fast and intense but storyline kinda simplistic, or maybe its just the post-Inception mindset haha. And that was the end of that day.

Moses, Shawn, Srruthi, Laura, have fun in Cambridge! Learn lots of new stuff while we drive our brains to mush haha.

you kinda blow out like this...

2010-07-30T22:20:00.004+08:00

Moses came back from South Africa with a vuvuzela!

Yes, those plastic trumpet things that annoy the hell out of everyone during the World Cup. Needless to say we proceeded to annoy the hell out of everyone in our class, after we figured out how to get a proper sound out. Terribly fun. Kinda like a 'PHHAAARRFPH', only louder and with a slightly wet feeling.

On a side note, did you know that saliva has an unnatural attraction to vuvuzelas?

Oh, and Moses' team also became the grand champions of the SAGE competition they took part in South Africa. Respect! Congrats man, we're all so proud of you! (:

We also took the fats test today and I am composed of ~12% of fat. Well, that's in the healthy range, but I'm technically more fat than Eric percentage-wise, so I guess I can't keep calling him fat anymore. Oh dang hahaha. One more reason to watch my diet and exercise more!

two years too long

2010-07-29T00:25:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, met up with my vietnamese host for [oiphue'08] as well as some RLP-ers!

Long looks exactly the same as I remembered him haha... he's still quite shy, but opened up more already! It's been 2 years, it's been too long man! And going out for dinner with my old RLP mates really makes us reminiscence about the past, when shaun was 'cuter', jon was still emo and gifford was... actually did you change much, gifford? xD

RAWR full reunion sometime soon k.

the limelight night

2010-07-27T23:34:00.011+08:00

Monday was the Chorale concert, finished up a wacky Pyramid Escape activity (chariot racing) with the scouts before rushing off with Jack, Zhengxi and Yidan. Somehow (ahem misdirection ahem) we were late to Burger King where we met up with Eric and Tengyang. And I managed to make my burger meal disappear in 10 minutes via a process known as ~~eating~~ swallowing. Plus another 4 minutes of frantic fastwalk, which led us into the concert hall mere seconds before they closed the doors. Yes it was THAT close.

But hey, the Chorale concert was great! The sheer awesomeness of their voices and pitch just blew me away, although I didn't really understand most of the songs lol. It took me a while before I got the food song by Raffles Voices. In the meantime I was just staring at the rest of the audience who laughed out loud literally. Great job dudes and dudettes! And $12 was definitely worth it with that performance standard and that kind of venue.

After congratulating Joce and Laura, a few of us went to the Helix bridge to look see look see. And yea at night it's pretty, especially with the floating stadium nearby lighting up in various hues every 5 minutes or so. Some snapshots plus late-night dance practice! "like this y'all, like this"... XD

And then yea, we rushed home and I took a roundabout way, because apparently Esplanade MRT isn't at Esplanade. Wow, way to go SMRT. Had to fastwalk back to City Hall, which wasn't so bad cos I bumped into Junyan at Paya Lebar lol. Reached home at about 12 unlike some other dude who overslept his stop and had to take taxi back. Poor guy.

patrol-in-ception

2010-07-24T22:21:00.008+08:00

In the morning we had Patrol-in-town lol. Basically the SU went out to the town area to complete tasks and have random fun! And since we planned the tasks, questions and checkpoints, extra emphasis on random! Ever wondered what the maximum number of handicap strips a blind man would feel if he exited the MRT train up to the point he enters the lift, where the largest kueh lapis in Singapore was, or the braille for B5?

Well, for the sake of humanity we did, and we were so glad to pose these life-changing questions to the SU.

And the answer they gave us: not too bad, kinda surprising what they managed to hunt down, like pieces of octopii and $0.00 receipts. I was stationed at Cathay and it was funny to see them do the eywa ritual around the sota tree and grab a balloon from a dubious waxing shop. At least, I hope it was just a waxing shop...

Then, after tabulating the results and breaking the SU off, we headed straight for GV to watch Inception! It's this really cool show where people dive into other people's heads through their dreams to steal or plant ideas. I won't reveal the plot here, but yup, like what the reviews say, super deep but thoroughly satisfying. Even if the special effects weren't so freaking cool, the whole idea behind the story is pretty awesome. Its like the matrix with 50x more complexity plus zero gravity and wacky imagination and a spinning top.

I mean, a spinning top! You just can't beat that maaan. :D

Brown Eyes / Blue Eyes

2010-07-20T22:50:00.006+08:00

Since tomorrow is Racial Harmony Day, we had a Civics lesson about stereotypes and discrimination... and it was pretty interesting, maybe because Mr Seah is really good at keeping everyone interested with his sense of humour! ~~Or it could be the pretty windmills~~

One thing we did was to write 4 traits that defined ourselves to share with others. I had a hard time figuring out what to write. Alright, it wasn't important or anything, but just imagine having to jam your entire life into 4 short phrases, just 4 and expect people to have a fair impression of you. It sucks to be judged like that.

And that's what I basically think of discrimination. It only exists because people are so judgemental that they believe even the most remote difference MUST make them either superior or inferior beings, when all it actually does is just show how innately special each of us are. There are no cookie-cutter groups in life man.

It may seem kinda unrelated, but in the same reasoning thats why the Raffles Diploma idea might merely reinforce current stratas of a geek, a jock, and a musician instead of seeking to help groom students with diverse interests. Check out the funny video about RD on youtube!

Sometimes, there's much to gain from a little grey area in life!

(although yes, scouts will dominate the world one day heheheh)

setting them free

2010-07-17T23:31:00.005+08:00

Perhaps this slipped my mind, but I thought Toy Story 3 was a great movie when I watched it with my family last weekend! Yes, the plot might be slightly cliche and the outcome predictable, but I love it when there's a nice warm fuzzy ending at the end, and the movie provided some satisfying closure to the whole trilogy. The scene when Andy finally parts with Woody was really emotional and well, illustrated the importance of letting go.

I think we all have struggled with this decision in our lives. As we grow older we experience more and more things until it literally blows your mind to keep hoarding stuff up. There's a voice in your head telling you "Hey! That's special, you can't just junk it like that!" And the voice of reason goes "You know you should." And well, the voice of reason is a lousy debater.

It took a long time before I decided to clear most of my childhood toys, it took a long time for me to decide to leave Maris for Rosyth, it took a long time for me to get over a best friend who wasn't really a best friend anymore.

I guess when things really touched you at one point of your life, you want it remembered. You want the moment to be cherished and you want it to last. But when things change, as they will, the best memories will just lie in the past. Sometimes, holding on to things will just sours the memory and turns it to regret.

That being said, some things are worth keeping close to your heart. A perfect memory will always remain a perfect memory if you leave it alone, and we should never forget the good in people. But when you free yourself of the burden of your past, and look upon the world with renewed eyes, then we can truly live.

And perhaps, one day, we will rediscover the magic that was once burning so brightly.

"Now, you gotta promise to take good care of these guys. They mean... alot to me."

circle and dot

2010-07-14T23:33:00.002+08:00

2nd session of Hip Hop today! Turning out to be pretty cool, except for my moves which are not! Funking didn't prepare me for this haha. I think I dance like a stick figure with arthritis. If you are confused by the image my last sentence brought out, relax, I have absolutely no clue why I wrote that too. Feel free to express your frustrations on your CT papers.

Scouts was Batch Forum, and we talked to the Sec 3s. Really prepared a whole page of stuff to talk to them about but didn't really worked out very well. Maybe its just me but I really hope that they will take our words into consideration, especially since this is the year for them to shine! Like Joel said, live well so you won't live with regret.

Man, I miss my secondary school life haiz.

Viva España!

2010-07-12T10:54:00.003+08:00

And so it ends, Spain are the new World Champions!

Throughout the competition the team in red and yellow have been amazing to watch with their tiki-taka, even though the goals didn't pour in like it should. But man, just watching all the intricate passing splicing open defences really gets your heart beating. Wish that Arsenal will be able to find that same spirit and attacking verve, although Barcelona are definitely the ultimate team, now that they have Villa to go with Messi and Iniesta and Xavi and Xabi... just wow!

The whole world watched, even the non-fans (haha kwun). I think its clear to say that the power of sports, soccer in particular, really does reach beyond that rectangular pitch. Miracles are achieved. The crime rates drop in Africa. North Korea is invited to the global party. A whole nation watches live footage of an octopus having a meal.

And well, a nation who has woefully underperformed in past years finally ascends their throne. When Iniesta buried the ball in the net with a superb volley (with an assist from Fabregas), there was no holding back the celebrations, the tears on Casillas' face flowed freely.

At 5.30am Singapore time, when Casillas clutched that small golden trophy, and thrust it above his head, the world gave a roar of approval that will be heard long after the drone of the vuvuzelas die out.

(special thanks to RI for this marvelous holiday!)

like this

2010-07-08T23:15:00.004+08:00

(the proper) start of school again! Its the feeling of inertia when you've spent too long slacking, followed by a period of intense CT-cramming. Leaves you feeling out of sorts haha. RJ has kindly given us 2 consecutive Mondays off to ease the pain though, 1 for youth day ~~and another for good results!~~ The real reason for that holiday is so obvious lol.

Saturday was Afterglow for the June Y-camp. A fitting closure, and a chance to meet all the great friends we made during the camp! DD was yellow so I, being super team-oriented (and also wanting a yellow shirt for myself haha) actually went to buy one! Thanks to Yiting and Wai Eng for sniffing out the good deals for me! I'm a terrible shopper you know haha. Certs were handed out as well as some awesome gifts from Jun Yan and Jasmine! And after the whole thing ended we went to a board game cafe to slam some Ugly Uglys and other stuff before dinner at 15 Minutes. Thanks for all the fun times, DD! Hope we'll be able to meet up again (:

Project Work! Over the whole 4 weeks of the June Holidays we did next to nothing and then in a span of 3 days we conducted 2 interviews with some prominent people AND ate ice-cream and candy (not sure what's the relevance to PW here, but yea). Funny how some things work out huh?

Late nights for World Cup sure makes you sleepy. -yawn-

its a million little things.

2010-07-04T14:19:00.006+08:00

This post is dedicated to the 2 group of friends who make my life sparkle.

Here's to that bunch of wonderful secondary school friends, who took time off their busy busy lives to come down on Friday just to relieve the past. gifford, worm, manfred, aloy, choo, plus hiok, ewan, zyd, wzy, najoma, guanlin, bryson, adil, roys, johnson! The game was soccer but the aim was to, for a little while, go back to those carefree days. Easily the most fun (and exercise) I've had in a long time heheh. Especially when we the 2P dudes tikitaka-ed the ball in the first 20 minutes. For a while, that sense of awesomeness and connectedness just sorts of surges though your whole body haha. (:

Then at night, 7 of us went to Braddell Heights CC and caught the Brazil-Netherlands match. 3 goals and a red card! The atmosphere is nice haha, everytime a chance goes wide a collective 'oooh' will run through the crowd. And when they score... everyone cheers! Jibing choo and gifford when Kyut missed while they retaliated when Van Persie did worse haha. After that we went over to my house and fifa the next 3 hours away before collapsing into bed. Oh mann we woke up 4 hours later but I repaid my sleep debt by spending the rest of the morning in bed after breakfast haha.

Secondly, here's to the GC. On Friday afternoon, we met up (plus zhi and norris) for a meeting with a teacher regarding RD. I'm not really going to comment on this here, at least not yet. But after the meeting, couldn't help thinking that even though the meeting is supposed to give others an understanding of 01, it also did the same for me.

At the end of the sharing, the teacher was kind of skeptical about how each of us in the GC was equal, saying that such a perfect system is rare.

Well, it is rare, and here we have an awesome example. It works because we trust, we understand, we forgive, and we keep in mind that there is more to this than pride and accomplishment, like the whole unit, friends and well, life in general. The experiences we've shared, the confident smiles, the secret looks we passed around... our unity gives me hope haha.

And these are two good reasons why I never fail to get up in the morning with a smile on my face. :)

CT lessons

2010-07-01T22:46:00.003+08:00

CT lesson #1:
water is scarce. So is time during econs paper. -.-

CT lesson #2:
pressure varies inversely with volume and chemistry marks

CT lesson #3:
If you don't do well, it's not your fault. Maths has just confirmed that exam mistakes follow a poisson curve and thus occurs randomly

CT lesson #4:
you can't ever learn from CTs, you just fail.

This happens when you're bored to death with studying and yet trying not to skive off work haha. And now that its all over, it really is time to celebrate! For a while at least, until... well, next Tuesday.

But that's something for Future Alvin to handle. (:

Michael Jackson

2010-06-25T21:30:00.005+08:00

(August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

a great musician and performer, never forgotten.

Hardcore.

2010-06-24T22:30:00.003+08:00

Cooped up at home this week, doing in the day what robbers do at night.

Mugging.

Is this a coincidence? Both are crimes during holidays (actually all the time). But I'm atoning for my 3 weeks of camp, outings and slacking. This better earn me some good karma (or better yet, good results)! Rawr.

Moved the radio set to my room last weekend, and so now I'm usually studying with music! Quite a new experience for me, usually I prefer studying in silence but music's not bad too. Although I'm pretty sick to death of a lot of songs already. 'California Girls' play about 100 times an hour. Then 'In My Head' takes over with a 100 more 'jason derulo...' haha. I'd listen to the chinese channels but my brother's anti-huawen cos of his exams heheh.

Still watching World Cup at night. Really some cool moments like Portugal's 7-0 overkill of N Korea, and US's last minute goal to rescue their hopes. And Italy just lost 2-3 to Slovakia haha. Piece of history: first World Cup where neither finalists from the last World Cup fail to get to second round! At the same time have to keep one eye on the CTs... but I'm going to face it knowing an effort has been made, not the best effort but a sincere hardworking one at least. (:

and we decide that it's forever
no one else could do it better

Waka Waka

2010-06-18T22:31:00.004+08:00

Oh yes, in the midst of all the post-camp nostalgia the World Cup has started! ~~And there's still studies to worry about but who cares~~

Cue the vuvuzelas!

Didn't subscribe to the football channels BUT my father found an awesome site where you can watch it in incredible detail... when we hook it up to the TV its as good as the broadcast. Take that, Starhub! I will find a better way to spend my $70 haha. Like, i don't know, wave it in other people's face or something.

Anyway the World Cup's pretty special for me. I actually started watching soccer during the 2002 World Cup, and I remember being on holiday then and watching Spain vs South Korea's awesome quarterfinal match that went to penalties. This time I actually thought I'll miss most of the matches, but after watching my first match at Yony's house, it let to another and another...

Oh speaking of which, 2P outing was quite success! 14 people came! Movie plus lunch plus soccer/basketball/halo/fifa at Yony's house... Ernest even gave me a slap like he'll do in the good old days, Yony is still rich, Aaron and Alex are still their retarded self! XD And Manfred, Aloy, Wai Choong, Jianwei (and Gifford!) still some of the coolest friends I have mannn. Really itching to do more outings, maybe a soccer kickabout someday.

Supporting Spain and Netherlands this time, although Spain really took a hit two days ago with their loss. Hope they'll pull themselves together! And give Fabregas some real action on the pitch mehh. Some talents are too good to be wasted!

Y-camp OEI!

2010-06-14T21:30:00.003+08:00

Y Camp was really quite an experience.

My bene was Khairull from MINDS, and I guess I'm quite lucky because he is a totally awesome dude who was super enthu sia! He had a couple of medical conditions but it didn't stop him from wanting to try everything, although it led to some worry on our part whenever it came to the medicine haha. Still remember how he was the first to raise his hand for the high elements, and holding his shoulder while he held mine as we crossed the Charlie Chaplin... when he became more like a little brother to me than just my charge haha. And I taught him a cool fist-bump. Booya!

Second reason why I'm lucky is because I have a great group behind me! First is of course Alyssa, my co-partner for Khairull! She's awesome not just taking care of Khairull but also talking and other random stuff (: I won't forget you teaching me the rose and the heart! Really glad we got paired up for this too, it was fun sharing all the great moments with you!

Then the rest of Duffy Dack (corruption of the word Daffy Duck!): Eric (the sexy one), Eric (the handsome one), Bing Yi (my best friend from JJC haha), Kenneth (the manly MAN/good friend), Royce (scouts senior! woohoo), Nelson (my dancing partner XD), Yidan (classmate!), Karina (the ex-EAgent haha), Daphne (cool specs!), Wai Eng (the loveable volunteer?), Yi Ting (best volunteer! :D), Linh (great with games), Xi Ting (chio-bu! xD), Man Teddy and Azim! And of course our two (lol compatible) leaders Jun Yan and Jasmine! Let's have a DD outing soon!

Quack, quack, quack it up!
Climb, climb, climb it up!
Shake, shake, shake it up!

Lots of good memories... the mini-games, splashing in the pool, singing our hearts out to campfire tunes and classic songs, learning the 'i wanna hold your hand' dance and switching partners midway, talking cock with the rest of the guys, laughing with Alyssa as Khairull find new ways to show his cuteness, conquering the high elements, the 'campcraft' with the even craftier hard-boiled egg, jumping and dancing to 'sorry sorry' and 'nobody' during campfire, deep debrief sessions and affirmations, the sad goodbyes. Plus all the little moments in between. Haha I would love to do a narrative but I think I won't do it justice. Plus, some of Khairull's toilet-related anecdotes are better left unshared xD

At first, I thought that giving physically/mentally disabled people a chance to do some pretty extreme challenges was going to be near impossible at best, but after the camp I think I'm going to have to try to be a little less skeptical about good intentions. When people say disabled doesn't mean unable, its true. Going into the water, climbing the high elements and even the day-to-day activities has given me newfound respect over what the benes (beneficiaries) can do. Some of them were really just like us: in actions, in habits and even in thought. I have great respect for Ming Kiat and his independence and dignity despite being wheelchair-bound.

The little moments may catch us by surprise but I think by the end of the camp we all knew better than to doubt them.

Like what one of the Y camp leaders said: "we do things for a reason, we do things for a season, we do things for a lifetime."

We do things because it's worth it.

Enmazing Race: Save Gaia Leh!

2010-06-13T23:16:00.003+08:00

Alright! Back from Ycamp! And as usual after camps, slept right through dinner (which is even more awesome because it was outside, so i basically slept on the car, at my grandmother's house, and then on the car again). Tiring. I will post about it soon, but now just want to quickly recap back 1 week to the En-mazing Race before I forget. Yes, I know I'm lagging.

We were supposed to get there by 6.45am and so in typical bad luck I managed to only wake myself up at 6.50am... luckily it didn't start so early! Met the rest of 6P and collected the goodies and stuff before going with my team: the RGS team heheh! Cui Qin, Louisa, Lee Chin, Vanessa and Ying Jiao. Pretty solid team! Except the part where they got lost right from the starting line and circled City Square Mall lol. In the end they finished on time with quite good results! Good job RGS team, and it was fun following your group, although yea breaking into 'accidentally in love' in the rain and playing bridge at the end ceremony was pretty random. xD

picture courtesy of Ying Jiao's camera (:

Also enjoyed the random activities before Y-camp: tennis session, scouts QM session, Kwun's birthday celebration! Realise that I've really not done a single piece of work or even looked at my notes this holidays, think I was just trying to cram all my fun stuff into the first two weeks and delaying the inevitable. Proper studying will start now. Where now equals tomorrow. No seriously. (:

Oh my... AC'10

2010-06-07T21:36:00.006+08:00

Annual Camp! My really really REALLY last one (sad face).

For me, it started with jungle navigation with the Ventures at Changi, after a quick inspection. The plan was rather good, as we had marked out the checkpoints a few weeks earlier with red ribbon and armed with accurate pacing and straight line distances. However in the end the checkpoints were super elusive, up to the point where it was practically impossible to spot them. Got my group (yi ming, brandon lum, kai jun and jason) to backtrack and attempt what we did at MacRitchie last year: "Rambo-style, aka blind reckoning" XD it worked quite well until we reached an especially thorny jungle of bushes, but I convinced them to push forward (led by example. ouch) and it was quite fun in the end! Overall they didn't complete the route but I'm quite proud of their effort.

Back to RI for Annual Camp soon after, where it was drizzling slightly. The kitchen tents were seriously foamy and Kestrel had installed a second-floor swimming pool. Over the next few days all of them made great improvements, and in the end all the kitchen tents were all quite impressive, although slightly tilted. Eagle totally demolished their old tent and rebuilt another with an extension at the side, Hawk and Owl decided to position their second floor directly above the cooking area (what the...), Falcon's still resembled a circus tent and KF... well, KF kept its simple design. I guess some things just don't change huh?

While the SU were pioneering, we stepped in with some games to break the monotony, like twister, tug-of-war and captain's ball! Testing out twister in the J1 room was tough work, and the J2s came in with a super funny run during Parents' Night. And the 3-way tug-of-war was retarded (i mean retired) but successful! The War Game rocked and cross-country wasn't that bad haha.

After a long day's worth of pioneering there were the meals! Although the pioneering standards dropped quite a bit, the cooking standard is still awesome. Stingray/shark, caramel apple, chapati, fried chocolate-blob-sludge-mess and some pretty awesome cakes. Kestrel's oyster-sauce-on-biscuit really draws the line though -.- Mealtime was always exciting tasting the patrol food as well as listening to the crap storylines (inevitably involving shit, dandruff and medusa for some reason).

When it came to night, there were the activities! No fright night though haha. Stupid quiz was awesome fun to plan and awesome funny to carry out. Know pokemon #201 yet, KF? (its unknown). Skill-o-rama revealed some weird skills (matrix-style gymnastic, pen under lip) as well as uncovered the ravenous beasts that were the Sec 1s. Deal-or-no-deal saw some cool backstabbing moments and an auction with the ultimate prize of a J1 hug haha! And see the twinkling lights during FoL on the last night, followed by some zombie action.

Haha it may seem I'm kinda rambling a little but really, just losing myself in the memories of not just this year's AC, but the ones from Sec 1, 2 and especially 3. A lot of my best memories in 01 came from this camp. Building your campsite from scratch, cooking those awful/awesome meals, screwing up over small things, lighting up the candles for the Festival of Lights. Miss being in the SU.

Haiz, growing up is ever so hard.

(without anurak, who wasn't there yet)

2010-06-05T22:47:00.002+08:00

Back from AC. It was fun.

Envirolympics was nice too.

Tired. Will post more next time.

rest in reason, move in passion

2010-05-30T11:22:00.006+08:00

Its the june hols! one of my favouritest time of the year, a break from school, but not a break from friends and life.

Yesterday was the Ycamp briefing and scout guild campfire. I'm assigned to MINDS, and I'm looking forward to the camp actually, the idea seems really meaningful, plus the passion they have for what they do kinda reminds me of the GC and scouts. After that kenneth and i rushed back to RI for the scout guild campfire. It was... a new experience in a sense, something we're not used to and haven't seen before. One thing I do take away is how dedicated and committed to scouting the old boys are, taking time to come back together to sing songs over a ukulele.

Tomorrow is annual camp with the scouts! Really one of the highlights of the year, can't wait to hunker down with the rest of the GC and carry out all the cool activities we've planned. All the planning comes into fruition! After that is the envirolympics challenge and then Ycamp! and hopefully the planned outings will take flight and i can catch up with old friends before we get sucked back into acad life haiz.

Oh shucks there's all the common tests looming in first week term 3. Really a downer, i'm going to chiong studies for the last two weeks so that i won't do badly! Scared what the CTs might show especially since all the J1s have basically cruised through this past two terms without any form of graded work (except PI blehh), and i'm afraid to find out whether i'm really as bad (or good i guess!) as i think i am. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

2010-05-24T22:23:00.002+08:00

I realise, comparing yourself with others will never give you peace of mind. I know who I am, and I know what I can do, so I'm just going to strive harder! RAWR.

That being said, although i wasn't expecting it to happen, it tugs at my heart nonetheless haha. A moment of reflection, and then its time to move on, move on.

Save Gaia Leh!

2010-05-22T23:07:00.004+08:00

thats the slogan for the Envirolympics competition this year haha. Actually its pretty cool in a singlish/informal way, but when its printed on a shirt it kinda makes me want to laugh! "Green is cool yo!" Trying to be hip and cool, BUT overall not bad heheh.

So this morning was the briefing, going to be facils with quite a lot of 11s06Ppl and many other RJ ppl too. And its cool cos I got paired with a school which I didn't expect haha. Can see the effort put in by the organisers, hope everything goes well and we'll have a fun time on the actual day yea!

Briefing was at Jurong East, but i wanted to go have a look at Openhouse and the 01 booth, so after lunch where eric generously shared his drink with everyone's feet/pants, i took an MRT back to Bishan. It's a long journey, especially when you're alone, almost dozed off but gave my seat to someone else, so i stood semi-comatose instead. I kinda understand why some people can sleep so late every day, since they seem to be able to catch up a lot going to and from school. Meanwhile I'll just be thanking my parents for having the foresight to park us near the then-nonexistent Bartley MRT site.

Openhouse was going fine, despite a little drizzle, and i have to mention yi ming and rui liang for their sense of responsibility, really nice of them to stay the whole day. Met yousheng, yimeng, kwun tong, lionel, jordan, huihao and other RJ people. Not sure why they were there, but i'm guessing they're looking for a good school to restart their secondary school education too (ehh but wrong school Yimeng!) Nice catching up with you guys. RJ just seem to lack the zing of close social interaction mehh.

Of all the things i still remember,
Summer's never looked the same,
The years go by and time just seems to fly,
But the memories remain.

Time should really flow backwards, sometimes.

2010-05-20T21:13:00.002+08:00

I know that we've drifted apart,
But every now and then I just close my eyes,
And here we are again.

I need to know you're still next to me.

with love from subway

2010-05-11T23:20:00.004+08:00

All the best to the Hillary Challenge team! Francis, Ben Goh, Jon See and company, show them what Raffles is all about. RAWR.

The first step is believing,
The second step is achieving.

taking guesses

2010-05-09T22:02:00.003+08:00

Life seems to move so slowly yet so fast. Instead of planning in terms of weeks I seem to be living it by the hour haha. Wish I could have more plans for myself. Jealous of all you people out there with a real purpose in life, rawr. Hopefully I'll find mine soon, or at least see further up this road I'm walking.

Went for Rock and Dance Night! Awesomez. I guess talent doesn't come in drips in RJ, it just pours! xD Congrats on the fantastic shows haha, looking forward to Band and Jazz (: Should be a blast!

Right now, I'm just content in the knowledge that people care. Not all the time, but they do.

Ironman 2!

2010-05-05T21:48:00.001+08:00

Now we can say that we not only watched Ironman 1 together, we watched Ironman too (2)! xD

Anyway, due to scouts being busy people living busy lives, it was super hard to find time for a proper outing! But thanks to the insistence of an extremely cool person (ahem) we managed to arrange a time (:

Such an awesome night. Watched the imba people come in left! right! center! as it all came together for that 2 hours (and 5 minutes). But, enough about us xD Anyway ZJ was the first to arrive, winning the early bird award by hours when he arrived in the morning. The explanation behind his great feat: "I had econs lesson..." I was next to come, responding to ZJ's rallying call to 'play carrom'. However, problems with my ez link card -.-" so we just stoned and waited for the rest.

And the rest... arriving in the following order: marcus (my ezlink got confiscated wth), amos and anurak (circle line whoopee), bryan (eh, you're there already? i'll set off now), and the rest in approximate order cos y'all just started spamming: kenneth, hiok, jack, francis, joel, tak. We were there to watch a movie, Tak was there to watch us buy drinks from NTUC :D (Y)

Dinner was the standard 01-06 fare (read: food junction). Luckily our food wasn't like Francis and Zhong Jun (read: burnt to a crisp). After -ahem- stocking up on essentials, we said goodbye to hiok, francis and tak and went to watch Ironman 2!

Movie was pretty cool. (: I liked the humour. Joel liked the car. And the ex-wife was epic! And the short scene after 5 minutes of credits wasn't really THAT worth it. But yea, since we were there heheh.

Thanks to Tony Stark for his awesome donation of art to the Scouts though :D

And that was an 01-06 outing (: Can't wait for the next one haha!

(also posted on the 01-06 blog. hah!)

shelter in your shade

2010-05-01T12:02:00.003+08:00

Silver for NAPFA. First time I missed C for standing broad jump by 3cm, second time I missed C for sit-and-reach by 3cm. If my legs aren't too weak then they're too long I guess! Maybe if I'm feeling really bo liao I'll go and retake NAPFA in Week 8. Then again, maybe not >.<

Just a random thought.

Do I see, and feel the world differently because we are all different and wired up a different way? Or is it just me? Because sometimes, it feels like I'm standing still in a river of people.

Is it possible that the sky's green and everyone's just colorblind?

technical difficulties my foot!

2010-04-25T21:26:00.004+08:00

01 Annual Show 2010! :D

After about a month's worth of preparations, our efforts finally paid off yesterday, when more than 400 scouts and guides participated in our campfire.

Every 01 campfire is special. 2006 was my first time, totally eye-opening just to be a part of it all. 2007, performed(!) for the first time on a stage, hearing the cheers. 2008 was working behind the scenes, making the costumes and working as a stagehand. 2009 we had our mega-structure, stormed the hakka in front of the Sarimbun flames. And 2010... well, it comes full circle doesn't it? (:

Choreographing the clown dance was a fun experience. Not just coming up with the dance itself, teaching the Sec 1s, joking with them, putting in hours just for that precious few minutes. Watching them during the actual show makes me proud. Great job clowns!

Registration was thick and fast, a few troops came without RSVP-ing, so we had to accommodate for that. Due to a pile-up in the structure (heard it was cool!), we started the campfire half an hour late. Then, disaster struck! The AV wires were screwed up so we couldn't show any of the videos/powerpoints at all! Luckily Chin Yang managed to fix it rather quickly (although left with only yellow) so... the show went on! Clown dance was kawaii, tamer dance was superb, mime dance was awesome! And the songs and games went well too. (:

Anurak, Jack, Hiok, Kenneth, Amos, Joel, Francis! GC'10, we did it! Everyone managed their role amazingly and as a team, as friends, it clicked. Thanks also to 01-06 and the Jx-es for coming down to give us their support!

I don't know what I've been told,
01 makes me lose control.

Class Camp. Awesomez.

2010-04-22T23:00:00.007+08:00

Escape from the cuffholds (Laura the pro).
Camera outbreak in front of mirrors.
Harness vs boulder, rock and eagle.
High elements: the triangle tower.
Teamwork! plus some spiderman action heheh.
The plant aka cable which led to more pictures (see the link?)
M&Ms (Chin Jie: feed me! no, not M&Ms, feed me more rope!)
Wear your helmets please! (plus yimeng's tap-tap-helmet revenge)
Ooo scandalous! XD
Alpha male shows his 3-times-a-week muscles.
Moses' popiah/salad/mess
The perfect popiah for Mr Teo... with <3
One Minute Challenge = half hour fun
8 balls wonders :O (whack him!)
Crossing the line
Fav subject, random thing, joke (BaBoomz!)
5 group shots and Eric pulls my hair in all of them.
Manhattan fish market ($$$)
Guess the number... two times loser XD
Aqueous salt-pepper-mentos-peach tea solution.

(:

get ready for the show :D

2010-04-19T21:57:00.004+08:00

Here's a random joke from Moses' joke book (see? free advertising haha):
How did the blonde try to kill the fish?
By drowning it!

Totally in NO MOOD to study now... haha you know that feeling! The one where you stare at your computer screen for minutes telling yourself that in the VERY NEXT moment you'll start working, and then, well, it never happens. I think the smartest thing to do at that time is to abandon all pretence and commit yourself to doing nothing productive at all. A high average variance cost yea! (thanks econs for that interesting term).

Handling the Sec 1 Dance is both fun and exhausting. They are like some mini-hurricanes, never stop moving, except during the dance where they are supposed to move hahaz. BOUNCE, BOUNCE! Hard to tell them to be serious when they're supposed to look happy! Hope they will be this hyper during the actual show, it'd be awesome! I know some of you read this blog, take note k?

Oh, speaking of which, Annual Show is just 5 days away! :O

Also, class camp tmr! Heard its a good experience, although nothing's a surprise now, thanks to the other classes haha. Really looking forward to it, spend some quality time with my classmates which does not involve a pen and foolscap paper haha. Pray for some love from the weather! (:

a rare moment

2010-04-15T22:41:00.004+08:00

That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.
- Adrian Tan, author of the Teenage Textbook

Had an interview today, it went rather well, but don't think I'll get chosen anyways! Haha, agreed, we're kindda like fillers, can think of so many other people who have achieved a lot too!

Truth be told, I'm quite an average student actually, except that I managed to study hard and get a respectable grade! People keep having all these false illusions about me, I'm not that academically inclined, really. Although CCA-wise I AM really proud of what we've achieved in 01. Haha most people must be sick and tired of hearing me say this yea? I think I also bored the interviewers half to death talking about it XD Okay la, besides scouts my Sec 4 year was pretty fulfilling la! (: Ahh the memories...

Anyway already quite happy to get shortlisted, if I somehow do get it, it'll be super cool. XD

Hopes and Dreams

2010-04-12T22:59:00.003+08:00

Didn't realise, but the last post was my 400th! Another milestone haha... didn't think I would have enough energy as well as stuff to talk about for 400 posts, but apparently I do (: Its reassuring to know that I'll always have this blog to look back at the mini-me in the past and laugh at the stupid things I did, like epic-failing at Malay. Dang, why do I still remember that... >.<

Speaking of memories, today we finally opened our Hopes and Dreams, aka time capsules to the start of our Venture year.

Still remember putting the bottle into the moist dirt during Backwoods, underneath that half-dead tree. Digging furtively for it after Group Training Camp, not finding it and having to give up. Finally seeing it today. Apparently it was just buried a metre away haha.

Had a hard time identifying my bottle. Strange how time plays tricks on your mind huh? Actually, I put a 10 cent coin inside to differentiate it, but it seemed like everyone had the same idea xD Luckily, I had a movie ticket inside too (Bolt, Dec 2008) haha, and when I found the faded A L V I N at the bottom of the bottle, knew it was mine (:

First thing, the whole thing stank. The coin was powdery, probably due to some complex chem reaction. The ticket was in mint condition though, and the letter - its a miracle that it managed to survive, with all the words as clear as day.

---
x Achieve better results in studies (3.8 GPA)
x Become fitter (Gold NAPFA, 10 chin-ups at one go)
- Be more friendly, be a good friend (consider at least 3 people as close friends)
- Take initiative (as 4M asst monitor, as a Venture, outside of normal routine)
- Be more considerate to parents
x Learn more skills (funk, penspinning, carrom, cooking, soccer)
x Do your best, no matter what
x Make no enemies -> Friends with everyone
- Be less introverted
x Don't procrastinate
x Do 3 things that I would never do, voluntarily
---

Crossed out the goals that I think I have accomplished. Still a lot more to improve, and I'm not sure that those that I crossed are truly completed. Hopes and Dreams. Realistic hopes or a distant dream? I don't know, but I like the last two words the 16 year old Alvin wrote on the crummy paper though.

'Go Alvin!'

look back to look forward

2010-04-09T00:10:00.003+08:00

I'm actually quite organized. Like to keep my thoughts straight and my mind focused. Sometimes, with all the distractions around us, we forget what we're really going after, and what's really important. And everyone knows how hard it is to get back on track haha... just ask any Facebook user! Just 'a few minutes', but yea, its the small things that matter! It builds up like some gigantic snowball .o0O

Anyway, J1's okay, just plodding around from lecture to tutorial to lecture. Its kinda hard to judge my progress/success now anyways... i'm doing the work, but if you stop and ask me a random work-related question once in a while I will give you my blank look (0.0) People, stop saying I am smart! I am not, and by saying that you are tarnishing my reputation haha. plus, high expectations and constant questions about work (which I can't answer, sorry!)

Got some surprising news today. Seriously, literally 'omg' when I heard it haha... of course, nothing ever comes easy, so must prepare myself for it! And really, if the time for reflection is not now, I don't see a better chance.

I need to find my way back to the start.

Tick Tock

2010-04-04T23:26:00.004+08:00

The 4 day break has been nice (: Sad to see it go so soon though; wait up! Time is speeding up again, watch it rush past as a quarter of the year is left in the dust.

WARNING:
PW PRELIM IDEAS LECTURE TESTS UNFINISHED TUTORIALS ONLINE QUIZ ANNUAL SHOW VIDEO DANCE ANNUAL CAMP RECAC AHEAD, DRIVE SLOW.

Someone give time a speeding ticket.

Otherwise, an idea for PW is always welcomed haha.

like kites in the blue sky

2010-03-28T12:28:00.007+08:00

Alright... took a look at my blog, and decided that its far too black and gloomy! It's been more than a year, so yea, due for a change... finally, a skin that is not solely black or white haha!

With regards to ISLE, I've emailed the teacher-in-charge explaining that I can't make it for the overseas trip, so I'm still waiting for a reply... most likely, I'll get kicked out, but thats just an opportunity cost I'm willing to take (: Thanks for all the advice! Will find some other way to make myself feel useful yea?

Yesterday was the District Orienteering Competition organised by 01. Quite a reasonable turnout, 10 teams (excluding one that didn't read instructions properly... they did a totally different thing and didn't answer their phone too haha). 01 GC did well, 01 team not so well, but overall great! Thanks a lot to Francis (and Joel), lots of credit to your hard work! :D

Left early and took the incredibly boring and long trip from Bishan to Bukit Gombak, where I met up with the rest of 11SO6P. We were befriending Lakeside Family Services children for YProm, a 'concert' at West Coast Park haha. Class CIP, enthu sia! (: Quite a good turnout, about 18 people went, too much in fact, so some people didn't have a partner... Awwwww!

My 'charge' was a P6 boy named Khiruddin, quiet at first, but at West Coast Park we talked a lot, he's a sweet kid haha. Did lots of random stuff, like painting hands, learning the chinese yoyo (he learnt how to toss it in the air on his first try), went around the playgrounds and went to the shore to see the sights. Lots of kites were in the air, seriously a beautiful day... Feels nice when the only thing you had to worry about is whether he left his shoes behind, no? In the end we didn't even listen to the concert much haha.

(he took this picture himself! :D)

The rest of the class went to do their own stuff, but haha some of us met towards the end and took a few nice photos at the spider web! Yay for Brander, Eric, Jocelyn, Ryan and Vincent! Khiruddin is a brilliant photographer, and I am his brilliant teacher! XD

Had to say goodbye to them, not without a insanely funny song session in the bus back (loosen up my buttons babe, uh huh...). Then, had dinner at Jiaxiang before MRT-ing back from Boon Lay to Outram Park to Serangoon to Bartley haha.

Sometimes life's just that, flying freely in the wind, without a care in the world, but its the thin string that keeps us grounded and reminds us that we don't need everything for us to have everything we need. (:

In and Out

2010-03-26T23:27:00.003+08:00

I hate that,

I worry about the future and what it holds,
Yet, I want to be present in the now.
Do my part.

I am not proving myself to others,
Yet, who do I owe proof to?
You? Or me?

We won't be defined
by the easy decisions we take,
but the difficult sacrifices we make.

ISLE or GTC?

2010-03-24T23:25:00.005+08:00

Getting chosen for ISLE was a pretty big high for me, but now, I'm not sure whether I can continue with it... the end of year trip will definitely clash with a scouts camp! Wargh, still debating whether its right to go on a trip and miss GTC, its pretty important for us, and I want to be there to properly end the year and pass on our responsibilities to the next batch.

On the other hand, I obviously can see that this is a superb opportunity, and I was pretty pumped up for it! Rawr. I think another part of me fears that my RJ life needs to have more to it. I don't want it to be a case where if you take out scouts, there's nothing left :( and that might just be reality in J2 sia.

BUT 01 is something I've committed to, and feel passionate about. Haha, I guess many people might not understand, but there is a certain pride and happiness when it comes to 01, which is why this decision is ever so complex and frustrating! Grrr.

Find me an alternative? (or an amalgamation heheh)

Either way, I'm going to decide by this week, to avoid screwing things up even more. >.< Helpful comments much appreciated here!

Long Nights... NOT.

2010-03-17T22:12:00.003+08:00

5 days of Scouts, it was great! (pause) ~~NOT.~~ XD

But really, what makes certain things so special, no matter how many times you've done it before? (except mixed rice though, I think there is a limit you can eat that before you get sick at the very sight of it haha)

Job Week for the 5th time. New experiences bringing the Sec 1s around, to my favourite haunt at Rosyth... actually wonder if any of the residents recognise me yet haha. You can really learn a lot about people from approaching houses during Job Week. Reminded of my JobWeek post last year. Haha fond memories!

Sec 1s are for the win. Watching them, thinking, were we ever so small, so fresh, so full of excitement? Its not that experience jades us, but there is such a happy feeling seeing the enthusiastic looks in their eyes and watching them make mistakes, and learn from them.

Also, the closer look behind the scenes was interesting as well... manning the counting stations, listening to funny stories and telling lame jokes. And after each day, sizing up the total. Its probably the most physical money I will get to hold in my hands (coins are super heavy!).

No time to rest after that, straight on to SUTC. Camps are super exhausting, mentally, there's so much more to take note of. Also, I'm not a fierce person at best XD The trainees started out really terrible and built up a count of 2000+ and SRIT was super late. Still, great job to Kenneth and Francis, they really carried the camp and took on their responsibilities. The rest of GC'10 also worked hard. Really proud of us!

Left for a while to go for an interview for DSTA... definitely the worst interview I ever attended. Because I haven't gone for any Science Reserach Programmes or projects, there was nothing much to talk about, and we ended up talking about my future career options, which I couldn't really elaborate on. Hmm, didn't think it would have worked out anyway, but yea, it just makes me wonder how prepared I am to face the future, because now I'm just living in the present. Is it wrong to be flexible and open anyway though?

Back to camp, the last day was tough for the trainees, to say the least. But sometimes we need to be tough to put across our point. I hope the Sec 1s, 2s and 3s will learn from this experience. Writing the individual cards was fun though, and meaningful as well. Sometimes words can express what actions fail to convey. Looking forward to seeing whether it works.

we don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.
so true.

ISLE

2010-03-12T00:42:00.002+08:00

Life is just full of ups and downs huh?

Got into ISLE! It was what I was aiming for, so was quite happy! Like, duh! XD Another thing is that I usually fail at most things (for my first attempt anyway haha), so yay! Someone finally decides to give me the benefit of the doubt. Ready for a new adventure! (and earlier Mondays >.<)

Scouts is super busy, never seems to be a day at rest, but its willing work. (: GC is enriching and fun so far, and I'm learning things every day. Responsibility is a heavy burden, but just pull up those bag straps and chug along! And for those times where things seem really dark, just remember that we do it for 01.

Sometimes I wonder what image I'm presenting to other people. Probably right now my civics group think I'm an emo loner mugger dude hahaz. Need. to. learn. to. be. more. social. !. Waargh. I think sometimes I want people to take me seriously, on the other hand I need to lighten up? Is there such thing as a balance for these sort of stuff? Is being friendly equal being extrovert?

And seriously, why is a raven like a writing desk?

Someone just tell me, its driving me nuts xD

2010-03-07T16:55:00.004+08:00

Deleted.

I don't like emo rants haha. Makes me seem all sad and moody when the situation is never that bad! But, talking helped a little. Thanks! (:

Just wish I can pick myself up and do something about it!

Rawr.

11SO6P!

2010-02-23T18:58:00.005+08:00

Today we celebrated Fuxin's and Hannah's birthday! Presents plus a nice cake. (bought by me!) And everyone took a slice and promptly gobbled it down in a bite haha. Oh well, symbolism haha. Our OGLs also took the chance to pass us their gifts for us! Shoelaces in the form of our names, its really something to see. In cursive too! (: As well as personal notes. THANKS! :D

I don't think I've commented on my class, but definitely we are the BEST! There's Chin Jie, Eric, Moses, Kwun Tong, Shawn, Chen Long, Ryan Chin, Teng Yang from RI, haha, you can already tell they are a good bunch, followed by Colin, Kathleen, Gary, Jaslyn, Jocelyn, Laura, Li Khee, Yidan, Brander, Natalie, Srruthi, Linh, Yi Xin, Vincent, William, Zheng Xi and Yimeng, who just transferred in haha. There's still some distance to us forming strong (covalent) bonds, but we're definitely getting there with all the after-school mugging sessions lol.

Lecture and tutorial system takes some getting use to, problem is the lectures are waay behind the tutorials, but overall still coping ok heh. Not feverishly finishing whole worksheets like some people yet though (guess who?). And the tutors and lecturers are friendly enough, some have a healthy sense of humor haha. Especially in econs, they practically make their own jokes on the powerpoints lol. And then laugh at themselves during lectures.

Our Econs tutor: "free goods aren't free..."
Our ex-GP tutor: "vulgarities should be used more often..."
Our current GP tutor: "you should all go Japan to find a wife..."

Its great to just be able to sit back and take life as it goes by, even for a little while. (:

Seven days without laughter makes one weak.
Geddit?

Overnight Camp

2010-02-21T15:53:00.002+08:00

Overnight Camp is over!

It has definitely been a stressful experience, especially the few days leading up to the camp, as well as during the camp itself. You can always depend on activities to lag and problems to appear. BUT we dealt with it, and it turned out to be fun!

Overnight Investiture was memorable for me. Besides the fact that I was leading the ceremony, watching all the Sec 1s being invested as well as postholders getting their scrolls were... nostalgic? The Sec 1s were all fumbly and clueless, trembling and looking around to see if they were right. And the Sec 2s and 3s were all solemn and serious. I think the contrast is amazing, sets you thinking what age and responsibility brings to you. It brings back memories of my own investitures, and receiving the scroll, reading the pledge, sensing that we have been given an important task to carry out. Responsibility like that really gives you a reality check, reminds you that you have grown up and people expect more from you.

Planned a game for the second day, involving a puzzle to be solved. Too bad the SU was all super tired and deflated from their Night Walk the day before. Really hoped that it could have been a meaningful game that will get them thinking about their own roles in 01, just hope that the message gets through. Working with a big group of 70+ scouts is not easy, just saps your energy in a flash.

Retrospect, I'm really sorry for all the people I've daoed and the feelings I've hurt in the past week. It has been a crazy roller coaster and I'm the kind of person that really just wants to focus on the job at hand. Especially would like to say sorry for some comments I made yesterday, terribly inconsiderate, and I don't mean it. Haiz, think I really need to be a better friend sometimes, my actions just leads to more regrets that could have been easily avoided.

suffer your own cheerful devotion and zeal.
check that.

Enter the Tiger

2010-02-14T23:09:00.003+08:00

Today's the first day of Chinese New Year! (: Enter the year of the tiger! RAWR.

Visited both my grandparent's house today, met lots of relatives who I never see except on this special occasion each year (and thus have few memories of them haha). I think its a cool tradition to go visit your relatives, although sometimes we don't have much to talk about, the feeling that we all care enough to meet and greet each other is enough, sometimes. Plus, if you really have nothing to talk about, you can stuff yourself silly on the festive goodies XD Duck ba kwa anyone?

Sadly, my foot is not healing as expected, because of all the walking today. Placed a gauze there to protect it but when I took it off, the whole semi-scab that formed previously also peeled off, so it was left with a bloody mess. Can't walk properly. Seriously, after that, I am super-scared to wear any sort of footwear. For the journey home I just ditched my left sandal and hopped around on my right foot... which had a blister!

My parents dragged me to a doctor who cleaned up the area and gave me an MC. Crossing my fingers for Overnight. Plus, no more CNY visiting for me, I'm to stay home and rest... haiz.

Take 5!

2010-02-13T14:57:00.005+08:00

Yesterday was 'the day to play'!

In the morning we went to Sentosa for Take 5, which was supposed to celebrate total defence, chinese new year and valentine's day, but ended up just being a gathering for us to mess around and have fun! Performances, frisbee, hairspray and games... the only down point was when I injured myself in the elastic band game. Couldn't do any more jumpshots or move around too much! Even had to be carried to the first aid station situated far far away, so thanks to the BB dude who helped me! (:

After Take 5 ended, we had lunch and went to Jarrod's house. Super cool place sia... we played Guitar Hero in the cool disco-lit room and we all got really really high. Plus, we found out that we all like music and singing! (: idea for the next gathering!

Yingjun had to leave, but the rest of us stayed for dinner and had a really meaningful chat about first impressions and our OG in general. Love HH'09 more than ever now! This friendship starts slow but grows stronger over time, which is the best types of friendship in my opinion. Let's sustain this! Groovy Two Shoes!

I actually prepared individual notes at 12am the previous night but I FORGOT TO BRING IT! sorry! i'll pass it to you guys the next time we meet (which will be soon i hope!)

On a side note, my injury seems to be worse than I thought. The wound's still wet and if I walk too much, pus comes out... hope it doesn't get infected. Its going to be pretty inconvenient this CNY period since I have to move around quite a bit, but more importantly, I hope that it'll heal by Overnight. Can't imagine what will happen if I am limited to short distance movement only.

2010-02-09T00:31:00.001+08:00

In the end, its humbling and sad to know that you just aren't good enough.

But life. goes. on.

G'alvea with the Groovy2Shoes (:

2010-02-03T23:18:00.004+08:00

This post is about Orientation! Which ended yesterday, and well, it was FUN! Definitely a big THANKS to the J2s who organised it, especially our 3 super-cool street-dancing OGLs, Chrisanda, Jarrell and Yen Lin. No wonder its Groovy Two Shoes haha!

Our amazing OGLS (:

And of course, HH'09! Rixing, Fu Xin, Jack, Darrell, Ying Jun, Diao Zheng, Hui Ying, Ruo Fan, Hannah, Valerie, Chang San, Jarrod, Sylvia, Rebecca, Benjamin, Clarissa and Anthea.

Never would have thought that we would turn out well together, at the start it was a diverse bunch of individuals, each with their own personalities and life! Remembered how sad it was on Day 2 when only 3 of us went out to dinner with our OGLs... then, it seemed like a low point, but through Orientation, I think its really hard not to bond and joke and laugh at those silly silly games and well, just life in general.

Sunday's OG outing was fun. Found out about the Settler's Cafe, which is a neat place to go and hang out (if you have the cash haha). As well, eating chicken straight out of Carrefour is the first time for me! (:
Jack, YingJun, Darrell!

As games after games went past, such as Station Games, "rush rush rush!" EA and War Games, batch dance followed by a touching batch song followed by loud cheers and plain lunches, and finally of course, O Night with our super costumes, it was just fun fun fun! In the end, as we applied the finishing touches to our outfit, and poured the last drop of red coloring on our bodies, followed by furious scrubbing to get rid of those stubborn red stains, I think its safe to say that we are definitely a great OG!

Our costumes (injured people). lol.

<3 Groovy Two Shoes! (:

2010-02-01T22:01:00.002+08:00

The sun will always outshine the star, until it cannot be seen in the day sky.

2010-01-31T00:10:00.001+08:00

Groovy to who?

GroovyTwoShoes! (:

Proverb

2010-01-27T22:55:00.003+08:00

Fear less,
hope more.
Whine less,
breathe more.
Talk less,
say more.
Hate less,
love more.

And all good things are yours.

[Swedish Proverb]

A Few Degrees Above Zero

2010-01-24T00:07:00.003+08:00

My parents went to buy new specs, so I followed them and at the same time checked my eyesight. Apparently, according to the Specs Shop Guy, my degree actually dropped! :O

I don't know if I can trust him, but hey, if he makes money from telling people that they have mutilated their eyeballs playing on the computer, I guess he must have a point (:

However, apparently, according to the same guy again, my astigmatism went up for both eyes. That kind of sucked, and its quite convenient too. Hmm... not really sure what it is, but my mother says its what makes bright light appear to have shiny golden beams shooting out of them (yes, sometimes it looks to me like that).

Anyway, my parents felt this was enough cause for worry, so I'm getting new spectacles for the third time (there was a special promotion). Gah... my degree dropped and I'm rewarded with new specs? Still, not bad enough to warrant me wearing them all the time, so -shrugs-

So... in the end, the Specs Shop gets business. As an Economics student I must learn to perfect this no-fail strategy. I will make millions of dollars this way. Rawr. (:

Birthday No. 17

2010-01-16T23:13:00.003+08:00

Seventeen! (:

Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday! Its great to know you have friends that bother (or at least, thanks facebook!). I know I might have been quite dreamer / serious / distant last year, so I'll try to work on it haha.

Happy birthday to Jack, Jim, Jun Yao, Jia Jun too! Long list of people! (: All of them starts with J... J for january! (: Its cool... one of them I got to know in primary 1 (maris stella), one is from primary 4 (rosyth), and two are from sec 3 (ri). These are random coincidences that happen in my life, and I'm lucky enough to have known all of you! (:

---

Birthdays are weird days lol... one night you go to sleep, and the next day everyone's telling you you're a year older, a year wiser, but hey, I don't feel much different from yesterday. Just the same ol' Alvin haha. When's this sudden burst of wisdom going to come?

Hmm because its a Saturday, and I had the vcord debrief in the afternoon, didn't have time to go celebrate or anything, so my birthday was just a normal day. Going to the food court for breakfast, coming back to do a little bit of work, going out to buy school clothes... well, was pretty bummed out that the day was just going by like that, but nothing could be done.

Mood was made worse by the fact that there was vcord results release, which is something like waiting for a test result to come out... anxious, hopeful, worried and all that kind of feelings haha. I know, compared to the big scheme of things, it wasn't such a big thing, but it took 3 or 4 days out of my life!

In the end, after 2 hours of debrief and waiting, got the results back. It was bittersweet, I passed, but I'm the only one from 01 who did, which is sad cos we worked so hard together. Do I deserve it more than them? Didn't feel very happy overall... so... felt kinda weird? Anyway, the hike is just another component for the badge, so there's still some way to go... thinking about it makes me feel tired. Its like everything's so complex all of a sudden.

Took the time to take a step back and reflect. Wrote down my thoughts as coherently as possible... not possible haha. Just got to spend more time to clear these thoughts I guess.

Moving on, a new chapter brings on a host of new questions.

Pre-induction

2010-01-13T09:28:00.003+08:00

Monday was the first 01 activity by the GC... its a fun act, 'know your GC'. Hope the SU knows us better now! Had fun making the quiz and reminiscing on our 4 years together. On a side note, I didn't DSA through sailing, I just used it for my DSA essay. Its two different things, you know? XD

O level results are back! B3. Unfortunately, not really what I was hoping for, but I think I'll settle for it. I have this feeling that my chinese will never get much more better anyway, so. The only regret is... um... not having a strong chinese foundation? Should have listened to more chinese songs haha.

Yesterday went out with jianwei, gifford and kailun for bowling and a movie! Kailun, look right! XD Bowling was ok, I averaged around 100 points (as usual), while gifford tyco-ed and shot a 160 (!) for the third game... haha, but I still won 2 out of 3 games, so I'm better! :D

Watched Old Dogs... it is an average comedy. Maybe a little too cliched, but hey, we aren't suppose to analyse movies, we're supposed to watch them. Imagine taking a break off your work to spend 2 hours trying to rack your brains on the theme.

Anyway my OGL called me while I was in the cinema! Really jacked... she was nice enough to ask me to call her after the movie. Turns out I'm in HH09, Goody Two Shoes! Same as Jack haha. Anyone else? (:

Today is openhouse, and tmr onwards will be the induction programme! Oh no! There goes the late mornings. These past few weeks has been hectic but fun too, let's try to sustain it throughout the year!

Raffles Trail

2010-01-08T10:33:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was Raffles Trail. My 5th! This time, returning as a J1, with a different perspective but definitely still the same view on things.

I guess with regards to the different CCAs, uniform groups, or maybe just 01 Scouts in particular put in a lot of effort into this... Sports CCAs may have their DSAs and other incentives, but unless you're one of those with a special talent or skill in a certain area (eg hitting a ball with a stick haha), there are so many other choices in RI.

Being in 01 for so long, it's hard to think of myself being in another CCA. Over the 4 years so far, 01 has really been like a family, and speaking about it to parents during the trail, or just listening to some of my juniors talk with the same passion is really a great feeling, because well, its all unscripted. What comes out, comes from the heart.

Jack narrates his own experience of CCA choice very well... listening to his reasons and his conviction really makes me appreciate what '01 Scouts' means to all of us who have been through the programme. Which other CCA still has seniors passionate enough to come back and help out when they are in JC?

When I'm guiding parents, I like to emphasize that Scouts is not just about tying knots or accumulating badges. They look around, surprised that we actually have a wide array of activities on hand. Most people come in with a fixed mindset and leave with a slightly better idea of what we do. The poster boards at the booth are just the tip of the ice-berg... we are so much more than that, really, its just hard to convey (especially in my limited chinese. XD sorry to those parents who had to listen to me make a mangle of it. hopefully this is not a precursor of next Monday)

The inevitable question always comes up: What's the difference between 01 and 02? Well, I haven't been in 02 before, so I'm not familiar with their system. Asking us to compare each other is like asking two individuals who is the better human being... I guess there will be some areas where we excel in, some others that they do. It's just not for us to judge though.

That's why when I hear answers that say a certain group is better in these area, or that this group just focuses on skills and knots, or even the ultimate lame answer: this group is just more fun, I cringe. Believe me, both sides are guilty sometimes haha.

I like what my senior used to say: we don't want 01 to be strong and 02 to be weak, we want 2 strong scout groups in RI. Ultimately, we are still Raffles, and we should support one another, and not constantly put each other down. When people ask me which scout group is better, I'll usually just talk a bit about my own experience in 01 and direct them to the 02 booth to learn about 02. Its only fair, you know? Maybe they do have something worth talk about too XD

All in all, no matter what you do, what choices you make, just make sure that you're willing to keep an open mind and develop a passion for it.

It worked for a little boy 4 years ago.

Looking Back (2009)

2009-12-31T22:25:00.004+08:00

It is the last day of the year... again! How it seems time flies when we look back on it now! And yet, we couldn't stand it while we were pumping our hearts out in the grass, or staring with glazed eyes during lessons, or simply just waiting for something big to happen. Well, it happened. And now, I guess we all have the sad sad responsibility to see our achievements, our effort and that small yet big parts of our lives become the latest links in the long chain known as our past.

Secondary 4 is a special year to me. It signals the end of a period of my learning. Coming into the new year, I remember being confused, uncertain and unsure of myself. Haiz, I would like to say I had a clear vision of what I wanted right from the beginning, but truth is, I sort of fumbled along. I think what really made the difference, and tipped 2009 from being a disaster to a sort of success to me, is how I became more willing to accept change and put in my best.

4M is definitely a unique class, for better or for worse. Till today, I'm still not sure how the class dynamics play out. Maybe it was just a result of strong lower sec bonds, and a lack of effort. But what I want to say is that people adapt, and some people just stand out whether in terms of leadership, or just being a good friend. There are people in 4M I really respect, and it is my regret that I didn't put in more effort into the friendship. Ye Oon, Wen Jian, Delwyn and Chin Jie, Hui Hao, Lionel, You Sheng, Kok Peng... keep shining y'all! The memories won't fade, not so soon at least. (:

Scouts became a bigger part of my life, I guess commitment-wise it just gets bigger as you go along haha. I don't resent that. Its hard to describe what I feel for 01, but its definitely clear that I do feel strongly for it, and under great VTLs like Zhi Xuan and Chee Yeow, the experience just built up. There were times where just meeting up with 01'06 was something to look forward to. Of course, there were low points. The points-clearing during GTC is probably something that I won't want to revisit for a long time, but really, hardship builds friendships. Thanks for a great year, 01-06, and to those who aren't returning next year, stay in touch. I want to be known as part of 01'06, and not GC'10 or anything. (:

As for other activities, I did take up key roles, so that's one of my resolutions accomplished. Being I/C for First Day Comm was something I volunteered for, and I'm glad that we, as a team, pulled off a great Day 1 despite some glitches along the way. A big boost of self-belief for me was when I was nominated, and then voted as Refurb I/C. Its a cool feeling, knowing that people trust in me and my abilities, and were willing to back me up. I'll be the first to say this, but I'll probably nobody's idea of a perfect leader, but hey, I'm trying, and learning as I go along.

Speaking of leaders, there are plenty of great role models out there in our batch, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to work and play with them. Throughout the year, I've actually tried to make a list of the people I admire. The list is pretty long! I'll like to name names, but I'll also hate to miss anyone out, but bear in mind that everyone has something to teach, something worth learning from. Thank you!

So, 2009?

Its been a boomz year (:

Passing On

2009-12-30T23:05:00.004+08:00

Facilitated for the Student Leader Camp (SLC)! The last SLC was when we were Sec 1s I think. Anyway the other facils were francis, joel, anurak, tak, ben goh, huan hock, jon see, tat hsiang, zi qi, with hiok and zhi joining us for the first part. Seems like a trend here? Yup, all UG people haha (:

Orienteering, planned by Francis! It was pretty cool, following a group of 8 of the future leaders of RI as they stared at a piece of paper and tried to navigate their way. It wasn't as bad as I thought... the only 3 parts where they screwed up was:

1) when they thought that the school gate checkpoint was a totally different gate from a totally different school,
2) when they practically circled the fire hydrant checkpoint before getting misled by a random uncle,
3) when they walked a road for its entire length before realising they were on the wrong road

BUT overall, it was pretty well done... and not just the 02 dude (Eugene btw). Some of the others, like Waye, showed strong leadership too. Anyway, besides eating the immense meal packets they provided for us and growing fat (there were in total 4 mars bars, 4 apples and at least 6 different buns), I also talked to Mr. Romi, who is quite friendly and approachable! We talked about NZ, biking, leadership and lots of other stuff. Well, teachers are humans, aren't they? XD

Campfire at night. A small one, using the wok we previously used for the Holympics. Ben Goh and Huan Hock were the emcees, which they did a great job despite not knowing a single campfire song (that was where we came in haha). Skits by the different groups were hilarious.

Then, the next day we had dragonboating at Kallang. I think dragonboaters are seriously imbalanced, how can they keep rowing on one side and not develop asymmetrical bodies? And our boat, with 16 people, tied with all the other 3 boats with 18-20 people. Skillz.

We rushed off to Group Celes at East Coast. Cards, beach soccer, barbeque, the usual. Food was plentiful and good though (kenneth ate... how many chicken wings?), and we managed to starve the 'parasites' out of the pavilion.

The final horseshoe, and the announcement of postholders for 2010. For me, it wasn't so much the anticipation, just a sense of excitement that we were finally becoming the leaders of 01. After such a great year of venturing, it will be a challenge to take on the roles which we have respected for so many years.

As GC'10, I know that we will be equal to that challenge (:

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T22:29:00.002+08:00

Its Christmas Eve today. Today a fat guy in a red suit will slither down your chimneys and give you a present. Gosh, shouldn't this start ringing alarm bells? When our privacy is invaded any other day, we'll be calling the cops, but today, we'll allow a man with no passport to do illegal parking on our roofs. Double standards!

Anyway, the festive sms-es are making their rounds again! They're usually pretty cool. This year there's one about smiling, one with a christmas tree picture, one with snowmans, and another with a christmas tree. The last two are in chinese! (thanks wai choong!). Wah, how technology has changed everything. It used to be a simple card sent via snail mail... then electronic emails... now its smses. This year, I'm doing all three methods haha. Next year, everyone will just nudge each other on Facebook to wish Merry Christmas. Just getting more and more impersonal... BUT STILL so interesting to read (:

Stared at the computer almost the entire day today, typing and typing. Then got off to do lots and lots of physical writing... that took 3 hours! Didn't think it would take that long! Starting to realise what will be important next year is focus! Just keep at something, and eventually it'll go away.

It's all about giving and taking. I'll give my best and take it in my stride (:

Cambodia

2009-12-20T22:29:00.003+08:00

Today, on the 20th of Dec: happy birthday to my brother! He is finally 1 year younger than me, at least for a month (:

Anyway last week we 01 scouts went to Cambodia!

Because this is my second overseas CIP trip, its hard not to compare to the Khao Lak trip 2 years ago, be it good or bad. It may not be as long or as shocking (that was the first time), but definitely, Cambodia is a cool place.

We started super early, meeting at 4am at the airport because our flight was at 6am. 6am! Went to sleep after watching 4 goals in the chelsea game (there were 6 in the end), and woke up watching the last minutes of Man Utd's defeat to Aston Villa. Haha a pretty good sign for the trip!

The first day was mostly sightseeing. Visited the killing fields memorial, then the gardens and then the old market. Cambodia seems much less developed than Singapore, maybe because most of its buildings are so short (none in Siem Reap is allowed to be taller than the 65m Angkor Wat), but also because there is a lot of dust everywhere. They use US dollars, so even though it may sound cheap, actually its 1.5 times of its S'pore value, haha, and anyway I didn't see anything I like. The hotel is pretty cool though, there's internet and cable tv (up to 99 channels!). Roomed with Francis and Anurak, while Joel, Jon Ed and Leonard were in another room. They keep coming over to play cards (:

The next two days were spent at Sok San Primary School. Its in Karnchankoy Village, which is really a village. There's no electricity, and the journey there took an hour because of the uneven dirt roads. We had 2 days of teaching, but what we didn't expect was to get a whole school of students instead of just 3 classes... so, we had to improvise. My group taught the primary 3s, and it was bomb tiring! Health Ed, English as well as campfire songs... luckily we had a few choice khmer words, and we did quite well with our resources. The last activity, where they drew animals and we taught them the names was fun. I had fun and learnt a lot. The Cambodian children are just so adorable haha.

Last full day was spent at three of Cambodia's famous temples, Angkor Thom, Bayon and of course, Angkor Wat! There were just these majestic trees sprouting out of the Bayon temple, but of course Angkor Wat was the highlight. Just on its walls, there were many intricate carvings, telling the story of cambodian legends.

Whether you believe in it or not, Cambodia is really a spiritual country. You can see how the changes in governance and the changes in religion helped shape the course of history. Hindu beliefs to Buddhism, folklore mixed into culture, its not hard to see why Angkor Wat has such a deep beauty to it. Me, I won't say I'm a believer, but after the 4 days its hard not to admit that the world just works in mysterious and beautiful ways. There were the shooting stars we saw, lying on the grass in Sok San Primary, each one a stunning sight, even if it was only a few seconds. Make a wish. The paper lanterns, before our departure from the school, carrying our hopes high into the heavens. May they come true. The echo chamber, where the beating of one's chest produces that fading echo that rises up and up...

Long story short, a fun and meaningful trip. (: Just hoped it could have been longer, haiz.

Retreat tmr! Let's go!

Packing

2009-12-12T21:17:00.002+08:00

Today was packing day.

After being busy for so long (or procrastinating, whatever way you look at it), I finally got down to clearing up the big mess that was clogging up my shelves. There were all sorts of stuff there, and of course, going through them just got me thinking about the 'good old days'.

Here is the 1 star kayaking cert I thought I had lost. I remember, that time we did the course at Pasir Ris Park, it was hot, as hot as Singapore could be. I had a problem capsizing I think, it wasn't as easy as you'd think it would be, but anyway I was afraid of going underwater, as the seawater is really disgusting, and I had to redo it cos I rushed through the first time. Luckily, a pass (:

Here is the geography comic me and chin jie did up last year about transportation, which I dug up for my showcase portfolio, but didn't use. That was really something... we weren't artists or anything, but we totally spammed a lot of information and content into each frame, until you could hardly read anything! That reminds me, some stuff you just can't force out.

Here is the CCA pre-hike log. The hike never happened. Learning that I'd failed the pre-hike section because of a minor mistake was depressing. All I did wrong was to draw my route across the ECP highway ONCE, and apparently it was serious enough to warrant a fail. There was an underpass there, for goodness sake! The examiner kept my debrief short, there wasn't really much left to say, but "better luck next time".

Had to do filing for the subjects. Looked at the 8 piles (one for each subject), and just decided to rubber band each subject and stack it up.

The cupboard was full, so we had to take out my lower sec stuff and THROW THEM AWAY. I really hesitated at that, although I am sure that even if they are left there for another billion years, I'll never look them up, if not for that showcase portfolio. This is knowledge in its material form. This is a diary of my ups and downs. This is an imprint of me. Every worksheet holds my name, every question has had my upmost attention for at least a fleeting moment in my life, and every blank contains a serious answer which I thought out.

The humanity essays were the worst. Hundreds and hundreds of words, crafted to form a coherent essay, an argument, which may not seem much now, meant all the world to me at one point of time. I've always done quite well in geog, history, ss and english, not good enough to top the class, but good enough to get nice comments from teachers. Really, a source of inspiration. In JC, there won't be a chance anymore... except maybe general studies.

Out with the past,
In with the future.

The Hikes

2009-12-07T23:08:00.007+08:00

Vcord hike is over, so let's recap: GTC!

GTC lasted 4 days. I came late for the first day, because I came back from NZ at midnight, but was fortunate enough to get a taste of zhi xuan's meaningful activity. Soaking wet! Survival Night in Ubin was different from that of VC, in that we actually managed to get some food cooked, and they didn't taste too bad! Liked the potatoes (we dumped them straight into the fire and then peeled off the skin about an hour later), as well as the rice. The chicken was unfortunately a mess, and we just ate a bit. The head we threw into the fire. XD

Day 2 and 3 were hikes around mainland Singapore. Singapore doesn't have much change in scenery, once you seen one HDB, you've seen them all. Anyway, as hike goes, it was a good hike and we covered distances which are definitely not to be scoffed at, such as a whopping 42km on Day 3, while carrying a 15+kg bag!

Back in RI for Day 4. Had a late night after failing to find the spot where our hopes and dreams were buried (somewhere near a particular tree), and had 'dinner' at 1am, and an early morning when we had inspection at 4am. Then, there was a cunning move by the VTLs, which signalled the start of the clearing of points. We had 900+ points. We cleared them all on a 1-to-1 basis (eg 1 pushup = 1 point). Normally during other camps I would be ok, but after the long hikes my shoulder was really GG from carrying the haversack (by the way, that same haversack strap broke under stress during Vcord a few days later). Felt really bad about that. Luckily, we found other less arm-intensive exercises to clear the points and we finished GTC.

You know, one thing we always talk about during the hikes is what we're going to do once it ends, but somehow I never actually follow the plan. Thats usually because right after I throw my bag down and bathe, the next time I sit down I'll fall straight to sleep... really takes a lot out of you. Then, the next thing I do when I wake up is brush my teeth, even if its in the middle of the day, because camp hygiene is really disgusting. And get a proper meal that doesn't involve anything in the canned, packed, or powder form >.<

The next day, we went to Hiok's house to do the hike log. We worked (sometimes), played, visited SU at east coast, walked through the park, chionged work at night, slept a bit. Great that we could work while still having fun! And when we left, we finished all the maps as well as day 1 descriptions, which was amazing by our standards XD

And that was our last GTC (in our secondary school lives). (: