To the world, you might just be someone

Okay so finally I'm back to say something.

It's seriously been a while since anyone said anything in this blog.

And I've finally changed to a more user-friendly blogskin.

You know, it's weird to think about this but I was just wondering where did my passion for blogging go to. I used to blog almost everyday, whenever I'm online, but recently for the whole of the year I haven't been blogging much.

And you find that this blog is stagnant.

Okay so now after all the chaos of the A-levels, and everything before and after it, I have found the time to settle down and retrace my footsteps to months ago. Thing is, lots of stuff I can't remember. Like when I scroll back and look at the post entitled "6joy outing" I can't remember anything about it. Ohwell maybe one day the memory will come back.

One thing I can remember is the inferno caused by the A-levels. This, compared to the O's and PSLE, was one heck of an exam. I would rather take the O's 10 times than do this again. Yet again, it decides my future. And I only wish I did more, put in more effort throughout my entire two years, especially in the first year. And now I can only hope for the best.

Okay, moving from the depressing mood, after the A's ended (or rather before) me and my best friend went shopping for prom clothes! And me being me, I could not find any suitably sized blazer/jacket/tux/whateveryoucallit. Fitting blazers were too short and those with long-enough-sleeves were far too 'airy'. Trust the FarEast auntie to say "帅吗! 你不觉得帅meh?" Of course I will look handsome when I have the demand to pay her $100 for that ill-fitting blazer and Mat tie.

So after spending a day in FarEastPlaza and buying a nice-design but not so comfortable shoes from Design&Comfort I almost gave up on blazers, until we tried this spanking new shopping centre I never saw before, ION Orchard. There was a 50% discount sale in A|X, where I found a very attractive and oh-so-perfect blazer! It also had a beautiful price tag of $399 (after discount, $200)! Sensing the uproar I would cause at home if I bought it, I called home to receive the official permission.

"Hello daddy, er A X got this sale, 50% off, the blazer damn nice, original price fourhundreddollars but now only twohundred. Damn nice one. Can buy?"
"For what"
"For my prom la. Everybody also buying"
"I hear people say robinson got cheaper one. There now also got sale"
"Really ah, okok I go see first"

By that time it was already 8:30pm if I remember right. So Pearlyn, her sis Rachel and I chionged down to Centrepoint Robinsons. And tearing at the first blazer we saw, I was pleasantly surprised.

$599.

And there was only a 15% discount. But maybe it's the expensive range lah, so we go see another one.

$499.

Okay.

And after browsing around we found that the cheapest was $399 but with the pathetic discount I complained to my dad.

And dad being dad, he had to shave me off buying a worthless piece of cloth I would never use again.

So blazer is now off. And I would love to continue trawling the malls for good and perfect clothes. But the reality is my A-levels were still on and I had physics to study for so, study first.

Then after the (yay A-levels over!!!), the search continued. Now I had a certain style in mind, that of the prom king of a certain JC in 2008 which did not consist of any form of jacket. So I went on to try those stupid scarves which make me look like a white giraffe otter. And Vests, another option, were a Fail. I would either look like a waiter or a clown.

So I used my imagination

and came up with Suspenders. This is called thinking with no box. Going where no man has gone.

Thing is, only Topman had the suitable suspend-my-pants. The suspenders from the shop at Marina Square enhanced my balls contours, which are usually not desired to be seen by the public. Okay so to maintain a low budget, I got this cool bling red tie from a shop at Marina Square which cost me a healthy $5. And to top it off I got a mugger's cap (mugger as in, steal your wallet, bad guy) from Zara for $30. Okay quite expensive la but it was very nice okay. Just spoilt because I looked very tired, I mean I was very tired on prom night.

So, very simple. Black shirt, black trousers, white shining tap tap shoes, white suspenders, red tie and grey cap.

And that's Stephanie Quek from my class. Sorry ah squek, borrow your face, I can't find any proper full-length photo. Haha.

Oh yes and I'm so very tired because I just came from altar servers' camp (for those who don't know what altar servers are feel free to ask). And despite Mass ending at 7:18pm by the time I realised, no dishes were served yet when I reached Shangrila. Initially I thought Mass would end by 6:45, latest 6:50, so if dad rushed we could reach by latest 7:20pm. Ended up, we chionged to Orchard and reached at 8pm and I thought I was late but I happily wasn't and I enjoyed the night despite being so freaking tired.

It was indeed a memorable three (almost four) days, starting from the servers' retreat (which I will mention in another post) and ending with the taxi ride home after prom.

Viva la Victoria

Labels: camp, post-exam, VJC

finally finally finally it's the last paper of the 'A's today!

but not yet.

it's still 10am now.

so.

about 5 hours till liberation!

about 5 days left to the A's!

16 days left to the biggest exam we'll ever take!

jiayou jiayou jiayou!

okay now it's like the beginning of the sept hols. and it's like only 65 days left to the A levels. it feels scary, given how unprepared i am. freaking unprepared. looking back at the O levels, it was definitely much easier then. indeed catholic high's 3 prelims helped a lot.

so. 9 days of holidays.

im gonna make full use of these nine days! and make it very productive for my spouse/girlfriend/studybuddy, hopefully.

yesterday we went on an adventure to paradise falls! and we had very very nice roti prata there. i mean at casuarina curry. absolutely worth it. in particular, i found that their curry is very thick, unlike the other watery types you see at regular prata shops. mmmmm. :))) and then we went to...play hopscotch. and watch a snail! haha wth.

okay study.

Labels: pre-exam

just read the facebook group of victoria's sons.

and i have to say i am feeling a plethora of emotions, ranging from anger, bitterness... but mostly disappointment.

i am not from victoria school. i am a student of VJC. however i do understand the "patriotism" of oneself towards one's alma mater. and from what i see on the facebook page, indeed, VS students/alumni are very passionate about their school.

yet again, i don't see the point of many of the so-called "Victorians" flaming "VJCians" when i recognise myself as a Victorian too, albeit of VJC. victoria junior college is proud of the legacy of Victoria School, and it is not VJ's intention to strike off ties with VS or whatsoever. put quite simply, vj simply wants to extend the victorian brand to more people (including girls) at a younger age at secondary one. inevitably, this would mean competing directly with VS in every aspect imaginable (perhaps except Netball, Soccer Girls, etc). many of those alumni of VS did not choose the path of going to VJC, let alone understand how VJC is run and what goes on inside, yet continue to rant, as if VJC was out to eliminate the roots of VS and claim Victoria and Victory for itself.

both sides are partly to blame.

firstly, VS has this sticky issue of not wanting to accept girls. however i'm not saying i'm against this. it is in the tradition of Victoria School to be an all-boys' school, just like catholic high (i would be incensed if cathigh started accepting girls). but it has to also keep in mind changing times, which could possibly mean going co-ed if necessary.

secondly, VJC (or whoever initiated and carried out this plan for a full 6-year course) should be blamed for not consulting its students and teachers first. in actual fact no one really knows who okayed the sending of the proposal to MOE. did the VEC, OVA and other committed boards come up with this? or is this part of the 25th anniversary celebrations? apparently NOT ONE of the student population or its representatives (ie, Students' Council, CT Council) knew about this initiative, further highlighting the disinvolvement of students (and thus, Victorians) in this issue.

is there no end to this? apparently in 2005 there was a similar problem when there was a call for VS to become co-ed. obviously this problem has yet been solved. there are a few possible ways out:

1. Split away from VS, and be renamed as Marine Parade JC (which would mean an entire change of school song, colour, motto, cheers, history, alumni, and school spirit, disastrous and stupid)

2. Merge with VS, like what RI has done, allowing VS to continue with its all-boys education and continue on to VJC. perhaps, to counter the "Quality Control" problem, VS could set aside two to three classes of O-level students. the rest of the IP students can be fed in from all other schools in singapore just like what RI is doing.

3. Set up an affiliation with a girls' school, such as Cedar, TKGS etc, and together with VS will provide the students for VJC, as VJC's six-year IP students.

4. Set up Victoria Girls' School.

all of the above points will still allow students from other secondary schools to join VJ on their O-level score.

(1) and (4) are kind of disastrous and impossible. (1) disregards the entire population and alumni of Victoria Junior College which includes myself. having a short history of 25 years as compared to VS's 133 years doesnt mean you can simply discard it.
(2) and (3) are possible and feasible. since VJC considers a certain portion of the VS population unfit for VJC residentship, VS's merger with VJ and creating O-level classes would solve the problem. as for the inflow of female students, an affiliation with a girls' school could be possible too. the current situation is 4 - 5 IP classes, which mean that about 100 - 200 students out of the 800 - 900 students in VJC come from VIP. this inflow from affiliated schools still leaves a significant number of places for mainstream O-level students (including VS O-level boys with eligible grades) to fill.

doesnt this solve the problem?

i find that it is pointless to continuously repeat that a Rafflesian (supposedly vj's principal, Mr Chan Poh Meng) is screwing up Victoria. and it is also baffling that grown up men keep harping on the fact that VS being a boys' school should never merge with VJ, and at the same time be unhappy about VJ moving on and starting its own programme. with such narrow paths for navigation, and with all the competition coming from HCI, RI, NJ, Dunman High, River Valley, VJC is definitely in a very very difficult position when trying to keep up with changes.

if anything happens to VS and/or VJC because of inflexibility and unthoughtfulness, it would be sad that in the future, i would not be identified as a Victorian, but instead a VJCian or MPJCian.

just two cents' worth from a Victorian perspective.

(background info: VJC shares the same School Song and Motto - Nil Sine Labore - as Victoria School, as well as a similar school crest and many adapted cheers. although affiliated, VS students do not have exclusivity for VJC's Integrated Programme. VS students only have a bonus 2 points off their O-level score if they place VJC as their top JC choice.)

Labels: VJC

Hello all you Taiwan alumni,

WAIT! Before you think this is some random PW survey or whatnot, this is Martin (VJC/Dali) and Pearlyn (TJC/Dali).

Why, for no apparent reason, are we sending an email to you?

Brief Introduction

Basically, we're thinking of coordinating a trip back to Taiwan at the end of this year 2009, after the A-Levels and Proms and of course hopefully before anyone goes into enlistment. Now, what we are trying to do is BASICALLY provide logistics for air fare to and from Taiwan. And I mean basically, and NOT meaning that we will organise tours and stuff like that. It's entirely FREE and EASY.

So now, why are we trying to get all of us to go back together? This is, of course, in a bid to secure the most affordable pricing, and as well as to enable us to visit our respective Taiwan schools if you wish.

Serious Matters

Now, this is a very serious matter. Again, we wish to highlight that we are NOT organising specific tours for everyone. What we possibly can provide is basic safety (like ensuring you're back at your hotel by a certain time) and to make available all safety procedures such as emergency numbers, who to contact if in need, etc. This is sort of like a mutual thing, and only by being responsible for yourself and others can we ensure this trip is successful.

Details

The span of our stay in Taiwan will be tentatively 11 December 2009 to 16 December 2009.

We will be staying at (tentatively) Rainbow Hotel. It is one of the hotels that many schools stay at when they go over to Taiwan for immersion, opposite Ximen Station (ximen is the shopping district if you remember), right smack in the centre of taiwan, so it is very convenient. The pricing per night is from $100 - $125. If 4 - 5 people are allocated to one room, that's like $20-$25 per night -> stay for 5 nights = $125 for the whole trip. Currently, that is the most affordable and most reasonable (4 stars!) hotel we can find.

Taking the most affordable airline possible - Jetstar Airways - it would be about $395 per return ticket excluding airport tax, but if it's a large group then it would be much cheaper, depending on the number of people going.

Airport tax is roughly $140-$170, depending on the economic situation at that time.

In total, the trip (excluding your own expenses) would cost approximately $600 - $700.

Money was, is, and always will be a sensitive issue. Therefore, we would like to implore you to foot your payments/deposits* by stated deadlines that you agree to. Also, as this involves much more money than your usual BBQs or chalets, if you do not indicate your firm interest in this trip by 21st August, we are terribly sorry but we cannot adopt a "wait-and-see" attitude this time.

*Deposits usually mean that you don't get them back if you back out, ensuring that you do turn up instead of forfeiting your deposit.

Please reply with your response by 21st August, after which we would not be accepting any withdrawals or expressions of interest. After 21st August, when everyone has indicated their interest, we will inform you of the final price.

There would be 2 collections for the money, the deposit (half of the total price) will be collected by 25th September, and the other half will be collected by 16th October, then all of us can go run the final lap for our A-levels.

Do send us any feedback (know of cheaper alternatives?) or comments that you think would make a positive change to our plans. We would need to appoint 'group leaders' to aid us in collecting money from the various JCs and be responsible enough to coordinate activities in Taiwan. Do volunteer yourself if you are able to.

Thanks for your time and thanks in advance if you are interested in our grand plan! Remember to reply (going or not going) by 21st August.

REGARDS,

-martin (hp: ********) and pearlyn (hp: ********)

coordinators-with-hope :)

Labels: Taiwan Immersion Programme

hahaha here i am in the vj library.

and im supposed to be studying, yes.

but there's a comp here waiting for me, why not just update my blog a lil bit?

its now 95 days to the A levels and only about a month plus till prelims. all of us really need to get into the mood of studying.

which is why i dont see the point of coming to sch for the national day celebrations tmr.

but then again i might; well see how tmr morning. haha. really need a break from studying as well as a study break! ohno whatthehell am i saying. okay nevermind. shall go study now. :))))))))

Labels: random

omgosh i didnt update my blog for one whole month. since 26 june. wth.

Okay lots of stuff have happened in the past month, common tests came and went and well.. I didnt do really well but much better than the march common tests. Hope i can improve enough in time for my prelims (which are 42 days away, not counting Gp) and of course i wanna do very well in my A's which are in 99 days time. Scary right. Haha..

Now every day i try to get into the study mode which is very hard. Still looking for the perfect place to study. :/

i hope this struggle is worth it. :)

oh and i didnt say much about 6joy outing :( nevermind, when i find the time.

Back to studying for now!

6 JOY OUTING

up soon! (i hope)

Labels: 6 Joy

in the pursuit of the perfect study spot, one often has to travel vast distances. or so it is in singapore.

on saturday 20 june, me and my best/girlfriend went on a journey to the National Library to engage in the most life-sucking activity on earth - studying. we arrived at 9:20am to find the Study Room, a mere 20 minutes after it opened, full to the brim. who says singaporeans don't have a spirit? we then moved to the Central Lending Library, which was surprisingly empty, to study.

and lunch is what perked us up, as the dreary day trudged on. we went to ILUMA which is this relatively unknown shopping centre in the middle of nowhere near the NLB, to take a look at what the mall might offer. we got onto the first escalator we saw to go to the second floor - and it took us all the way up to the fifth floor. whats the point of doing that?

but nevermind, because it got us closer to what we just needed - food - though we had to walk a few rounds to actually decide on somewhere to eat. out of all the eateries (which comprises 0 mcdonald's, 0 burger kings, 0 kfcs) something (or rather, someone) attracted us to Hua Li Xuan Fusion. it was their politely persistent waitress/manager. and the food looked rather tempting and unique and interesting all at the same time. thus, we took a step into the restaurant which was devoid of customers, defying the singaporean mentality to only join the long queues.

and never did we regret going in.

cold dish - tofu with spicy pork floss and century egg. yum!

mini mantou burgers - 3 for $4.80.

mixed grill - comprising pork, chicken, beef steak, with mushroom sauce. it gave us the chance to try all at once!

one bowl of cold spicy la mien as an add-on!

for ordering above $25 worth of food, we get a ten per cent off and mango with pomelo dessert for free! how's that? give them a chance. give iluma a chance. study nearby and go there for lunch, you'll enjoy the experience too! :D

DALI OUTING on thursday 18 june.
@Singapore Flyer, where we pretended to be tourists and cough all the way in (for obvious reasons). $10 only for students!

enjoy the view. we enjoyed it. grab it before it's over! till end of june, weekdays, before 6pm.

VISIT PEARLYN'S UNCLE AND AUNTIE on friday 19 june.
@bedok reservoir road, had fun getting to know them, having lunch there, and playing with pius - pearlyn's baby cousin! and also played this stupid game called men are from mars and women are from venus. LOL.

and the best part after all this.

COMMON TESTS POSTPONED BY ONE WEEK to tuesday 7 july.
@vjc. VJC rocks, seriously.

mugging - full steam ahead.

Labels: photos., pre-exam, vacation, VJC

ohmygoodness its been like 6 weeks since i last blogged.

but then again there's not much time to blog now, with all the studying to do :(

6 weeks = 42 days have passed! which means i'm now 42 days closer to the A levels. and it sucks because i was definitely more prepared for my O levels than i am now.

last thursday a few of us from CHSSLB 06-07 met up at our usual haunt J8 swensens! bishan has changed a lot since our time, the stupidly hot mrt station has now become much bigger and its now only about 15 mins to bishan from sengkang with the circle line haha. but the few of us still look and sound the same (okay it doesnt really count because everyone except eugeneke is from vj). and then halfway through the dinner i suddenly saw a group of my sec 4 classmates outside swensens! it felt like, the whole cathigh met up today or smth cos on the train we saw a group of sports class ppl as well.

and the day after that i had a "bring-your-sister-day" or "family outing" with pearlyn! haha her sister rachelneo came along too, and i brought my 9-year-old sister out as well! we went for lunch at amk hub first, and then to watch HANNAH MONTANA. like wow. me. watching hannah montana. hahaa but my sister wanted to watch that and it's her first time in the cinema so okay why not! we ate our own version of nachos (fries with bbq sauce) while watching the show and my sis was guzzling one whole box of popcorn by herself. haha. after the movie we went on to BISHAN again via mrt and went to haagen-daz for ice-cream! spent a whole $40 there omg. but luckily i had a 25% discount voucher! so yay. and then we went to the open plaza to play some funny shooting game for free and pearlyn got 170 points so she got a fridge magnet. haha and she's like the oldest in the list there. and we took the circle line to go home, mrt all the way to pearlyn's place because my sis wanted to go... and narrowly missed her mum coming home at the bus stop.

and.... yesterday. servers' outing! initially i was quite skeptical of myself being able to go through the whole thing because of the lack of seniors turning up but it was okay! 17 of us in total, yes a small group but it allowed each and every one to bond with each other! we waited a super long time for bus 43 and by the time the bus reached buangkok, it was already full because another big family came up the bus with tents and prams and stuff, obviously to east coast park as well. finally we reached marine parade at 11am and off we went for street soccer at some random block near vj! all of us had fun except for glenn who was having a serious stomachache. seemed like food poisoning :( i accidentally rammed damien with the soccerball, it's like his bad day or smth, he kept getting hurt. then we moved on to east coast park, where all of them rented bicycles and ate at burger king! at first we wanted to go to marina square for seoul garden, but in the end everyone collectively decided to eat at BK instead, so we could use the remaining money for bowling later! it was a much better choice because we got the chance to enjoy ourselves at the beach, disturb murphy and his class, play ball, go into the sea, and of course watch each other bowling and laughing at everyone! we managed to play about 2 games at 4 lanes in total, definitely more worth that spending all those cash stuffing ourselves with unhealthy fried (half-cooked) food. and finally we took the long 43 journey back home, going back tired but happy. ah. admittedly it was quite successful yes? :D

seems like i'm having a lot of fun in the holidays huh. welllllll the common tests are coming up and it will not be a walk in the park for me :( i did badly for the past few exams, okay actually i never passed any exam in VJC before, except GP and Chinese and PW. hurhur.

the first week of the holidays was spent entirely on econs. i did mindmaps for every single chapter that's tested but that's all i did. still have to practise those essay writing skills and hope that i can do well this time! now i'm halfway through maths and physics, but only just. i still havent started memorising for chem yet, even though i did make notes on organic chem and did content-page-summaries for chem bonding and kinetics.

ohwell the next few days i have left will be spent mostly on studying studying studying! still have quite a few outings to go for though - missed today's 4-4 outing ): simply too tired to stay awake, sorry guys esp tengwee and wuhong. dali outing and 6 joy class gathering coming up! other than that, i shall study. i must study.

13 days to common tests 2. 146 days left to the 'A' levels.

(we must do well okay? show the world we can do it! <3)

Labels: (:, pre-exam, SLB, vacation

Sometimes, i wonder what our purpose in life actually is. Service to others, accomplishing our goals, getting an edge over others in grades, financial power? In this mindless pursuit, i fear, we have lost ourselves.

I mean, in a small way, myself - on mondays, tuesdays, and fridays i have remedials which end around 5pm. That would mean school from 7am to 5pm. And on fridays, saturdays, and sundays, i would have church related meetings. Where has the pronoun 'I' disappeared to?

Yes, people say that we should not be self-centred but rather, others-centred. However it has become sort of a struggle for me, when freedom is lost in such pursuits.

Then you notice those high-flyers around you, those people perpetually in the 'popular' category in your community. Things aren't helping when you have to climb up the academic ladder with them around. You yearn to be noticed, to be cared for, to be accepted.

But rather, you feel transparent, invisible to their eyes. A sense of cold and unfeeling.

Events come and go, and you notice how these people actually treat each other, and realise that it has become a world of backstabbing and rivalry, a world of i-couldn't-care-less-unless-you're-useful.

And then, you are happy not to be a part of them. Rather, you are happy to be apart from them, where friendships are more genuine and less flowery, where genuine humanness flows and there are no masks.

And then, you see.

wow its almost one month since i last posted anything on this blog

well i better get starting again, visitor stats are dropping real low!

k lets see, april 13 was actually my birthday, like super long ago. weird how birthdays have less and less meaning as you grow older? however this year my birthday was unlike any other (: with my dear celebrating with me! thanks for making me the giant card and all those wonderful presents haha. loveyouveryverymuch.

okay moving on, 29 april was ct council and sc's combined investiture. after one year of labour, the 17th CT Council has finally stepped down for the 18th CT Council to take charge and lead the council to greater heights. all the shit we went through, all the projects and initiatives we did, all the differences between the various gangs in the council, everything. everything made the 17th CT Council who we are. and i'm glad to be part of it.

and now, no more wearing of the name tag on my school uniform. it feels.. weird. like something's missing. but i know, i know, the 18th CT Council is there to do us proud. to serve the school better than we did.

lastly, ARE YOU WEARING A MASK? the mexican flu is becoming kinda serious now and i'm beginning to see people wearing masks again! it's like SARS all over again. reminds me of primary six when we had to take our temperatures like twice a day. and of course the period when schools were closed! really hope that the mexican flu doesn't hit singapore though. even though that's like quite impossible since singapore is such an open country. and on a side note, i'm still using the thermometer i had in primary six.

and i've got like lots more to rant about our government here and its "tripartite" dealings for the labour force here, and AWARE and stuff like that, but i think it might get a little sensitive and i might just get like, arrested or something. so let's not talk about anything. see, singaporeans got practise self-censorship one lor.

280109. 280309. three months!