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.
| Thursday, June 28, 2007 |
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I must say the Hwa Chong Internation Forum Series has been an astounding success. Except for the fact that it can't exactly fail, since it's just having an invited speaker in the school for slightly more than an hour, unless of course he and the entire Organising Team suddenly get struck by dengue and can't turn up for the event. So i was in charge of logistics for Forum I yesterday. Even though that was the first time i was in an actual OT, the experience was rather...slack. I mean, there's not much logistics to take care of for a one-hour talk, right?! Especially when half the work (venue, speaker, transport etc.) have already been taken care of liao. Eventually, the only thing i needed to do was to arrange for a sofa set, table and a vase of flowers for decoration, all of which were available at the library. It took me all of 30 secs to just inform the librarian that we needed to borrow the stuff, and it was an immediate "OK". Needless to say, i think it was quite a waste of time and manpower, having a full-fledged OT for a simple event. Serously, i think all's that needed was just an OS and an assistant, and maybe a bit of IT help from mediatech to make it work. Sure, the speaker's an all-important Hungarian ambassador - His Excellency Tamas Magda - who's come to tell us about the European Union and such, but is that much preparation really necessary? Perhaps the main reason why SLim wants to have so many extra people around is just so he can have a bit of extra voluntary manpower while making us feel important playing our "multi-faceted roles", heh. I ended up being an extra runner/doorman on the day itself (after moving the sofa set, of course.) Perhaps another motive also to ensure that there would be more people at the rehersals (the entire OT had to attend it) so there would be more victims of slim's roaring. I mean, he'll start shouting That said, i think the emcees got the brunt of the tongue-lashing. Apparently joyceling was supposed to coach the emcees, check through the script and all, but she sucks. And it all ends up being our fault as we were doing "last-minute work". I mean, slim roared for almost 10 minutes straight just because the script read "Jason Wong, Dean of Studies" (it's Dean of Student Care) even after it had already been approved by her. Luckily a phone call interrupted him, else the rehersals would have been delayed even longer - we were already dismissed half an hour late. D: Still, i guess there's some advantages of this, hehe. Firstly, the title does look good in a portfolio, despite the amount of work i actually did, lol. Secondly, there's the CIP hours (which i don't really need anyway, meh.) And lastly, we got to skip PCME after assembly to attend a tea reception with the ambassador. xD |
'Twas teh winnar at 12:51 am.
| Sunday, June 24, 2007 |
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EDIT: Thanks to the tip-off from hubert, i realised that one of the CAP councillors actually bothered to upload the photos, lol. Check them out on flickr here! Unfortunately, if you were hoping to catch me in some unglam pose, im sorry to say you'll be disappointed. xD CAP "Reunion" yesterday was, sad to say, pretty much a waste of time. Less than 20 out of the 179 CAP'07 participants turned up lor...and that number includes the councillors and the few alumni/ex-CAPpers that turned out. Even Judith, the head councillor, disappeared after the start. So anyway, we were supposed to have a "picnic" at fort canning park for a couple of hours (we met up with some other fellow CAPpers and spent half an hour searching for the location =.=), then the alumni would bring us on an inspirational hike - we're encouraged to come up with some pieces and submit them afterwards. Left just a quarter into the hike though, didn't want to walk aimlessly under the sweltering sun =X At least i got to meet up again with some of the other CAPpers my group mates from e-Holland Village (that's our group name). Mooty, you rock can! xD I guess the most interesting part of the day was the time we spent at plaza singapura, before and after the reunion. Most of the time was spent in Subway after lunch, just hanging around though, otherwise we were just checking out the shops and playing with the display items (especially the soft toys, lol). Oh, we went shopping at Carrefour beforehand to buy some snacks for the "picnic", too. Turns out we bought a little too much though - we hardly even touched the food. But shopping at Carrefour is quite a pleasant experience, with the well-thought and comfortable layout, great customer service and all. They even install water dispensers lor. xD All that compared to Fairprice Xtra, with it's messy desgin and narrow and crowded walkways. I swear, i will never step foot in that place voluntarily again after having gone through the traumatic* experience of shopping there a few times already. It's not fit to be a hypermarket, servicing the volume of shoppers and all. Bloody cramped walkways which are wide enough for only two trolleys, but the situations is often made worse by boex carelessly strewn by the side and inconsiderate shoppers who leave their trolleys unattended and block up the path. Result: You get something like the bus stations in India, with so many people crammed into a small place with everyone's pushing, shoving and you can hardly make your way through. As consolation, Fairprice Xtra has coffee dispensers at least. But there's a long queue - wait, there's no queue at all, just a jostling crowd - and it's sponsored by Nescafe, afetr all, with the usual promotion and marketing ploy. Plus there's this grouchy auntie who is in charge of the dispenser, and grumpily warns everyone, "Only one cup per person arh!" We actually wanted to have dinner at AMK Hub last night too, but there was a power trip, resulting in a blackout just moments after we entered. At least there was a backup power supply for the main lights and escalators, so it wasn't complete chaos. At least they got the electricity running a few minutes after that in most places, but the food court was left in pitch darkness. We decided that we might as well eat at some hawker centre instead. We chatted up a couple of stallholders, who seemed to be in high spirits despite the setback, and they told us that it was the second time ro so that a power failure had occured. Looks like most of the tenants had already been prepared for such a scenario too, with candles, torches and all just seconds into the darkness. As we were leaving, there was another blackout yet again. And we strode out of AMK Hub in a huff. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:25 am.
| Friday, June 22, 2007 |
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Dang, titles are such a pain in the @$$. Every time i type out a blog post, ill skip the "Title:" field first (unless i have already thought of one beforehand) and just input the main content first before spending another minute stoning and thinking of a catchy title. Unfortunately i hardly ever come up with something, so ill just randomly scroll through what ive typed, pick out one subject and simply ctrl+c ctrl+v it as the title with much despair. Quite contrary to the notion that titles are the first thing readers see and you should be using them as a guide to weave your story around, and not just a blasted afterthought, in the actual literary world at least. D: Now i know why most blogskins don't include the title in their template - most of us insignificant bloggers just can't give a hoot about them. Which brings me to wonder, why the hell do i still bother racking my brains and wasting a couple of minutes just to give my posts a boring old title? Maybe it's just my neat personality taking control over my habits. And also so that it'll be much easier to find the posts i want should i ever need to refer back to them, like for my CAP portfolio or whatever. Or maybe it's just plain old tradition, considering that we've been made to title essays and such since our young days. For example, what's a book without a title? I guess its just this inherent need to let the reader (and myself) know, at first glance, what im talking about, and if it's just some nonsensical rip-off, he can jump straight to other blogs without wasting 5 minutes of his life. Which i hope doesn't happen. =P Anyway, ive tried to make my titles a little less formal by de-capitalising them (and some other stuff too, if you did notice) cos im not a freaking journalist, dammit! But sometimes, it just feels awkward, especially if it's a rant post...so i just take away the title altogether. Saves much hassle too, heh. |
'Twas teh winnar at 12:43 pm.
| Monday, June 18, 2007 |
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Woah, it suddenly seems like everyone's beginning to spam blog posts - even up to five a day, lol - now that the holidays are almost over. Maybe i should start updating more often, but then again, holidays are mostly boring stuff (unless there's an outing or smth) and i don't feel like simply mindlessly ranting here =X Anyway, it was just my luck that i read Yi Yong's blog, and he hath a quiz layeth out for thee. Specifically too, so i guess i can't reject. At least it's short, not like those annoying 100-question ones which claim to reveal your crush or whatever...*grumbles* Here goes: 1. Grab the nearest book. 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the text of the sentence on your blog along with these instructions. 5. "It's mine." 6. Tag five people. (I'll cheat a little on step 1 since the closest book is a children's book called "Little Hippo" which belongs to my brother, and it only has 20 pages =X) [excerpt] She could not answer, so she knelt and crawled to the edge. Heights terrified her, always had. She could not close her eyes; that only made it worse. She started unseeing, while the brilliant air and the sea and the noise of the sea assaulted her terrified mind and she clung insanely to the thin grass. Three times he pointed it out, and the third time she heard him so as to be able to understand his words. "It's mine." [/excerpt] And now it's time to pass on the terror, muahaha! Nat, KY, Hubert, Wilf and Weena, you have been chosen D: |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:50 am.
| Sunday, June 17, 2007 |
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My dad's entertaining a couple of business clients from japan, so while he brings them around town - to build relationships, as he says - my family get to follow him around too. In other words, free time at the mall, attractions and such and dining at great restaurants :3 It's really interesting to be with them, cos the jap people are really expressive. And every time they sample good food, they'll nodding their head and go "Mm...Oishii!" Not to mention that they're pretty friendly too =P At least i learnt a teeny-weeny bit of jap from the third lang ppl, so i could still introduce myself and say "i don't understand"...in japanese. xD Oddly, they liked the chilli crab and curry fish head here the most o.O Didn't know that they could take such spicy stuff, but then again, i guess their wasabe at home is even spicier, lol. Sadly, we didn't go to any japanese restaurant, partly cos i guess my dad wanted to show them our local culture (and not stuff that they could easily find back in japan), and also cos he doesn't really enjoy sushi himself that much, heh. Yeah, he's gone to narita (in japan) to meet these same business clients before, and said the the food there's pretty bland and quite average. D: They were nice enough to bring us a box of japanese cookies too, hehe. Though they're really nothing more than pastries with some sweet fillings inside - fake stuff, as Wei Qi - the jap 1337 who just returned from his 3-week exchange in hamamatsu - proclaims. Still, the packaging's cute and all, but too bad i don't have a camera to take a pic of it :( Ah well, shall look forward to the real stuff WQ bought for us in japan, snacks and all. Unagi pie ftw! And yeah, thanks in advance too. xD |
'Twas teh winnar at 6:31 pm.
| Wednesday, June 13, 2007 |
Damn, one might have thought the xi2 zi4 and all that writing practice would already have been long over since primary school days, but no! Here i am in sec 3 and it's back to torture again... Well, i have gotta admit that it is voluntary in a sense, considering that it's just for ACE points, which can of course can be achieved through other projects and such. But then again, this is probably the most brainless way to get 5 marks - simply copying page after page of chinese characters! I guess we're kinda desperate so we'll do anything just to get some extra marks...X_x Right now im doing it while watching TV, heh. I guess that's another reason why we would do it - it's the simplest out of all the holiday homework. You can just pick it up anytime when you're bored and stuck at home, rather than get sian just by the thought of starting on the otehr mega-projects (HRP research paper, argh!) As if tracing a thousand different proverbs that would really help to drastically improve our hadnwriting and vocabulary, lol. I mean, they don't even give you the meanings - though hell no, i certainly wouldn't want to copy out lengthy explanations too. And writing well would probably be the last thing in your mind when you're rushing out a 1000-word essay in one hour for an exam. =X Oh, and congrats zack for completing 36 pages already! You've just been entitled to 5 extra ACE points! Now, who wouldn't want that :D |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:17 pm.
| Sunday, June 10, 2007 |
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Sorry for not updating for the past three days or so, was away in Genting but didn't have time to type out a blog post earlier, considering that we left at 4 in the morning, half-asleep...@_@ Unlike some frequent travellers, the last time i went up there was a few years ago, back in primary school i think. Not much seems to have changed since then though - although quite a lot of new rides at the theme park were opened up (damn height restrictions!) Did manage to try the Space Shot though, in which you're carried up this tall tower, and for those who don't already know...  ...you're left up there for around 10 seconds, which gives you just enough time to enjoy the view (provided there's no mist) and go, "Oh my god, what the hell am i doing up here?! It's so freaking high up, holy f-AAHHHHH" And then you're falling, you head feels like it's being ripped off, but then again, there's your neck and your hands which are gripping on bloody tight to the bar, you want to sream but your heart's stuck up your throat. And you're bounced up again before the cycle repeats a few more times. Gosh, after that, everything else - even the corkscrew thingy - seemed to give no kick. Guess there's a first for everything though, heh. Ah well, other than the theme park, there was really nothing much else to do other than eat and slack in the hotel room. Which was fully paid for thanks to my uncle's Genting Points - redeemable for most expenses - cos he's a Gold WorldCard VIP, okay! Yeah, he did win quite a bit at the casino too. How i wish i could enter the casino - it adds a whole new dimension of entertainment. Plus, no queues! So unlike the theme park, which is really nothing much after the first few trips and you get bored of it. (What it really lacks is a nice water park - the single flume ride and swimming pool doesn't count.) Sadly, it's still another 6 years before i hit the magical age of 21 - though it's only 3 years if i go for a cruise. And no, if you're wondering, i defnitely won't be going to the Singapore IR anytime in the near future, thanks to the one or two hundred "entrance fee". Damn, you could go up to Genting and gamble for an entire day with that cash. Now that this trip is over, it pretty much spells the end of the real holidays - these last two weeks will hafta be devoted to mugging, projects, homework and all that crap. Oh, and a bit of SCO too. Dang. =/ |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:13 pm.
| Wednesday, June 06, 2007 |
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iCouncil/iCMG Training Camp, supposedly bringing out the leader in all of us. Was kinda boring though - workshop after workshop conducted by the teachers and some of the seniors. =X And I'm the only one from my class's CMC that was a participant in the camp - everyone else who attended got to be facs. And slack around for much of the day, either sleeping or playing with cards/worms on the laptop - not that i didn't already sleep in most of the workshops anyway. <_< (Did i mention that one of the presentation was prepared just 10 mins beforehand? -pokes YYY-) At least the chalets were quite ok - though the design kinda sucks, 5 large rooms over two storeys but only one central toilet. Plus, we had this crappy 7 hour cap on the air-con usage. <_< But for the sake of not to slam iCTC as an utter waste of 3 days (oh no, of course it's not!) here's a few things i picked up from the camp... I learnt:
See, 5 learning points from the camp! It's not that bad after all...D: Nothing else to say le...kthxbai. |
'Twas teh winnar at 8:31 pm.
| Monday, June 04, 2007 |
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A random compilation of CAPish thoughts, while doing justice to the success of the haiku slam. Plus, ill be leaving for some iCTC training camp tmr (at the Aloha Changi chalets, lol), so let this be my last post before i blog about the camp when i return in 3 days' time. You can view some photos at Hubert's blog first though. Let's go! This is a haiku. Not a very good haiku; But still, a haiku. McNiece and Mooney "I say poetry, you say slam!" Haiku slam damn kewl! We won a hamper Cos we got talent wad...though Max raped me on stage. >_< Oh, aCAPella Life of CAP, life of Ed(itor) Council's randomness. At least it taught me Why we should alliterate Ymo Y-cube, Yo! Learnt to fear "Judith" We had two in the council How they screamed! 'Twas hell. Council's sacrifices Three hours of sleep a night Walking zombies, heh. Ph43r khalwat patrol! Councillors enforcing curfew (Just pretend to sleep, though.) Plenary lectures Some were good, others not so. Pretty bor- zZz... Thanks to JC peeps Imparting the skillz of sleep Great to steal a nap. Did experiment With how to stay awake Sour mint mentos ftw! Food was...average. Breakfast did suck, chicken, yuck! But woah, veggie's green! o_o Wiring Heartlands Weird theme and group names - for me, e-Holland Village! Fun times we've all had Keep in touch, but how to end? Spacefillergoeshere. (Kudos to Yi Yong for his witty lines which i unwittingly koped here, the councillors for doing such a great job, the workshop facilitators and trainers for the insightful lessons - do fogive me if i slept through them though =X - and for all the CAPpers and everyone else invovled in soem way or antoehr for making this such a memorable experience. Woooot!) |
'Twas teh winnar at 12:45 am.
| Saturday, June 02, 2007 |
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Zhicong thinks CAP totally rocked! It was a Completely Crazy, Cool, Catch-up-on-sleep, Crappish (er, some parts of it) Camp. Ack, that's what aCAPella does to one - makes one alliterate EVERYTHING. Plus write everything in a third-person perspective. Alas, it's the only offical publication at CAP, so no choice but to let one's brains degenerate by reading it everyday. And in memory of the utterly 1337 haiku slam (read: poetry slam by Chris Mooney-Singh and Ray McNiece) - which Zhicong, Max and Hubert won xD - zhicong shall write a very long haiku on his CAP experience. ...Tomorrow. With the photos and such too, if he does receive them. Right now he's busy catching up with friends and chatting with the other CAPpers over MSN, so don't dusturb him. And he shall end it off with the lamest, stupidest and worst joke ever, courtesy of the CAP Council - "Your mother so fat, when she stand on the weighing scale, the scale read 'to be continued'" |
'Twas teh winnar at 9:45 pm.
