The week of hyperness!

Heh, so last night was the VJC MASS mass dance and Sea Carnival!

So, sea carnival first!

It was basically a time of fun and games, getting wet, dunking, getting cut by jagged seashells, FREE MILO TRUCKS, and almost losing our shoebag-full of valuables! Of course, I haven’t swum in ages. I felt like a real weight after got out of the beach. Should probably start swimming again soon, (un)happy-face! There was this really fun period of time where we played Murderer in the Sea, played Whacko, TRIED to play Steady Tempo, and those were basically one of my much better memories

After Sea Carnival, went over to Marina Square to spend the Anderson’s ice-cream vouchers and also have dinner. Somehow, we managed to pick Crystal Jade. No, it actually isn’t as expensive as one might think. About $7-8 for an individual portion. Which is about perhaps $0.50 more than a McSpicy from the Siglap Centre Macdonalds. Oh and perhaps captured the supernatural on film. No one likes such a photo to linger around on film, though. The cam-whoring was also really great, although you could always view the photos on my Facebook.

Then we went to the Fountain of Wealth, where we got sprayed by the water jets guided by the unpredictable wind, joined long chains(chanting slogans of ‘VS girls’ and ‘Cedar Boys’), re-learnt all the OG’s cheers, invented some new ones, and laughed at each other for trying to get the mass dance steps right. It was a really fun experience, and if nothing goes wrong, I’m heading back there next year. It’s simply too fun!

Heh.

JCO’s come and gone.

I actually really enjoyed the process except the lull periods of waiting and the fact that IPO just seemed to resonate with more noise during the cheers. Of course, doing VS cheers in the middle of the VJ people. It was an awesome experience, and I finally found out how to do the VS spelling cheer. Mass dance was just an amazing adrenaline rush with really cool steps.

Also went for OG dinner, and I was just really amazed at how I didn’t feel very left out even though I was the youngest person in the entire restaurant. One thing I’m definitely taking note of is that while IPO may be more fun, more spirited, the thing is that JCO involves 800 over people, with bigger venues and logistical nightmares. It’s not particularly fair, neither is it comparing ‘apple to apple’ anymore, to compare a small scale event to a really huge event.

Heheh, how would you come up with a system to make sure that no one is ever late for school again? That was one of the more…arcane questions that I was asked during my Studzie Council Interview. Heh, I really hope I get it so I don’t regret that I never did take chances to be part of this really vibrant community. That’s right.

I love VJ. Heh. And I can’t wait for lessons to start, so that I know if this feeling is part of the hype that comes with orientation, or part of the larger community.

Oh and, 14 found underwear in the class today. HAHA.

Priorities In Life

Hey all, those who actually read my blog still.

It’s been a great 2 weeks Although I would say that perhaps the group dynamics aren’t going so well (probably thanks to me) I figured that it wasn’t so bad! Everyone wanted to learn and participate and I think that’s something that really VS has to try to make it’s students do. To think, to participate!

Anyway, I was recently quite stressed over the Creative Arts Programme portfolio thing, although I (used to) write on this blog fairly often, I can’t submit a blog entry as one of my ‘best pieces of writing’ can I? and I’m still quite stressed over Council application. Although I might not even get it at the end of the day, with IP1 being an apparent honeymoon year I think it’s the year where I should try everything on my plate.

Of course, that’s a sure path to destruction, our BC project is actually kind of coming apart at the seams because firstly, the rubrics are very vague, the perimeters are very vague, and we only have the VIP open house 2008 to guide our experiences. Speaking of which, that feels like a REALLY long time ago. I’d better start taking more from the conflict management course if I don’t want to be hated by the end of the year ._.

To end off, I’d like to just post a min poem I wrote. It might not really make sense, it shouldn’t even be good at all, but (insert high ego strength) I wrote it

The Church

On steeple flung high into the air,

Air on gilded-cross caress.

Magpies flirt with sweet birdsong affair,

Clouds swathed in cotton-white excess.

Surrounded by expanse of field and flower,

Hymns resound divinity and praise.

Organ preaches with gusto and power,

Choristers with seraphic voices upraise.

Of sunlight doth stained-glass ordain,

Color evokes; imagery conjures.

Lines of dawn on marble grain,

Vestibule to heavenly allure.

- Inspired by lofty spires, imposing stained glass and mesmerizing sunlight streaming through my fingers.

VIP Orientation!

With the awesomeness of IP Orientation behind us, VS just seems like a distant memory now.

3 Days of Pump it up, VJ Unite(Okay fine this is almost the same as VS Unite), Yo VJC and the 10v14 class cheer in Victoria Island, and I’m left with almost no voice but a WHOLE lot of spirit. Pity though, it seems as if I suddenly stood up during assembly and did YO VJC! I’d get killed. But fine, that makes sense. Update: Someone actually did Yo VJC during 05 Febuary 2010’s Friday assembly!

On day 1 it was a game where we had to make a boat and float it in the fountain, while going around doing forfeits for Gamemasters to get materials and stealing lifelines from each other. FUN. After which I think it was tribe station games, which was fun but very tiring and somehow the tribe I was in was jinxed to lose most of our matches. We, however, mastered the art of sucking up to Gamemasters to avail ourselves of ’suckup points’ There were the usual games such as forming the longest line with anything you could find, and we used the carpets outside the lecture theatre!

On day 2, it was cheering all over again, and the Victorian Game Show. We were presented with various bits of trivia such as when Victorians Day is. Rather unfortuantely, I have already forgotten!

Then after that we had wet and dirty games day. Soy Sauce and Egg and Corn Flour, anyone? It was really hilarious, with games such as the ’scissors-paper-stone-on-chairs-with-soy-sauce’. There was this rather…innovative game where we had to create the highest, hair-tower, and we were given various condiments such as eggs. Undoubtedly, it was a sticky, disgusting, and failed game. Paradoxically though, we had LOADS of fun.

One of the highlights was when we took an unusually long time to settle, which I guess the PSLs preempted. So they made us bow, reflect, and really seemed extremely angry at us. When we all closed our eyes…the Waterbomb parade arrived!

I WANT YOU TO REFLECTTTTTTT -whooossh

Oh and I just realized the great extent to which rewards motivate people. The PSLs were like ‘okay, for every 1 water-bomb bag you pick up, you get 1 point! there were over 4000 water-bombs, so you know how many points are at stake here!’. The parade square was clean as a whistle after that

On day 3, it was AMAZING RACE WHICH WE FINALLY WON WOW! It brought us around various Siglap Landmarks such as the park connector, Siglap Centre, East Coast Park and Ice Cream Chefs! It was really fun running round because 2 days of indoor games left us with a thirst to run around and sweat(I have no doubt that these comments have a tinge of sarcasm to them!) But to be really honest, it was great to explore the environment around us and to complete the rather silly tasks we were given, such as sudoku and such and such.

Then we finalized our super awesome 14 cheer! And after that we had some inter-class games which were kind of an anticlimax since we were all waiting to go YOU GUYS ARE BOOMZ DYNAMITE! during the inter-class cheer games.

Although it seemed as if 10v14 might come in first, in reality 10v15 came in champions for IPO’10. But I guess the amount of spirit and the bonded feeling I hope we all shared proved to be invaluable. A big thank you to all the PSLs, to v16(The ‘honorary PSLs’!) and everyone else who made IPO’10 such an amazing and no-holds-barred event! Oh, and credit to the photographer for these amazing photos. I found them on the Facebook page for the IP1s.

It was fun .I might not be typing a lot here, but it was fun, really. Now I know why all our seniors were so excited the first time they saw us at open house. Probably because they knew that some of us would be about to embark upon the same journey as they did.

First post of 2010!

I think 2010 shall be my renaissance.

My golden age of thinking, the time when I become a prolific reader and go one step further to plugging the information gap. So many things to catch up on, global affairs(Middle east, China, India), politics(geopolitics; remember the RSP seminar?/ Marxism, Socialism), economics, literature, etc. etc.

The ~$80 I’ll be getting in July suddenly seems so much more useful.

School is starting in exactly 6 days and it’ll be the start of a new environment, treading in unknown oceans, stretching as far as the eye can see, so I’ll have to juggle both getting my footing and my bearing. I guess you’ve got to scale small hills before taking on large mountains.

Now for the second one.

I think I’ve been neglecting the sciences and mathematics too much, but I guess my reading is a sort of sabbatical. I’ve actually engaged in interesting conversations with my classmates on different political systems; and I guess we can discover this world together.

So is my stint at the soup kitchen coming at an end. Tick tock, tick tock. The end of a transitional period.

Happy 2010!

Long time no see…

I realised that I have a shortage of things to update my blog with. However, I’m just going to randomly blog about things since it’s quite sad to leave a blog lying around pretty much, well, dead.

I guess the most recent event I can think of is the Christmas Party at Mrs Chua’s house, our new 10v14 civics tutor. It was fun, with Band Hero (I failed at guitar btw.), some spin-off of charades, Evil Santa(We either selected a gift from under the tree or stole a present from someone down the pecking order, and I lost a Little Miss _____ Cushion) and Uno.

There were also cookies and pizza and muffin like things Thanks!

Then there was finally news of IP homework. The days of yore, where homework was but a myth left behind in secondary school life, evaporated in a flash and in its place stood book reviews(uncannily termed ‘reflections’) and compulsory book reading. Truth to be told, I haven’t started on Physics and the Chemistry questions drew a blank on my face. What’s steam?

However, I’ve also found a copy of Naomi Klein’s No Logo(and many other wonderful books) and it provided some backdrop to Open World:/ The Truth About Globalization. I find it quite hard to believe that the two books provided such contrasting views of factories and the way their workers are treated. The juxtaposition draws up a blank in my mind and just leads me to think, who should I believe? I suppose it is true that life is now packaged by brands, who have almost become synonymous with certain lifestyles. Ralph Lauren with expensive, high-fashion sport? (hurhur.) On the other hand, it is true that no one is forcing Pepsi down your throat.

It might be a choice, but IMO, a very skewered choice with a constant, in parenthesis, social, twisting of your arm.

To reminisce, I guess the Regional Studies Programme at VS really helped to shape some of these views which I hold, and the programme also taught me to challenge any conceptions I had previously held. I really wanted to continue with it, but I think now even Bahasa Indonesia is on the line.

Oh and CNBC recently(or could be a rerun in Singapore) on the dominance of Google and how they can actually build up a user profile on you. Which I’d guess it’s a blessing in disguise that I’ve moved over to WordPress, since blogger is under Google. Imagine if they bought Facebook.

I’d better start getting used to doing some school-related reading as well, and not just issues I’m interested in. Although, I’d guess all this reading on hot topics would put me in good stead when it comes to General Paper or any other discursive essays. I’m still trying to come to terms with the trash I wrote for the IP test, as long ago as it was.

Ah well, the holidays are ending soon. Merry Christmas!

10v14 outing :D

Haha

This is going to be a quote filled post, since there isn’t much to really talk about.

Stream of events:

Me, Nachiket, Richard, cheryline went to buy food at shengshiong. Ended up taking ice for the drinks from the person who slices fish (: I hope you all don’t have stomachaches. Bought drinks, tuna, bread, ice cream and Pringles. The bread and tuna were sort of wasted though.

We then went to KFC to eat. Rayson managed to spill my coke accidentally, while moving Cheryline’s bag to another chair. Oh well. lurked around Bedok Central looking for donut shops, and failed. At least I didn’t have to buy 2 3/4 donuts.

At MRT station, we met up with our classmates then proceeded to ECP and sat on this stone thingy which wasn’t a breakwater. It was dirty, slippery and Rayson fell. I also got sunburnt.(near macdonalds) And also sadly, we bored away the 3 nice seniors since we took wayy too long to get things started.

We then cycled to Lagoon hawker centre, and then to bedok jetty and back Super windy and nice!  We also crapped a lot along the way. For example, the ice cream we bought at Shengshiong earlier melted. So, we cut it open, and poured ice cream and Pringles into a cup. I drank it

Shagged, we went to Marine bowl to bowl OH AND I GOT A 93! That, as sad as it sounds, is my highest score. It was quite funny, because we were telling Rayson to squat down and push the ball ala Bok woon(see previous class outing). The girls all also left after their game; somehow they bowl faster. But hey, everyone had an awesome, fun time!

Night before:

Cheryline: “Wei don’t give me the crap about I’m going to be late”

Today:

Cheryline: “Sharks I’m gonna be late!”

———

AT KFC:

Rayson: “err…I upset your coke with Cheryline’s bag”

———

At MRT station:

(In response to Cheryline’s fishy ice)

Rayson: You very no brain leh.

———

At the stone thingy at the beach

Hazel and Aleena : ” OMG our umbrella is brokeennnn nooo!”

———

When waiting for Hazel and Aleena (in reality they fell off their bikes thus they took so long)

Nachiket: “I think they died, honestly”

——–

When going to bowl:

Rayson: ” Let’s go blowing!”

——–

While bowling:

Rayson:” OMG my score is improving”

He didn’t realise that the scores are added up after each round so it looks like 2 5 5 8 10. Imagine if it dropped muahaha.

———

That was hilarious and super funny and I think we bonded pretty well!

Pictures are the new words.

Despite the title, this blog post is not going to be just chock full of pictures. In fact, i think it is going to be totally devoid of pictures.

Blogging feels somewhat arbitrary now, seeing as yes, I do have a regular readership but at the same time I would think it is the same group of people, seeing the statistics in the dashboard. But hey, if you’re one of those regular readers, <3 !

So  yes, basically this blog post is about my holidays. I’ve been volunteering at my dad’s office(in the church) where basically they help migrant workers who are routinely mistreated. And believe me, the number of cases is mind-boggling. In fact, while the office was away at a meeting and I was in charge of taking calls, I had about 5 in half an hour, though they weren’t distress calls.

I’ve also been immersing myself in books such as Men in White. Although, I would say that I am generally unhappy with the way the book is going. In case you don’t know, they are introducing a graphic novel version(read: comic). In this case, if pictures are the new words, then I can’t wait for low to be the new high, and death to be the new life so I can kill myself and live off insurance. (I don’t agree with introducing Men in White in a graphic novel form to merely introduce it to small kids. It is not infinitesimally complex, but rather long. And if they can’t really understand it, try to break it down into chunks. But graphic novels smack of commercialization. Imagine if War and Peace was translated into pictures.)

Then, I’ve changed the theme of this blog, and I think it’s a refreshing; vibrant change and I think that should reflect my outlook on life now. I’m enthused, relaxed and eager to move on to a new chapter of my life. Yet, I can’t help but feel a tinge of regret fleshed out in my thoughts. You win some, you lose some. I guess I’ve elaborated enough, but I’d guess a defining moment of those thoughts was when I went to school yesterday, to help out in some prefect ushering thing. The Veloci-T people had just returned, and I felt kind of lost. But enough of that.

I know that a juxtaposition between the first part of that paragraph and the second part will draw up some blank stares, but hey, reread yeah

So 10v14 has been VERY enthused, very excited, and hopefully it will spread out of the small group of us on Facebook! 10v14 isn’t 10v14 without everyone in it! I guess you could probably infer that VJC is the reason for my positive outlook these days!

But to leave behind Victoria is to leave behind a small BIG part of yourself.

A picture speaks a thousand words.

Yet another VIP post.

You know, I’m not surprised if my dashboard suddenly comes up with many many hits from parents who want to find out about VIP next year. Was kind of frustrated at the lack of ground-feel back then in the crucial period when I was anguishing on whether to join or not.

Like what Ms Tan said, when I met her at the open house: “So is it the right choice?”, when we told her that we were going around to get a feel of the place and to see if it was the right decision.

Buttttttttttttttttt anyway, I looked at some of the people in VJCIP, and I seriously have only one word to describe it: wow.

What goes on in their minds is so crisp and succinct that it makes me go to shame. Oh and apparently like most of them come from the same primary school or in a more likely manner the same secondary school. In fact, I think that VS is overwhelmingly represented in VJC, with about 5 in each of the 5 classes.

I’m actually very excited for Friday because there’s finally reading up to do. I’m particularly interested in our Economics syllabus, and also what Language Arts exactly is. BUT, there is totally zilch, nada, nil, NOTHING under ‘Economics’ for a list of recommended books.

Also, I seem to get the impression that the Language Arts syllabus is really centered largely around iPods. I mean, there was even a quick peek at it in the English paper, through ‘iGeneration’. I still remember the crap I wrote for it, totally missing the mark. I was arguing about how every generation has its own stereotypes, but I missed the point: So is our generation worthy of ‘iGeneration’?

Oh and there are people demonstrating college spirit already! Setting up a Facebook group just hours after the email arrived safely in our inboxes.

On a side note though, I think I’ll never get over people using ‘Victorian Spirit’ in VJC.

My classmates/schoolmates are of such a high caliber that I feel inferior. -.-

Oh if any of you 10V14 people read this, a big shout out to you May we enjoy our two years together! Btw, if any of you happen to see me, and notice that I have unsightly patches of discolored skin, please note that it is kayaking gone wrong. Not vitiligo, nada.