This author is currently on hiatus for the ignoble cause of mugging. The public is advised to remain calm, as this routine protocol has been shown to have no effect on one's violent tendencies in 96% of cases.
| Sunday, October 29, 2006 |
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I received a call from my school ytd, telling me that I was recommended by my Head of English Department (Mrs Yong, who is also my English teacher) for some "Best English Award", and im one of the shortlisted few. And i was like, wtf? And its even more surprising that people like Yi Yong didn't get chosen. I mean, he writes so much better than me (just check his blog and you'll see what i mean), yet Mrs Yong chooses me over him. I do admit i do not possess a natural creative flair for writing, like Yi Yong, nor do I have a wide vocabulary of colourful and bombastic words and phrases that i can use, like Dah Wei. Indeed, my style of writing is, on the contrary, rather dull and boring but simplistic. That is perhaps because I tend to focus more on my content rather than my use of words (as i've mentioned in a previous post), as I do not write for leisure or to de-stress, but instead, i write simply to be heard and to be understood. Thus, i probably stand a very slim chance of getting that award or whatsoever, for my standard of English might be better than some, but it definitely isn't as good as the best out there. I still have no idea why Mrs Yong chose me... Anyway, im supposed to do up a portfolio with some of the English essays/works ive written, "prefably including with things [i've] written outside of school work of my own time", as the lady over the phone tells me. Then im supposed to bring it with me for some interview tmr in school. Sigh... I've put together 6 of my works for this portfolio, some of which are blog posts from this very blog. You can access the online version of it here, hosted by GeoCities. Do take a look through if you have time, and your frank comments on how to improve it would be appreciated. Maybe some things should be added/removed? Or maybe there are some errors in some of them? Just post your comments in the tagboard over on the right. >> Thanks! |
'Twas teh winnar at 8:08 pm.
| Friday, October 27, 2006 |
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YAYYYY! I'm just kinda excited now. But anyway... MORE RAM FTW!!!! Yeah, went down to Sim Lim Square today by myself by MRT with a $100 budget. I was hunting for a new 512 RAM stick. I had already done some research beforehand, like checking out my RAM specs to see which type would be compatible, searching for the price range online and also checking out which store had it in stock (which turned out to be almost all, actually.) Scouted around and visited close to 8 stores, despite my hate for shopping. But the difference was that I only spent about a grand total of 1 min in each store. Each encounter would be more or less like this: Store Owner: "Yes?" Me: "I'm looking for PC3200 DDR SDRAM 512 MB. Do you sell it?" Store Owner: "Yes, it's x dollars." Me: "Okay, can I take a look at it?" *store owner passes me RAM stick and I quickly scan through its specs* Me: *passes back RAM stick* "Okay, I'll be back later, thanks." The only problem was that, out of 8 stores, I only got back to one of them. I think I spent more time walking around trying to find the stores than the amount of time I actually spent in there... And so I settled for an Infitron 512MB 400MHz PC400/3200 CL3.0 DDR SDRAM, reasonably priced at $88. Later, Jay was kind enough to drop by a visit to my house to help me install the RAM, with the extra service of helping me repartition my hard drive also. I was pretty amazed by all his periphals and software he brought along with him. He even had an external hard drive with Ubuntu (Linux-based OS) which he changed the BIOS to boot my computer from. (previously, he was even able to run it from the school computers, but the techhies have disabled it already.) Of course, to those tech geeks out there, that is probably nothing, but nonetheless I was still wowed. Now, my computer startup time has been cut from 5 mins to a mere 10 secs, I can run multiple programs without lagging, and best of all, I can enjoy a lag-free game of SCO. =D Finally, a few conclusions drawn from today: 1) Never get repairmen to do fix your computer. Some charge a staggering $100 an hour for their service, and whatever they install on your computer, you can expect them to overcharge for it. Instead, just readup on the web and try to do it yourself, else if you're still not confident enough or are just too lazy, give some tech-savvy friend a call. He should gladly help you out for free, if not for just a nominal token sum. Saves you lots of money, which you can spend on even more gadgets and stuff. 2) Never trust onlines guides for accurate prices. Yep, that also includes Hardware Zone's price guides, even though HWZ is probably the most reputable online community for all things tech. The prices they stated for my RAM stick was $80 and up, but I visited all the stores listed and their prices were above $90. The store which sold me the $88 RAM stick was not listed there, I stumbled onto it by accident. Which shows that those onlien guide would be good to give you an estimated price range, but you're better off checking it outyourself. 3) Do your homework. This especially applies to tech newbs like me, who thought you could just slot in any random RAM stick into your CPU and it would work, before i actually went to research online about the different types of RAM. 4) Avoid buying from superstores. Even if they have mebership schemes and all that, they still rip your money off with much higher prices, presumably for higher rental and all that. I called Challenger and they quoted me a price of over $200 for the RAM stick i was looking for. Maybe it was of a higher quality and all that, but i could get one at almost one-third of the price at those smaller stores in Sim Lim Square. After bearing with long load and lag times with only 256MB of RAM for more than a year already, having 768MB of RAM is certainly a fresh new zippy experience. But then again, in just a few years time, greater memory demands of new technology might render current specifications obsolete. But for now, i'm lovin' it. |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:17 pm.
| Thursday, October 26, 2006 |
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And so, ten months of fun, toil, tease and slaughter comes to a close. Today marks the official end of the school year for 2006. And next year, as KC puts it, we're going to "cross over the invisible line to become what is know as...Upper Secondary." This means that 2N06 (and all the other classes) is going to be split up next year, according to the programmes we choose. I must say 2N is probably the class with the most class spirit (yeah, Ms Foo will be happy to hear that), and if not for certain discord caused by a certain person (and also his other members) in the class, we would probably have gotten the Best Teamwork class award. Fancy that going to 2L, the residence of the likes Swee Kiat and Kah Hong, and all the other weirdos and niaosters. I cannot imagine how the teachers came up with the conclusion that their class had lots of teamwork. Fortunately, it didn't go to 2M, the AP class. Phew. I mean, after the exams, we were having 2 class outings every week. (Not surprisingly, certain members of the class, including the one mentioned above, never attended any of them, or one at best.) And rest assured we'll definitely have even more outing during the upcomign holidays. Now beat that, 2L. Of course, credit must also go to the highly-effective CMC which is even mroe effective than the iCouncil. 'specially to our charismatic chairman/boss/gang leader, Bing Heng, who not only got the class into lots of trouble, but also pulled us through thick and thin. Not the forget our wonderful monitors (yes, im the assistant monitor), fierce treasurer, slacky secretary, commading facilities sec., initiative welfare sec., and extremely knowledgeable AV reps. Well done, guys! And how could we ever miss out our *cough*handsomeintelligentgoodlooking*cough* Kudos to all our other subject teachers too, in no order of merit: Ms Foo, Mr Lim, Mr B. Ong, Ms Gwee, Mrs yong, Mr Yong (no they aren't married to each other), Mr Tan, Mr Lee F.Y., Mr. Loh, and also all the temp teachers who taught us at one point or another. Thank you! (For more detailed dedications, do read my Teacher's Day tributes, if you haven't already done so.) Sadly, two of our teachers will be leaving us next year, namely: Mr. Bernard Ong, and Ms Sarah Foo. Mr. Ong will eb retiring from his teaching career, while Ms Foo will be heading over to the MOE HQ. I suppose since this is Mr. Ong's first foray into the teaching, he was rather fresh and didn't have much experience. Looking at how his form class 1L disrespected him, im not too surprised if he wasn't able to take it and thus decided to resign. However, he has defnitely been trying very hard to be a good teacher. I still rmb the first day when he walked into our class with an old checkered shirt and a giant shopping bag. Not to mention how he became famous for his "alright"s and "okay"s (at the start, they usually totalled to about 200+ per 40 min lesson.) Since then, he's brushed up on his image and cut down on his "alright"s, but sadly, first impression die hard. But the most disappointing thing about Ms Foo's departure is perhaps that she took one-and-a-half years to rmb who her Geog rep from 2N was, but then she leaves right after that. All the time and effort in improving her memory wasted. Noooooo... And of course most of the 2N peeps, who made the year as fruitful and enjoyable as it was! You guys rock! PS it appears that most of the 2Ners, mostly the nice ones, are opting for the Humanities Programme next year, so it means that most of 2N might be sorted together as a class again! Hope to see you guys again next year! |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:04 pm.
| Tuesday, October 24, 2006 |
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Yesterday, Hubert, Julian and Ryan came over to my house after school (because they were "bored, [had] nothing to do at home".) Since hubert and ju had not had their lunch yet, i brought them to the nearby hawker centre to packet their lunch. But then hubert wanted "specialised bubble tea shops" which sold Oreo bubble tea. And i was like, "Huh? What is that?" For i did not know any such bubble tea shops around my area, and had never b4 seen such a weird concoction as "Oreo bubble tea". After that, he was again asking for the nearest 7-Eleven convenience store so he could get his daily fix of the New Paper. And again i did not know where it was, for even though there was supposed to be one near to you wherever you were, there wasn't one in my case (as far as i knew). Eventually he settled for overpriced addictive lemon tea, and purchasing his newspaper from NTUC. Thus it was no surprise hubert was lambasting me for not knowing my neighbourhood well enough. Even though ive lived in Ang Mo Kio for much of my life thus far, ive only moved in to this area barely 4 months ago. 4 months, for some people like hubert, would have been enough to explore every nook and cranny of your neighbourhood, but for less adventurous people like me, its only enough for you to know the route to the nearest mrt station and bus stop, and perhaps the nearest hawker centre (but i still won't know what each stall there sells what.) Hubert tells me he must spend half an hour walking around his neighbourhood buying stuff b4 he gets home. That's despite the fact that he cannot walk for more than 5 minutes b4 feeling tired. But i suppose his needs and big wallet pushes that aside. Perhaps that's why he knows his area so well. However, for people like me who do not have such specific needs/addictions and don't mind living a rather simple life, i don't suppose we feel the urge to explore the area around our homes. Every day, after school, i just go straight home following that standard route (provided there aren't any activities and i don't oversleep on the bus.) Don't get me wrong, im not a couch potato. I'm jsut satisfied with what's given to me. Why should i spend extra time and money navigating the shops just for that one extra thing? Like i already mentioned in my previous post, i don't enjoy shopping and would rather stay at home. This also applies to havign to get my lazy ass up for a walk around the neighbourhood. It's just not necessary. Besides, even if i did go around to check out the area, i doubt i'll rmb much of it after that. I am really bad at memorizing directions, for its not recognition at first sight. I cannot rmb road names, but work better with landmarks. It's somethign like turning around the corner and realised, "Oh, that's the shop/building/momument/plant i passed by that day!" But sadly, if that plant had grown into a tree and become unrecognisable (as the world is forever subjected to change), then my navigational skills become wonky. I am officially: L-O-S-T. And that's what happened the other day, when i went to some hawker centre to buy dinner and couldn't rmb the way back home. Amazing, isn't it? I ended up wandering about till i saw something i thought i had seen b4, then marking them liek flags to show me the way back home. Eventually i did find my way back, but not before going around the area a few times first. But until now, i still can't rmb which is that shop which sells bak chor mee. Yet, i often recive pressure pressure from my parents to get up from my seat in front of the computer and "expose yourself to the world outside". yeah maybe, but yet i don't feel a need to. Walking aimlessly just isn't my type. Besides, i'll probably be too engrossed in my own thoughts (most of which would pertain to "Why am i doing this?") that i won't even notice my surroundings, And that again, would be another hour wasted. So the next time if you come to my house, don't expect me to be your regional expert and ask me where you could find avocado flavoured soya bean milk. I don't have an inbuilt GPRS, so don't blame me if i don't get you lost in the hunt for your desires. Oh, don't worry, i will never be a tour guide. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:30 pm.
| Saturday, October 21, 2006 |
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Just came back from iSpark nite ytd. It's basically just a stayover in school for one night (with other activities of cos.) Must say the concert was great, especially the hilarious skits put up by the sec 4s. Of cos, 2N's sing cum dance performance was not too bad either. ;) After the concert, we had a potluck session. But KC wanted to speak to all iCMG/CMC members regarding the EOY retreat. So those of us involved had to stay back for another 10 mins. Unsurprisingly, by the time the short meeting ended and we went down for the potluck session, almost all the food had been snapped up already. In the end, the whole class had nothing to eat except two bottles of drinks, one of which was our "prize" for our performance. Fortunately, our class had the foresight to see that we would hardly get any food (if at all), and already went out for dinner b4, so im not too concerned over whether we got enough food. However, what disturbs me is that some students (mostly sec 1s) actually helped themselves to a lot of extra food. I even heard some went as far as to grab a few bottles of drinks and packets of chips, stuff them in their bags, and rush off for home. And when we got back to Kah Kee Hall (where we slept for the night), i actually witnessed two sec 1s enjoying a few packets of chips and one bottle of drink each between them, over a game of chess. Obviously, such actions are inconsiderate, especially to other students who did not manage to get any food at all and spent the night on a hungry stomach. We grumble about these sort of people and all that, but ask ourselves, aren't we guilty, to a certain extent, of such actions also? Be it at a buffet, where you pile your plate with the most expensive food you can find there, ignoring the long queue behind you, and later dumping all these extra food into plastic bags to be brought home. Or during recess, when your entire class collates everyone's orders on a piece of foolscap paper, then pass it to someone who goes down and buys all the food, essentially making his queue turn worth that of 20 people despite the disgruntled people queueing behind him. And thus is the spirit of kiasuism. It appears that this mindset of the heartland aunties and housewives has not been wasted on today's Singaporean youths. Their parents have indeed taught them well, and if nothing else, they have at least picked up kiasuism from their parents. At least we are not as bad as the mainland Chinese, who push and shove without giving a thought about others, just for the sake of gaining every single tiny little benefit for oneself. But then, one thing is that we all never feel ashamed after, because "everyone else is also doing it." Which is true, in a sense. Therefore, all organisers of future events be warned: Do not underestimate the power of kiasuism. Be it door gifts, free food sampling, McDonald's balloons or anything with the words "FREE" spalshed in bold over them, always pre-empt kiasu people. They will try to get the best out of every situation. Recently, my estate's management held a free welcome party for all residents with refreshments, and they encountered the same problem of kiasu people. Their method is to queue up for the food with giant plates taken from their home, pile as much food as they can upon it, then pass it to someone waiting at the end of the queue who will then bring it back to their apartment. Then, they will queue up again, and the cycle repeats. And since there are many housewives and aunties living here, you can imagine how many people ended up bringing enough food home to suffice for a few meals. And while food for a couple of hundred people had been catered for and it was expect to last two hours, it was all wiped out in half an hour, largely due to the kiasu people who can be counted as multiple persons. Sadly, kiasuism is, after all, somewhat a deep-rooted culture of Singapore already, and judging by how effectively today's youths have picked it up, it's probably going to be passed on to future generations and here to stay. This also means higher costs to cater to Singaporeans, but at least it keeps everyone happy and satisfied. Take note, all futue organisers, else your events will flop, just like how the iSpark Nite potluck did. Oh, and did i mention, everyone also had to pay $3 to cover the food expenses, regardless of how much we actually got to eat in the end. I suppose most of the money went to those kiasu students after all. WE DEMAND A REFUND! |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:40 pm.
| Wednesday, October 18, 2006 |
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(Click here to jump straight to my wishlist at the bottom of this post.) iSpark Nite is tmr, and my class is putting up a dancing cum singing performance. We all agreed that everyone should wear a white shirt (polo shirts are even better) and jeans. And it's only because of this that I realised how horribly deprived my wardrobe is. I don't have a pure whirt shirt, much less a polo shirt. I'm going to have to borrow one from Kuan Yue. I don't have jeans either. I had to borrow a large pair from my dad. And I don't have a proper belt to go along with the jeans either. I have to wear one else the jeans are simply too wide, and the only belt in my possession is a cloth one from my primary school days, bought from the $1.99 shop. Amazingly, it still fits, but it utterly sucks if I wear it with the jeans, so I had to borrow a leather belt from my dad again. I scanned through the clothes I have, and realised none is above $30 (as far as I can rmb). Most are bought from neighbourhood shops and pasar malams (night markets). And quite a few of them have shrunk and are starting to fade. The only full-length pants I have are a couple of track pants and one pair of long pants. I don't even have a proper formal attire with a collared shirt, I had to borrow a set of Council uniform from KY for SLC. And I only have two ties, one of which is my school tie. (Of cos, that excludes my primary school prefect ties.) The main problem is that I don't have a proper fashion sense. I always dress up casually wherever i go, because for me, comfort is more important than how well you look. I seriously don't care much about what what i wear, as long as it suits me, its okay. My worst dressing sin is probably that i just utterly detest shopping. I think walking around a giant mall, going from shop to shop, trying on shirt after shirt, scrutinizing their price tag b4 finally rejecting all of them or buying just one is simply a waste of time. The hours spent looking through the thousands of goods available could be better spent doing things like writing this blog post, for example. That's why i hardly ever go out shopping, especially not for new clothes. I leave it to my mum (if, and when, she feels like it.) I do not understand why teenage girls find excitement in browsing through tons of merchandise in their mall-hunting. To me, its boring as hell. They say you wear 30% of your wardrobe 70% of the time. For me, its something more like 10%, 90% of the time. I can't bring myself to care about the nitty-gritty details about whether the clothes match, whether they look nice or whatnot. Just slip on some clothes and get going. This is especially so if its jsut going out with a few friends. Who's going to really look at you and critique what you're wearing? It's just your friends, not a VIP, a business associate or whoever! But I should seriously try to touch up on my dress sense soon, and get some new clothes or something. Don't exactly want to go out in an undersized shirt and baggy pants, would I? >.< And thus, I shall end this off with the top 3 things on my current wishlist: 1. New, and better-looking, clothes Halfway there and getting better...though still rather unsatisfactory =P Already explained above. Wouldn't mind some cheap ones as gifts, though. ;) 2. A digital camera Please vote for me for the iam@youth.sg blogging competition and make this dream come true! :) The closest I have to a camera is my Nokia 7610, and I don't have one of my own. I've encountered many instances where I thought, "Damn, if only i had a camera to capture this!" And yes, i do like to take photos a lot. Whenever I need a camera for class outings ro smth, I always have to borrow it from...my dad. And it doesn't help that he's often overseas on business trips... 3. More RAM Bought from Sim Lim Square. Achieved! My computer currently has only 224 MB of RAM, which causes it to run very slowly. Startup takes 5 minutes, even though I've already turned off the "Start at boot" function for most programs. My father has already said he'll pick a RAM card for me at Sim Lim Square, but i don't know when that will happen, and besides, I don't quite know how to install it. PS it's iSpark Nite tmr and i'll be staying over in school till Friday, so I won't be abel to get on the computer at all for tmr. That means no blog posts... T_T |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:02 pm.
| Tuesday, October 17, 2006 |
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An excerpt from one of my previous blog posts about the merging of GEP and mainstream was mentioned in the blogosphere section of Digital Life today. Didn't actually notice it until some people informed me via my tagboard. Of course, I'm quite excited that my post was picked from the thousands out there to be used. You can view a scanned copy of the article here. It's too big to fit in my scanner so had to scan it in two parts, thus you can see the obvious line in the middle where i joined the two portions together. But despite this unexpected "publicity" of sorts, i do have reason to worry. It's made me realise that publicity could be a double-edged sword. I mean, considering that the content wasn't exactly that of singing the MOE's praises, and the tone used wasn't exactly very kind either, I was probably quoted due to my kinda extreme/emotive point of view. Thus, what I'm afraid of is that that excerpt could be overly provocative to some people and lead to flaming. Furthermore, since the post was targetted at the MOE, it makes me worry even more about what their reaction might be if they read the article. At 14 years old, the government (together with its huge army) shouldn't be your plaything, unless you are someone as capable as opposition leader Chee Soon Juan. You can poke fun at them in your (online) communities or whatsoever, but just don't go overboard. Sure, they might have applied the "lighter touch", but their power is still far greater than yours. Donch Pray Pray. Then again, I suppose my fear can by minimized due to the fact that it is just a tiny little paragraph in the corner of the article. I don't think anyone would bother to respond to that. At most, just treat it as random ramblings of a rattled GEPer. =P But just to be on the safe side, i've checked through my previous posts and edited the portions which are radically offensive or potentially provocative. Don't want any trouble with outsiders who visit this blog, following the link in the article. That said, I still, however, stand by my views expessed in that previous post. I still believe the GEP and mainstream should be kept apart, for like the article subtly says, they are just "Like Oil and Water." |
'Twas teh winnar at 9:58 pm.
| Monday, October 16, 2006 |
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After iSpark Nite rehersals today, much of our class went to play soccer at the volleyball court (as usual). Except barely fifteen minutes into the game, we were interrupted by Chen Gou (yeah, his name is rather weird) blowing his whistle. Looking back, the reactions of the soccer players were pretty amusing. Some sat at one corner, retending to play/fiddle with their handphones, some grabbed their bags, whereas some (like Bing and HJ) were tucking in their uniform and pulling up their ankle socks. As for me, I was thinking something along the lines of "Oh crap, die liao..." Eventually, after about 5 whistle blows, we finally decided to stroll down to where a crowd of basketballers/footballers were gathering around him. And, he surprisingly didn't scold us. Instead, he gave a some health advisory which you read in the newspapers everyday, something like "The haze is getting worse, the PSI is very high, refrain from outdoor activities, go home." And i was trying to control my sniggering at the back, behind Jiakun. xD But yeah, the haze is indeed getting worse. Every single day this week, the front cover on the Straits Times has been hijacked by reports about how the haze is worsening, how Indonesia is promising to put out the forest fires, how Malaysia is complaining to Indonesia, blah blah. And just a mini-update: the PSI reading in Singapore today reached a high of 130, which is in the unhealthy range, at about 4-5 pm (which was the time we were playing soccer.) But im sure you already know that, judging by how people track the PSI these days. And the haze is getting to everyone. I starting coughing after our soccer match today and my throat felt pretty dry. I suppose its even worse for people with asthmar and other related illnesses. And to think those farmers are doing slash and burn and causing so much frustration in the region, all for money. People are staying at home as if SARS was around, and the health of us folk are being damaged. Sadly, I don't think this issue is going to be resolved anytime soon. Money is the root of all evil, and unfortunately Indonesia is just too big and backward to cope with this evil from those "haze men". But yet, they have no choice but to do that for their own survival as they're just too poor, so I don't really blame them. In fact, no one can be blamed. And thus this haze will probably won't disapear until the forest in Indonesia are gone or something. All because of human nature. |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:23 pm.
| Sunday, October 15, 2006 |
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Haven't had been abe to get on to blog in the past few days, and i know this is 3 days late, but ill yell anyway: EOY EXAMS ARE FINALLY OVER!! And to celebrate, our class held a class outing on Friday, one day after our last paper on Thursday. In the afternoon, 22/26 of the whole class (Ben, Lam, Tiansheng and Qi En didn't come) went to Fuji Ice Palace for ice skating. Its my second time there (view my previous post on my first visit), but for most of the class, it was a first. So for the first hour, most people were still learrning to balance/walk on the ice along the walls, whereas those who could skate were whizzing past them. I suppose its quite degrading, in a sense, for them. xD Anyway, after a lot of peserverance, most of them could skate keep their balance off the wall by the time we left. However, a small group of them left halfway for the arcade, whereas the ones we expected to leave halfway, like Zhaoxing and Ning Yu, amazingly stayed behind, and they also managed to do it. Gogo Zhaoxing!! Which just shows the importance of perseverance. of cos, there are exceptions like Yu Xuan, who still ended up falling 10+ times...=P And JJ still owned us all, learning how to do stunts like spinning round and round on the ice, which (unsurprisingly) none of us could do. Although i (and a few others like bing and xjk) did manage to do a simple spin. And we still ownt people like SHAUN. There were also 2 birthday dedications during our 4 hours at the ice skating rink, during which they blared the cliched Happy Birthday song and blew faux snow all over the place. Oh, and there was a lot of screaming, even from strangers and clueless 2N ppl. All that even though it was Friday the 13th. The last time i went, there were no such celebrations. This just proves either of two things: 1) People are not scared of Friday the 13th. So what if your birthday falls on an inauspicious date? It doesn't cause you to be cursed or become a werewolf or anything. And it definitely doesn't stop you from celebrating. So, you superstitious people who fear the 13th (the scientific term is trikaidecaphobia - it has a nice ring and rhythm to it too), there's no reason to be scared. Boo. 2) People born on the 13th prefer to celebrate their birthday in an ice skating rink. Don't ask me why, though. After that, we went to buy stuff at Giant hypermart at IMM, for the BBQ later. We spent almost $140, which isn't really a lot, considering it was for 20+ people (that works out to be slightly more than $5 per person) and we took $100 from our class fund. Who says teens nowadays can't buy their own food? However, we bought a little too much food but too little drinks. For all future BBQ organisers: each person will glug down at least 1 litre of drinks, especially if there are activities like soccer or swimming. So to be on the safe side, buy one bottle for every person present. It may seem like alot, but it also runs out very fast. We all had a great time that day. But yet, its kinda sad that it might be our last large-scale class outing, if we aren't able to secure a chalet during the holidays and will be split up into different classes next year. And the bittersweet end of the school year will soon draw round. |
'Twas teh winnar at 3:40 pm.
| Wednesday, October 11, 2006 |
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[Yeah, i know this was on my WLM personal msg sometime back, but my thoughts now and then are different. ;) ] Well then, there's this certain Reidan (note the spelling) who's been spamming me on WLM during the entire exam week. He's been exempted for four out of five subjects (the best in the entire sec 2 level), and the irony is that he's bored. Yeah. Plain bored. Even asking me to do blog posts like this to relieve his boredom. So i shall. Do you see the irony?? I mean, he gets exempted from almost all subjects and doesn't have to take the End-of-year examinations for them, his exam week ends a week earlier, and he's pretty darned bored. And he's bored to such desperation that he actually downloaded and played AuditionSEA. Yeah, its pretty amazing and shocking that he did that, cos he's the Great Mugger (other than Ben) and is the only one who bothers to mug the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English for the English exam (which is the only subject he wasn't exempted for.) But even Ben has already slipped into the realms of gaming long ago, playing games like Pokemon and MapleStory (yeah i know, it sux.) But to see the Great Mugger himself actually serious about playing computer games? OMG. However, things were not to be. He quitted on the very day he started playing Audition. =( Why? im serious lor, mugging is funner than games And thus the irony of exemptions. The people who actually do get exempted for so many subjects are either muggers (which is the case most of the time), or extremely miraculous (which hardly ever happens). But muggers have hardly anything else to do than mug, which is why they get such good grades. But when you take away the need for them to mug by giving them exemptions, they descend into boredom. In that way, you ruin them, make them spam and do other imperfect, uninnocent things like playing GAMES. How horrendous! Thankfully, the true mugger always sticks by his values and will not be influenced by such the temptation of such misdeeds. CURSE YOU HCI for giving the muggers (almost) full exemption. It is supposed to be a reward, but their life is ruined by it. Their secondary school life is even more ruined by it, because you take away their need to mug. And when that happens, they will no longer get an MSG of 1.0 and help us achieve a lower class MSG. >:[ Mug On, Muggers. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:27 pm.
| Monday, October 09, 2006 |
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This is especially for people like Nicholas who somehow manage to complete their paper in 1/2 the time. =P And the usual (again)... DISCLAIMER: The writer of the following guide will not be responsible if you are disqualified from your exams due to suspicious behavious after following the following guide. In short, try it at your own risk. Enjoy! ;) AMATEURS GUIDE TO SLACKING OFF AFTER FINISHING YOUR PAPER Have 2 hours for your examinations but miraculously manage to complete them in only 1 hour? Not sure of what to do with the remaining time? Then this is just the guide for you! Not only does it gives you ideas of how to while away the extra time (for they say time is money), the tips are also arranged according to least efficient to most efficient! So read on! #1. Check...and check... ...and check your paper again. This means that even if you've already checked through it 10 times and is unable to find any errors, you should still check again! After all, you still have a 0.1% chance of spotting an error worth 0.5 marks, right? **!!Teacher's Recommendation!!** (but not for this guide) #2. Drum your Fingers Yep, just idly drum your fingers on your table. Additionally, you could loll your head to one side on your table, giving a very bored look. Lol. However, this is not recommended for a few reasons: 1. You might tire out your fingers. 2. You might disturb those around you and their parents may complain because you distracted them to such an extent that they were unable to concentrate and achieve full marks. 3. The invigilator might think you are trying to convey your answers via a secret method of finger-rhythm to that guy at the opposite corner of the room. #3. Make Models No, not of yourself. I'm talking about when you use your stationery, rubber bands and plastic strips from newspapers to make models of aircraft, or slides, or space shuttles, or whatever you can think of. A ruler is essential. You may also start moving them about, holding them in your hands and "whooshing" them through the air, imagining they are flying. However, this is again not recommnded because of a couple of reasons: 1. The people sitting around you may think you are weird, especially if you still do this in secondary school. 2. The invigilator might think your are the next Einstein, creating a device (under the mask of stationery) which can emit electromagnetic pulses to a radio receiver embedded in the watch of the guy sitting in the opposite corner, which then displays your answers. #4.Fiddling About with Stationery At least this isn't as bad as making models out of them. You could practice the art of spinning pens between your fingers, then raising your Fiddle Skill level. However, you may drop your pen on the ground every few seconds or so, which would pobably irritate the invigilator because he/she has to bend down ever so often to pick up your pen. Eventually he/she might just dao you so you'll have to pick it up yourself, unfortunately. #5. Kicking the Chair of your Neighbour Yep, just extend your legs and try to prod/push/pull/kick the chair of the person in front of you. However, this is not advisable if you have sexy smooth long legs, because then everyone will start oogling at them and be too distracted to carry on with the test. You may also receive lots of fan mail later. #6. Imitating Someone Else This is an interesting way to pass your time. Try to see if you can follow the actions of your friend sitting next to you! However, do not attempt pulling up your pants as high as Ms. Teo CC's in an attempt to imitate her. #7. Staring at the Invigilator See whether your skills can match up to that of the Bishan paedophile, who likes staring at schoolchildren. If you manage to unnerve the teacher, then you can buy a briefcase and start your job of stalking other children! However, this is not advised if the invigilator involved in male, for he might think that you are gay and this that he is gay too. Also, you are not encouraged to try this if the invigilator is ugly, for she might start thinking that she is sexy and you are thus oogling at her. Teachers who you may be able to do this on: Ms. Sarah Foo, Mr. Bernard Ong Teachers who you are very, strongly, extremely not advised to try on: Ms. Teo CM, Mr. Kevin Cheng. #8. Sleeping Yeah, go on, since you've mugged till 3 am last **Highly recommended by this guide** And with this 8 suggestions, you will never get bored after completing your exam papers ever again! Woohoo! |
'Twas teh winnar at 9:44 pm.
| Friday, October 06, 2006 |
Here's wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival! (or 中秋节 in Chinese) with Chocolate mooncakes which cost more than $10 per piece...  ...and tarts for all yer re-tarts. Of course, not to forget the wonderful air choked with haze, courtesy of Indonesia. And those noisy "screehing" sparklers which the children are playing with downstairs. And finally, last but definitely not least...The End-Of-Year Examinations. *cue for ominous music* Yay. |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:40 pm.
| Thursday, October 05, 2006 |
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How do I score well for English? Thus, due to this (relatively) popular demand, ive decided to post a few tips on essay writing, based on my own experience. But a couple of things which i would like to say first: 1. You should not mug for composition exams. You are better off spending your time reading and digesting this guide than trying to memorise Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English. 2. In case you need it, the format for formal letter writing can be found here. Thanks to Ben for scanning in the notes! Although i think the date can be written in short form (e.g. "11 Sept 06"). But that's just minor formatting issues which you probably won't be penalized for. And of course, the usual... DISCLAIMER: The writer of this guide will not be held responsible should any of the tips provided fail to improve your writing, for you apply them at your own risk. Although the writer has done up this guide in the sincere wish that it will help readers in their essays, he acknowledges that each person has his own unique style of writing, and thus some of the tips may not work for some people. AMATEURS GUIDE TO ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING Tip #1: Mind Your Language This is the most basic, yet most often neglected, rule. It means that, in addition to paying attention to your grammar and spelling, you should also choose your words carefully. Use the appropriate words in the appropriate context. For example, one would not expect to see colloquial slang terms in a formal letter. However, if there is a real need to use them in your essay (perhaps to add local flavour), rmb to italicize them or put them in "quotes", and explain their meaning either in footnotes, or through the context. Needless to say, vulgarities are a definite no-no in your essay. Rmb that it will be marked by your teacher, so use them at your own peril. However, if there is an extreme need to use them (e.g. to show that someone is angry through his dialogue), then try to replace them with milder words like "brat" or "hooligan". Words like "b*stard", or worse still, "f***", will warrant you an almost-immediate fail from the marker. It is better to have no expression errors than to use bombastic words but have many errors in langauge use, for the latter gives the marker the bad impression that you are a "smart aleck". Structurally sound sentences, even if they are not outstanding, should be able to get you at least 70% - 80% of the score for language. Tip #2: It's the Content that Matters This is especially so for expository essays, although it applies to other types like narratives as well. As long as your essay has a logical flow and the points are clearly stated, you will be able to score well, even if the langauge you use may be rather normal. This is one reason why I score quite well for my essays. The language I use is down-to-earth and rarely contain any cheem phrases, but this allows my points to be easily understood, and I also make sure they are clear, logical and persuasive. Of course, if you have a wide vocabulary of words and can write amazing sentences that YYY on top of good content (like YYY), that's an even bigger bonus. ;) Tip #3: Visualize Try to put yourself in your protagonist's shoes. Visualize the situation, and think about what it is like in the story. This helps you to come up with realistic and convincing content and not some off-shoot points. This is really not easy, especially of the limited time, but if you are able to do it well, you will score highly for content. For example, let's say you are doing functional writing on a formal complaint letter. Imagine that you are the one being affected and is really writing a complaint letter to whoever it may concern. You sincerely want them to act on your complaint. Think up what the situation may be like and what you would want done. Then translate that into your essay. Tip #4: Plan Most of your teachers would probably have reminded you countless times about the importance of this b4. However, some of you might think that spending 5-10 mins on planning beforehand wastes precious time. I shall reiterate here: It is not so. In fact, writing it out will help you to structure your essay along your points/plot you have thought up, and also prevents you from forgetting them midway through the essay. Also, having thought up feasible points beforehand prevents you from thinking up crappy points on the spot and wasting even more time by writing invalid or unnecessary stuff. Tip #5: Write your True Opinions This applies very much for expository essays. As much as possible, try to write about what you truly feel about an issue, and avoid using points just because they are politically correct. If you do so BUT do not really feel that way, the points you raise in your essay will be cliche and dry, and it will be just another ordinary piece to the marker which he/she has already seen thousands of times b4. Unless you are able to distinguish yourself from the rest through your vocabulary, then don't do this. Writing about your true thoughts will allow you to raise unique and interesting points, allowing the marker to take more interest in your essay. However, do take caution when doing this. Do not let your emotions stray too far and write until you veer away from the issue. Remind yourself to stick to the given question and you will be fine. Tip #6: Practice, Practice, Practice Take writing practices seriously and use every chance to write to hone your writing skills. For me, I think blogging is a great way to improve your writing. I feel I'm writing a full-length essay every time I write a blog post like this, and it does help me think up points clearer and faster. Even if you do not have the time to write such long posts, shorter (and less formal) ones will still help. It is still, after all, a piece of writing practice. Unless of course, you only post stuff like "2dae go makt lol gt fish lol...", which isn't even semi-proper English in the first place and thus will probably not help you improve very much. Hope this little guide will be of use, and good luck to all iSpark Sec 2 for your English papers tmr! =) |
'Twas teh winnar at 5:36 pm.
| Wednesday, October 04, 2006 |
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Last night, some of my relatives and i went to the wake of my cousin's second uncle, held at the void deck of his house. (Yeah, that explains my gelled hair today.) He died from a heart attack on Saturday, when he was with my cousin's family on the way to Genting for a holiday over the children's day break. It was just a lot of bad luck that led to his tragic death. He procrastinated on going for health checkups (despite constant reminders from my cousin); their car had a tire puncture so they were delayed; they were on the Malaysian highway so the ambulance took rather long to arrive; and the Malaysian hospitals/ambulances were rather poorly equipped so they could not help him in time. Sadly, he might have stood a chance of survival had he still be in Singapore. What I heard was that he was okay b4 they left Singapore, then in the car, he suddenly started coughing for about 30 mins. But nothing seemed wrong and they stopped at a petrol station to refuel, and it was then that his condition started deteriorating very rapidly so they quickly called for an ambulance. Sadly, KL - the nearest city - was a 30 mins drive away, so it took a whole hour for the ambulance to get to him and ferry him to hospital. By the time they got there, his heart was beating at barely 20 bpm (the usual is 90+) and although he was attended to by a heart specialist, help came too little and too late. I suppose its just fate that their holiday turned out so horribly. When we arrived at the wake, some of the mourners were standing around the coffin in the middle of praying for the deceased (my cousin's family and relatives are mostly Christian). A chilly breeze was blowing through the brightly lighted area, and I shivered. My aunt and her husband came over to chat with us first. I could tell that my aunt had been grieving very much, for she looked a little haggard, with puffy eyes. She was also no longer her usual chirpy self, although I could tell she was trying to lighten the mood and smiling despite holding back her tears. At one point she even started sobbing again before quickly stifling her tears again, and I turned away for I could not bear to see her in such a state. However, her husband still seemed as usual. He was a little more solemn than usual, but other than that, he was still chatting rather animatedly and even laughing. He was almost like his usual self, and you could hardly tell that he had just had gone thorugh a weekend full of hardship. Fortunately, my second uncle was a bachelor, so he did not have a wife or children who would be severely affected. Thus, I had expected my cousin to be the worst hit from this sudden death, for it was my second uncle who often brought him out. They were very close, all the more since my cousin's family stayed just one storey above him. But he also did not seem affected too much, coming over to greet us after the prayers. Similarly, the other uncles still seemed quite okay despite the loss of their borther. My mother told me that it was lucky that they were Christians, thus they were able to cope with the death so well. Since they believe in God, they believed that the passing of my second uncle was due to fate, and that he had gone home to join the Lord. With this positive attitude, they are able to get the death behind them and move ahead, knowing that their loved one is at peace. It was time for us to pay our respects to my uncle. My went up to the coffin, and my mother took one look and started crying. I followed behind and looked through the small glass panel of the coffin. My uncle's face looked so serene, yet so pale, so unlike him. The sudden thought that he would never be around again, that I would never be going out with him again, never laugh at his jokes again struck me heavily. I held back my tears as I followed my mother, who was dabbing away at her tears rolling down her face, back to our table. Later, my uncle told us that he was probably at peace when he left this world, despite the horrific way in which he died. He had spent his life fruitfully, enjoying it to the max, being at the golden age of 57 and already almost about to retire. Furthermore, he left with his family members by his side, whom he had loved dearly. It was probably what he had wanted. I really pity my cousin the most, for he is only in primary school, yet he has to go through the suffering of losing a loved one. For myself, I have only been to a funeral once when I was still a young kid, that of my then-great-grandmother's. I was still immature and innocent back then, so I was not particularly affected. Fortunately (or not), although I sometimes go out with my second uncle, I am not really very close to him, so his passing did not impact me as great as it probably did to my cousin's family and relatives. Thus far, this is my closest encounter with death, and it made me realise how we take life for granted. We always procrastinate in fulfilling some tasks with someone, thinking "There's always tomorrow," but one fine day there will be no tomorrow, and it will be too late to regret not spending your time with the deceased not satisfactorily enough. Of course, I'm sure you've always seen the above sentiment in books, drama serials, and um, spam mail. And we see reports on death after death in the newspapers. But you really never take it seriously, taking it as a "Duh, obvious" statement...until it happens to someone close to you. Only then does it seem as true and real, as in my case. Rest in peace, Harold Tan. UPDATE: Thanks for all the condolences guys, I really appreciate it! =) |
'Twas teh winnar at 7:52 pm.
| Monday, October 02, 2006 |
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After lessons today, about 1/4 of 2N was slacking off at iLounge after playing soccer and eating at SIM. Its basically the Space (an air-conditioned room) converted into something like a lounge for students to hang out after school, to do their work, play board games or just simply slack around and enjoy the air-con. And we had lots of fun. We went inside the Inner Space (which is basically a partitioned-off room inside the Space) and started fooling around. Some of us played Monopoly and International Chess, whereas others just...fooled around. We were doing lame stuff like filming videos of a mock battle scene of Runescape and battleOn using whatever we could find in there, with mainly Bing and YYY as actors. It was friggin funny =P Oh, and they was this little air cushion inside. And it was bouncy. So you can imagine what we did to it, throwing it around and, um...other stuff. Luckily, it didn't burst. And YYY threw it on me face and caused some of the fur to enter my mouth. =.= Oh, and there was lots of "bonding" also. Not to mention some of us trying to do some gymnastic/breakdance mvoes, and mostly failing horribly. We made quite a mess out of the place. Sorry to the Councillors on duty why had to clean up afterwards. Oh and OSS was also there as one of the councillors. Don't know why i keep bumping into him these days... Since its my first time visiting the iLounge, must say the iCouncil did a good job in setting it up and maintaining it. Its really comfortable will all the pillow and stuff, and it even has board games (albeit old and sponsored by some students.) Really nice place to hang out, especially with your friends, after school. I shall go there more often in the future. I think the ambience is even better than the library, haha. Great job, iCouncil! After we left, Ryan and I followed the others to the middle bus stop (HCI spans 3 bus stops). Since they were boarding at the bus stop on the HCI side, Ryan and I had to cross over and walk all the way to the JC bus stop. He left first. When my bus (852) arrived, there were quite a few JC students boarding it. I walked briskly so I could get ahead of them and onto the bus (if you observe, most people do this all the time). But then one of the JC boys gave way to me. I was quite stunned and stoned there for a few secs cos i didn't expect him to do that. Then I just instinctively walked in front ahead of him. At the front of the bus, after I tapped my ez-link card and was about to go for a seat, another JC guy beside me allowed me to go first again! i was quite embarrassed. In the end i decided to stand and let them have the seats. I don't know whether it was because of my height or something, and thus the JC students gave way to me maybe cos they thought I was sec 1, but who ever said they weren't courteous? They are much better than some of the students in my current batch at any rate. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:48 pm.
