Looking at the Dashboard reminds me of dashboard confessional. Have i mentioned I haven’t stepped into the confessional for like a half year?
It isn’t as easy as you think it is, but I can fake it if I have to. Is dashboard confessional emo. Because I am emo now. I don’t really know what to believe anymore.
Is it important? Can I get anything else? Slow spinning redemption. What’s the limit? How far to go? Is there even a balance?
Vindicated is an amazing song.
I guess I didn’t really start this year on the right note. Or for that matter, maybe I’m detuned. I guess my december holidays were more emotionally taxing than I thought. Isn’t it funny how a collection of events can fail to alter me by a jot, to stop me from being me?
Intelligence is so relative. Do I possess any at all. I hardly think so. All I have is a normal mind.
Vindicated
I am selfish, I am wrong
I am right, I swear I’m right
Swear I knew it all along
And I am
Did I mention I can’t really write essays of the argumentative sort? Maybe I’m argumentative and all, but how does that translate into a crammed 30 minute essay. Sad to say, yeah. Lit is screwed. It’s not nice to have a subject you like be screwed. Same as geog yeah.
Argh. Recently I heard from one of my friends on the bus that I looked very shagged and stressed recently, or more like everytime. Well, I can’t really confirm or deny that, but I’ve not been in form recently, falling asleep over my books every hour or so. It might be due to the lack of sleep, as you can see when I’m typing this entry in a what I would normally consider an ungodly hour. But hey, exams are over =D.
I guess I really have to reflect on this period. I wasn’t really there at all for the first two papers, then slowly I picked up the pace but by then it was almost too late. Sigh. I guess I’m not one for adaptation and evolution. But hey, it was a rather fun period, with mini arguments with the teacher over the time, listening to hilarious stories about lousy maths skills of invigilators. =D.
Oh well, can only hope for the best. Geog and sci, pls. And I realised why I don’t really celebrate the end of exams. Because there’s always something due just after the exams, like the diorama research part 3 and the literature dramatisation. Sigh, the everyday drama of school.
Hydroponics farm visit tomorrow. Cute little veggies. =D Of course, I’ll be doing the nitty gritty in bali, with actual rice farming. Which reminds me of today’s comprehension passage, which I think I screwed as well. Rice without rain. Why am I screwing all my papers recently. Sigh.
Either way, life goes on. Carpe Diem yeah?
Sticky pads are so nice, it’s like when you arrange them nicely they make your book a lot more pleasing and stand out more in a pile of books on your table. On second thoughts, where’s the pile of books anyway? Just you and you Bahasa indonesia notebook =D. Happy 200th Post day =).
Today was just plain wacky. The sec 3s and sec 4s were off to some CPR course, and so the sec 2s were in charge of the proceedings, and I think it was a little screwed, but great fun.
When we tried to set up the flag pole, we had to learn how to tie the flag from beng lol. Then even better, I had to break the darn flag. My footdrill was embarrassing. Well, not really. But it was kinda awkward. It was like, I forgot that I had to salute first then Shervin could salute. And people were telling me I had some spastic look on my face, which they thought(accurately) was some weird “Why the **** am I doing this?” And the best part was when we did circuit training for PT. Seriously, it was really funny when we were tired by the 5th run and goddamn we were idiots. Everyone was sprinting and tiring themselves out. Then Beng had to be funny and add an additional two rounds and after that I was so shagged I couldn’t think after that.
Then after that we played human table soccer =D. It’s like, you hook yourselves onto a pole and when the ball comes to you you try to kick it when others on the same pole are trying to prevent you from kicking it. fun. Especially when someone stupidly pumps the ball and you watch it sail over your head.
We had footdrill after that, and basically it was just tiring and boring. The arrow yell was most best, DK shouting.
IPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIPIP.
If I had one superpower, I’d go back to the time before NPC, undo all the shit, especially the “I’m not going IP thing”. I’ve made quite a number of bad choices in my life apparently. Apparently now even my decision to go VS may have been wrong. Only thing to do, grit my teeth and move on.
It’s so easy to list down the pros and cons, but some pros are simply just more tempting than the cons. I know I owe something to VS. something big. But at the same time, VJ just seems more tempting. And of course, with a nice little D7 grade in my report card, any hopes of me moving higher up in the food chain are just shattered.
Should I just screw ____, or should I at least live up to my promises. Of course, some of you might snigger that I don’t have any honor…but still. Is IP everything it’s made out to be? Would i be happy with a Lit + LA subject combo? (YES I WOULD…bu still).
I just enjoy thinking and elaborating on my opinions. Of course, this endears me to the Arts, but is there any future in the Arts? I feel so misguided. And depressed. Coupled with the fact that I have a very bad sorethroat…argh.
All things fair, I’m not even sure if I can go to IP.
I failed HCL. whee. MSG of 1.6 beckons.
Washington is next! – Megadeth
The quiet war has begun with silent weapons
And the new slavery is to keep the people
Poor and stupid, “Novus Ordo Seclorum”
How can there be any logic in biological war?
We all know this is wrong, but the New World Order’s
Beating down the door, oh something needs to be done
There was a King (evil king) who dreamt the wickeness of dreams
An ancient mystery no prohet could interpret
Of seven years of famine, the wolf is at my door
As predicted years ago, that that was, that is, that is no more
The word predicts the future and tells the truth about the past
Of how the world leaders will hail new Pharao
The Eighth False King to the Throne, Washington is Next!
Disengage their minds, sabotage their health
Promote sex, and war, and violence in the kindergartens
Blame the parents and teachers; it’s their fault, “Annuit Coeptis”
Attack the church dynamic, attack the family
Keep the public undisciplined till nothing left is sacred and
The “have-nots” get hooked and have to go to the “haves” just to cop a fix
I am the King (evil king) who dreams the wickedest of dreams
An ancient mystery nobody could interpret
Of seven empires falling, the wolf is at my door
As predicted years ago, that that was, that is, that is no more
The word predicts my future and tells the truth about my past
Of how the world leaders are waiting to usher in
The Eighth World Power of modern Rome, Washington is Next!
There was a King (evil king) who dreamt the wickedest of dreams
An ancient mystery no prophet could interpret
Of seven empires falling, the wolf is at the door
As predicted years ago, that that was, that is, that is no more
I am a King and I dream the wickedest dreams
And nobody could interpret
Seven empires falling, the wolf is at my door
Oh, that that was, that is, that is no more
There’s something at my door
Some ancient mystery
The future tells the truth about the past
I’m the Eighth False King to the throne
I’ve got you in my crosshairs, now, ain’t that a bitch?
Washington, you’re next!
Today was pure hell.
The chinese paper was pure PHAILUREZZZ.
Seriously, I didn’t understand a crap in the stupid passage. If you’re wondering why I have the paper, we’re allowed to bring it home after the exam.
Lit was a saviour though. the fun part of the week is starting again…whee.
Ahh. I have no idea why I’m on the computer when I have an exam tomorrow. On second thoughts, there’s not a lot of things I can control for that paper, so whatever. I’ve done my best.
I just realized that there’s a lot of things that you can’t really control in your life. There are a lot of variables. Of course, you have to minimize the damage by maintaining full control of what you can. Sometimes of course, it’s hard to master even the simplest of all constants, so hey, who said life was easy?
When something is so close, yet so far, you grit your teeth in frustration and you try to reach out to it again. Maybe for once in your life you can actually grasp it for something more than a planck. For instance, I’m controlling the fan such that it blows towards me.
I’m kinda glad the research paper has been converted to a co-op. Things are slowly working out, but it’s still a hectic schedule. But hey, the combination of crazy people, whacked out ideas, stress and pressure can all be summed up in a single, impactful word: CRAZY. But hey, all words are venom when properly focused.
Argh. Sometimes previous posts come back and bite you. It’s kinda sore reading some posts that make me very…it’s like reading an ex-classmate’s blog where she mentioned that she would delete all twilight related posts because after a while the craze died off and it really wouldn’t make sense to a sane person. It makes you seem like much of a hypocrite. Such lukewarm response.
And baby I know you’re only sorry because you’re caught.I’m still feeling the 爱屋及乌 issue. argh.
.
Mmm. Today is friday the 13th. And also coincidentally it’s VS SLI(student leaders investiture). Which I tell you was one heck of a time.
It was actually quite cool with the dramatic effect, the crazy flag bearing and most probably the cheering marathon. It’s like this: Go to auditorium, do Spelling cheer, VS unite, VS boleh, thunder, VS anthem, VS unite again, go down to canteen, grab the flag, do spelling cheer, VS unite, VS boleh, thunder, VS anthem, VS unite, VS boleh, the “up in my head” thingie which I can’t remember what it’s called.
It was also the day of a transition that almost didn’t come for me.
yeah. It’s something that almost didn’t come. And yeah, maybe some people may not feel like I’ve earnt it or something. But…at the end of the day…I’m happy that it’s more meaningful for you than it was for me. I know most of the prefects must have felt that way during my primary school investiture when I got my tie in P5 immediately, as compared to those who had slogged for two years. What I’m trying to say is that…I’m sorry if I’ve undermined the significance for you, but hey, the fact that it means something to you should not be soured by me.
Sorry. I guess the six months you’ve gotten puts you in good stead. Everyone has his sacrifices, and even if mine were not as intensive as yours.
It was just a really fun experience, guiding different people to the 7th floor of the school, telling them different creepy stories and scaring the crap outta our guests. And also ushering, running up and down, seeing some teachers here and there…
Ok basically, when it came to ushering, it was seriously hot, maybe because they turned on the aircon in the auditorium and so the hot air was being generated. Then the best part was the people coming for the investiture were decked out in flowers and balloons. and one of the balloons got stuck in the ceiling of the auditorium xD
Then the girls keep dropping their balloons and we as gentlemen ushers have to help them pick up. 
And then the after investiture part was the best. We brought 3 girls from st anthony’s up to the 7th floor and basically told them some ghost stories about destroyed ghostly footage of VS. By then I was literally plastered in a combination of cotton in my shirt, sweat from running around and deoderant to mask it all. luckily I’m unstikified now.
Then we finally got our badges. It’s been a good half a year since I did any prefect duties. Sometimes I look back to that moment and wonder what my life would have been like if I had not been suspended. Would anything in my life have changed?
I didn’t really get a chance to treasure the first badge I was given to by my teacher, when the entire sec 1 cohort had it pinned on by their form teachers for the first time. I lost many VS badges since then, maybe it was because I didn’t take care of them enough. Now that I’m being given a second chance, I’m going to make this badge last until I get something else in sec 4, if not then I’ll keep it until my graduation. It’s a promise. I’m going to remember to read this entry 2 years on.
FUN. and meaningful.
I’m still feeling the 爱屋及乌 issue. argh.
It was a lot easier to approach 200 posts than to even crack 100 posts. I’m at 191 now =).
Tomorrow there’s chinese ting xie and a maths test. I did horribly on the previous one 
. Of course, will have people 幸灾乐祸 when I encounter some 挫折。 I’m posting in chinese to practice for the stupid chinese test later. Must achieve that golden goal of an A2 yeah.
Of course, I’ve had a rather sour experience with my stupid waterbottle recently. It had led to me leading a rather 潦倒的生活。 Serious. I’ve had to dry and flatten all my lit and science books, first one because apparently I stuffed my PE into my bag when it was still dripping with sweat and the second because I didn’t cap the thing properly. It’s impossible to 估量 the damage.
I feel kinda sian lol. Got some people like to say 污言秽语. Ok lah, maybe I’m making myself look like a fool to other classes with my 滑稽的漠样。 Especially when I check them and I find two handphones which are on in a row. And when I finally give one guy a chance at let him go, the 懦夫 runs off with his phone still on. Man, I was really 呆若木鸡。 And here I have enddless people telling me to give chances lol. So sad.
SLI on thursday. Haiz, it’s been hardly 5 weeks since I became a prefect again. Maybe it was the right decision, maybe not. See how lah. Depends on how the waters are. If I get my badge next year, my steam will be like… i mean, life is not 一路顺风 one lah. It’s just damn stupid and paradoxical if I have to walk around with a normal school badge and people think I’m a fake prefect and I can’t do duty properly. Haiz. Of course, there’s the little issue of respect, but I think I’m not 传授ing that 私塾 properly either.
The 嫉妒人 are constantly 侮辱ing，挑逗ing，凌辱ing me.
Haiz. 爱屋及乌. What happens when the subject teacher stop teaching you? Then how? Very de 尴尬.
Wah, today damn happening seh.
Today marking was more or less smooth. Except for the fact that someone scolded me when I’m supposed to scold him for not doing duty -.-”.
Anyway, today we went to daniel lock’s house to chiong lit. Parkway anyone?
It was seriously damn funny, with one hour for us to chiong homework and the script. I daresay we came up with some seriously retarded stuff =D
On a more positive note, we played halo and badminton. I seem to be a sucker for badminton lol. It’s just so beautiful when the racket hits the shuttlecock and you happen to be doing something cool. Like twisting your torso. Oh and I hit the shuttlecock so high that it went into the tree. rats.
And, even better. I was using D Lock’s headhpones and they are out of this world. Look at me headbanging to megadeth’s trust.
Maybe I should go VIP and do philosophy or LA as an elective. Or maybe I should just take LA as an O’s humanities.
I guess everyone is interested in how everything works on a personal level. We wonder how our teachers work in the clogged up brains of theirs – Read: CHS.
I guess music is an extremely moving tool. I guess emotions transcend actions in a sense. When you feel strongly about something, most of the time you’re equally scared to act on it. I’m listening to Megadeth’s A toute le monde. I never expected heavy/thrash metal bands to possess sentimentality.
What ethnicity is the cake?
Exactly what cake?
What makes a cake, a cake?
Have your cake, and eat it too.
Now playing : Trust – Megadeth.
My body aches from mistakes.
That in nothing we trust.
I guess trying to appear emo is stupid. but I guess I treat this blog as a certain outlet for emotions. Wait, was I just saying that emotion transcends words?
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!
4. Tag 5 people at their tag boards to ask them to do this!
5. Bold the questions and with the answers, give your own comments on how it relates to the questions.
Disclaimer: I’ll skip over anything non english or chinese and instrumentals.
How are you feeling today?
The script – Fall of anything
down, down, down…
Will you get far in life?
Mariah Carey – I’ll be lovin’ U long time
I think so.
Will you get married?
Jay Chou – Fa Ru Xue
I’ll be married to someone who’s hair is like snow.?
What is your best friend’s theme song?
Metallica – Hit the lights
I think we threw a tennis ball into the light before…I think.
What is the story of your life?
Lostprophets – A Town Called Hypocrisy
I’m going to live in a town called hypocrisy?
What was primary school like?
Green Day – Basket case
Maybe…
How can you get ahead in life?
Metallica – Through The Never
by walking through unexplored lands?
What is the best thing about your friends?
Simple Plan – Generation
They’re from my generation
What is in store for this weekend?
Sk8er Boi – Avril Lavigne
I’m going to learn to skate?
What song describes you?
Backstreet Boys – I want it that way
uh…
How is your life going?
Avenged Sevenfold – Critical Acclaim
uh…
What song will they play at your funeral?
Avenged Sevenfold – Blinded in chains
I was forced to work like a slave?
How does the world see you?
Yellowcard – Five Becomes Four
This is nonsensical
Will you have a happy life?
Metallica – My Friend Of Misery
screw.
What do your friends really think of you?
Foo Fighters – Come Alive
I’m deaD?
Do people secretly lust after you?
Simple Plan – When I’m gone
“You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone”
How can I make myself happy?
Metallica – Nothing Else Matters
I should focus on something…
What should you do with your life?
Avenged Sevenfold – Almost Easy
It’s going to be almost easy
Will you ever have children?
Megadeth – Sweating bullets
This quiz is just weird.
Strangely, I find the violin emo. So dost classical music.
A tout le monde.
Sheer disapointment.
A tous mes amis
When all is lost, personal holocaust.
Jes Vous Amis
As the whole world comes tumbling down
Jes Doi Parte
There’s no need for words.
Revolution 9.
WHOO!!!
Today I went to the ultimate in atmospheric places.
HARD ROCK CAFE!!
lol. Okay so hard rock cafe isn’t a new concept, but it was the first time I went to the one in Singapore, or for any part of the world for that matter. So yeah. Imagine stepping into a wonderland full of old rockstars like Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton!
Okay so I don’t look like the kind of guy that likes music way beyond my generation, but I do appreciate a good tune when I hear it. That’s why you see me listening to everything, from Megadeth and Metallica to Jay Chou and Kelly Clarkson.
So anyway, stepping into Hard Rock Cafe was a relatively unique experience like a time warp, with guitars and pictures of groups ranging from the Beatles to U2. For some reason, at that point of time Beatles was rock…
See the iconic monster car lol.
I know my photography sucks, but there’s a gigantic red clock, and there’s a wall mural of the king, Elvis Presly, and various guitars on the walls.
Seriously, the place was amazing. So you must be wondering what I ate, seeing as it was, matter of factly, a place to eat.
I chose the NZ steak, with me getting damn du lan thanks to my dad lol. He orders well done for me all the time, and then the waitress was like, “eh you sure anot, well done take very long leh”. then I very paiseh, because it seems like I so kiddy must eat well done, so I sheepishly say “medium rare lor”
Okay nvm, so anyway after that I ate this thing called a mud pie. Call me naive, but I had no idea what the hell a mud pie was. so when I ordered it, it was this gigantic lump of ice cream chocolate and coffee and almonds. Catch was, it was so huge and so frozen that it took me another 15 minutes to eat it O_o
See the yummy chocolate stains lol. Oh yeah, I saw Suresh my scouty mate celebrating his friend’s birthday. The look on his face was classic when I shouted “SURESH!”
Of course, no visit to hard rock cafe is complete without a visit to the Merchandise. I didn’t buy a comon Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt lol. I bought the more modernized, style ones.
The one with the words “Rock and Roll”
Ala mortal kombat anyone?
It was damn fun. 
.
Btw, I posted all my english blog posts below this one, which number over 10 I think, so bon appetite, and enjoy
Just earlier on today at 2, about three quarters of the class went for bowling for our class outing at Orchid Bowl, E!hub.
Before delving into any details, let me introduce to you the saga that preceeded bowling. It was as if everyone didn’t want a class outing, and after we introduced to them our plan for a treasure hunt at East Coast Park, everyone vehemently disagreed. Eventually, our plans fizzled away one by one, either due to the dissidents in the class or a parent concerned with child safety, as in the case of swimming. Finally, we decided to go bowling as a last minute thing agreed upon just before the Chinese New Year concert. Whew
So yeah, now that you know the story of the class outing, let’s move on. I was at Daniel Lock’s house doing projects before the class outing, so I went for the class outing with Cheng Yu, who was in my group. We all eventually conglomerated at Pasir Ris MRT, which was actually quite cool. Me and Cheng Yu met up with Zhi hao and Ze xuan, then inexplicably Matthew and Dev popped out of nowhere. So we decided to go together.
Ze xuan the macho leader
Now actually getting to Orchid Bowl was a challenge in itself. E! hub at Downtown east was seriously huge, and well there were a lot of changes since I had actually gone there in the past 2 or 3 years.Also, the area shown below didn’t even have a covered walkway yet. The one that really takes the cake is that E!hub didn’t even exist when I last went to Downtown east for heaven’s sake. -.-”
So when we finally got there, everyone else was already there with their bowling shoes on and almost starting their game already. We quickly rushed to change our shoes at the counter, which was also a little weird because they only wanted one of our shoes. Imagine walking back to your seat to change shoes with only one side of your original footwear.
So after a while the game started. Of course, did I mention that I don’t bowl often? I mean, I actually got extremely low scores like 30 and 20 before in a single game due to the fact that I didn’t really know how to even hold the ball, much less be able to get spares or strikes. Of course, in every cloud there is a silver lining. Guess who was my silver lining? JOEJYN!
Okay, Joejyn was almost professional and all, with his glove in hand looking ready to rumble. Basically he taught me a little bit and soon I was getting at least a little better, with my score for half a game higher than my total score previously! Joejyn was of course heading the leader board with a score of 67. He’s seriously good at this, with this score of his ultimately being higher than my score for the entire game!
So here’s a picture of the scoreboard, with Joejyn leading the pack, followed by me, Zhi hao, Daniel Kong, Xun yi and finally Bok woon.
Of course, did I mention I didn’t eat lunch yet? I ate like $4 worth of Tom yam noodles in a cup. The service at the “bistro” was quite good, which I witnessed for myself when I told the person manning the counter that I urgently needed to go because it was my turn, and he put the noodles in a bowl and watched over it until I got back.
Of course, in every class there are people who don’t possess much originality, and quite a number of people started copying me and buying their own cup noodles. See, I’m a trendsetter! (Just joking)
So yeah, I mean, it’s just bowling, not much to blog about, and waiting for your turn when you have 5 people in your lane(or even 7 like mine did) can get slightly tedious. So some people were left jaded, and a good number of them decided to utilize their time fully and study…a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
Let’s get back to bowling and observe a master at work. Look at Bok Woon and his amazing method of bowling! First, he takes a ball which is obviously too heavy for him with a size of 14, and then he kneels, and pushes the ball with all his might. Seriously, he improved by loads, with him missing pins completely before! The video below has Daniel Kong demonstrating it though.
Now you may be wondering, why did Daniel miss almost completely? The secret lies in the ball. He was using a 7 when people much shorter than him were using 9s. So now you know. The heavier the ball, the better!(Don’t go around following my crazy advice and dislocating your arms )
So now you know how to bowl properly
I also did something fairly freaky. I threw the ball and somehow a pin got stuck UPRIGHT in the gutter and so the machine couldn’t clear it. So the screen displayed an error message:
Of course, it was a simple matter of throwing the ball into the gutter and watching it roll to the pin. In the end the mechanic didn’t even bother when he saw that we had settled it for ourselves. Whew.
A delicious Ice-cream Sunday from MacDonalds. Of course, you must be wondering how we managed to bring it in given that the rules state that no outside food and drinks are allowed? Simple. It involves a teacher, some plain plastic bags and of course wit Let’s just leave it at that.
In the end, Joejyn was the highest scorer with a combined score of over 200 for two games. He was duly rewarded with a whole tube of potato chips. As members of his group, we got some rewards as well, chiefly in the form of delicious chocolate bars called “Tolberone”.
All in all, the class outing was a pretty fulfilling one, where you see the whole class doing something they collectively enjoy, unlike what the atmosphere would have been had we gone on with the treasure hunt idea. On hindsight, we wanted to make them run from Lagoon(the food court) all the way to Macdonalds, which is quite far from end to end. No wonder the class wasn’t very enthusiastic.
Something to learn today: “In order to think BIG. You have to think SMALL”. How lamentable, however, that the class seldom organises these outings. With everyone collectively cheering on each other, laughing at each other’s antics and basically having a ball of a good time, it just can’t get better than this.
There’s really only one word describing today’s food: Ambrosial.
It simply means food that is extremely delicious, or another meaning would be that something that is so wonderful that it simply is worthy of the gods. Both are equally apt, as you’ll find out later.
Seriously, today’s food was fantastic. Actually, the title above that says Reunion “Dinner” is somewhat of a misnomer. Because we were actually quite busy on Saturday night, we decided to have a Reunion lunch. Of course, it wasn’t any less tasty than it would have been.
As you can see from the image above, my family went to this place called Peach Garden at OCBC towers. It’s some bank building *roll eyes* located near the Asian Civilizations Museum and Fullerton Hotel. The restaurant is really high up and when you’re standing in the elevator your ears start to pop.
So yeah, enough of the photos, you must be wondering what we ate. Well, before that, let me introduce the surroundings. Obviously, when something’s on the 33rd floor you expect it to have a view of some kind. Normally, we’d have a special room all to ourselves with a telescope in it, but unfortunately the restaurant management obviously needs to make money so they converted the special room into a mass seating area. We got a smaller room, but hey, it’s a ROOM.
Yeah. So you must really be wondering what I ate already. You know, I’ve probably been spamming photos more than anything, so I’ll post a photo of the menu!
As you can see, they specially create a menu for you when you order so it’s easier than scanning an intensive menu and not remembering what you’re going to eat after you’ve placed your order.
Okay, now on to the food. As you know, the Chinese always eat something called “Yu Sheng” for Chinese New Year, which is basically some thinly sliced carrots and whatnot, mixed with many ingredients such as a special sauce and some nuts. This one also mixed in some abalone and salmon, and basically the legend or story goes that the higher you toss it while mixing, the better your fortune would be. Of course, this results in everyone trying to toss it higher and higher and in the end the whole table gets messed up. As you can see they were tossing so quickly that it was hard to take a photo in the first place.
We have to chant some “prosperous” words and since my cousin’s mandarin standard is roughly the same as mine, we both just said some vague stuff and the best part was when we looked at each other and we were like, “Let’s just say “random chinese phrase!” because we don’t know anything else!”. Literally, that’s what we said.
After that came the Chicken(Peking Duck for the elders), which was largely delicious and would have been as uneventful as any other dish except for the fact that my cousin Andrew just stole an entire drumstick for himself and it was seriously funny watching him relish(or was it ravage) the drumstick. The chicken was actually quite tender, as in the “Melt in your mouth” tender, it was also very full of juice, and yeah. I think you get what I mean by now.
Andrew’s already in Primary One this year, but he’s still quite childish. One of the highlights of the meal was when he came up with this sentence: “Yoda didn’t have a lightsaber because Yoda was a puppet until he changed into a computer”. Seriously. I have NO idea what he was talking about.
Moving on, next was the shark’s fin. Now normally shark’s fin is something that’s quite colorless and all, however this one was orange-ish because of the fish roe they put inside. It was quite fishy somehow, so me and my cousin Kevin spammed soy sauce. Other than the fishy taste it was actually quite tasty and the consistency and texture was remarkable. It’s kind of an insult to the chef, I know, but I don’t think he would prefer that I threw it away! Maybe it was just our tastebuds, because when I looked at everyone else it was possible to see that they all relished it.
There were other dishes such as the fish and the fried rice which were equally tasty but by that time I was almost gorged full and basically I was too lazy to take photos, but I assure you that the dishes were of the same standard and consistency throughout. The desert was a coconut with jelly and the juice inside. Of course, cold deserts are always one of the best and it was a satisfying conclusion to the meal.
So yeah, it was really a great time to catch up with family again, and seriously a private room helps a lot because the place was actually quite crowded. The food was also pristine and really fantastic. There was a lot of effort put into the dishes and the presentation. You might think I’m dressing it up just because of the atmosphere and all, but they actually carve the Peking duck in front of you and you can see the skill required. Also, all the staff also wear Qipaos(Chinese traditional dress) or designer suits.
Back to the point about family discussion, I was talking to Kevin about how hard it was to cope with siblings and he commented that actually I was quite lucky with no siblings. Also, we were discussing how RI(Raffles Institution) makes psychology a compulsory subject for its students and so it was a really enlightening conversation. We discussed the different subject combinations and how the learning environment was different in each school, but in the end we agreed that we were genuinely enjoying our stay in our respective schools.
Not only is Chinese New Year a great time for get-togethers, you also learn a little about things going on around you like for example the example above, and you also get to reminisce a little. Me and my cousin used to play Pokemon cards together a lot but we grew out of it and he passed his cards on down to his brother. Of course, being the evil brother he is, he passed the fake cards down to his brother xD
After lunch, we went for a stroll around the scenic area at the Singapore River. Just outside the OCBC towers, there was this interesting sculpture. Of course, my two young cousins had everything but fine art on their minds. Rather, they were more interested in the water flowing around it…
See the wet footprints? That’s because Jennifer(That’s my cousin by the way) stepped into the water and then ran up and down the pathway. I guess she had a lot of fun…although in this photo she looks rather scared of the sculpture, I have no idea why. In the background, you can see Andrew frolicking in the meadows(A concrete one, by the way).
All in all, it was a rather exciting day where I could bond and meet up with my family again, and also learn a little more about each other’s likes and dislikes and of course more about their personality itself. I suppose the fellowship is one of the key components that make up a celebration, isn’t it? It isn’t really about the treats or even the red packets. It’s about family and the conviviality of it all. Everything else is just an outlet to augment the true spirit of togetherness.
On that note, let me take this opportunity to wish you guys Happy CNY
Today, I went for the Chingay Practice Session at the People’s Association building at Kallang. Now if you’re asking what’s Chingay all about, basically it’s like a festival with float processions held somewhere during new year. Originally it was only for foreigners but in recent years they have opened it up to the general public.
Now my role was to be situated at the grandstand and give out gifts and goodie bags to the guests seated directly above the VIPs. Now, you may be thinking “Wow cool you get to be near the president, ministers and all the other important people!”. Well, the bad news is, you have to sing some S club 7 song(Reach for the sky) while you’re at it! Not so enviable now, right?
Before I jump the gun any further, let me take this opportunity to just start from the beginning. Now, a minimum of two volunteers were supposed to attend the briefing, but due to unforseen circumstances I ended up going alone. So sad.
Some photos of us looking stunned. There were some administrative problems so we ended up waiting there for what felt like over an hour before things started.
This is the inside of the auditorium. In the auditorium, we were supposed to practice the abovementioned themesong and also we were briefed on what it was all about. In brief, the Victorians were part of the Heart contingent and we were supposed to give out gifts. The song practice session was really funny because we were made to do funny vocal excercises and the lyrics sounded like they were written by a six year old. The lyrics were really purile and they went like:
“And when that rainbow’s shining over you
That’s when your dreams will all come true”
Amazing. They also got the cub scouts to sing and dance, and some of them in particular looked very enthusiastic and indefatigable.
So after our briefing dinner was provided. It was actually quite okay with a variety of “dishes ” such as wonton, some fish fillet, satay chicken and vegetables. Although some people were saying it was worse than army food…which to me isn’t really saying a lot because army food is supposed to be of a rather acceptable standard now anyway.
Eventually we started to sort of rehearse our roles, so the float naturally floated(pun intended) past us, and we had to sing the cheesy theme song while the people tailgating the float had to dance along to High School Musical.
Just some photos of our amazing float. Here’s a video to prove exactly what I mean. It’s actually quite colorful and all, and it’s actually quite intimidating.
Oh and by the way, did you guys ever see a float reversing before? It’s really kind of interesting because it’s hard to imagine such a gargantuan thing actually being able to go backwards. It was going backwards because we ran though the procedure twice so it was like rewinding a video several times. Bet you guys have never seen this before!
So all in all, it was a rather interesting rehearsal, but it was boring at the start because I don’t think you would really enjoy singing lyrics like those. Also, we went home at 8.30pm, but it could have been a lot later without the intervention of Mr Tan who was there actually… I mean 2 hours of just singing that song can really numb your senses. But it is a good experience, and I don’t regret coming for the practice even though no one from the class did. We formed a sort of MRT gang and we just sort of clicked, bound together by our one true purpose. To get home unscathed, to emerge alive through the hustle and bustle of the streets of Geylang.
It was a rather enjoyable day today, and as you can guess from the title of this post, today I had the annual reunion dinner with my father’s side of the family. That’s why it’s called Reunion Dinner ONE. I’m expecting a second one next week.
My father’s side of the family are devout vegetarians, so unsurprisingly, with the recent economic downturn and all, we went for a vegetarian buffet! Now you may be wondering, if the daily queue at the vegetarian store in school is anything to go by, WHO in the right frame of mind would go for a vegetarian buffet? Well, it was with trepidation that I stepped into the restaurant, although my impressions would soon change, as you can find out later =D
A picture of the facade of the restaurant. It was actually quite pleasant, and I think that assuaged the culture shock I got at the idea of a vegetarian buffet.
When I went in, I was actually very surprised at the number of people seated comfortably, and I was soon to discover for myself the reason. When I was at the buffet table, I was instantly surprised at the large variety of dishes that they served, and some of them looked just as tasty, or even more appetizing then their meaty counterparts. For example, the Siew Mai(A yellow dumpling) was very juicy, and the difference in taste was very subtle. There was also a very aromatic Chicken rice, various dumplings, a pot pie, and other exciting dishes.
As you know, it’s quite awkward to be standing in the middle of a crowd and trying to snap a few photographs with everyone bustling around you trying to pick the choicest food. So I apologize if any of the photos are substandard( excuses, excuses =D)
So anyway, I found myself having a whole different idea of vegetarian food. Actually the chief dislike I have of vegetarian food is the concept of mock meat. I honestly feel that vegetarian food is actually quite well off without the gluten mockery of meat. Back to the topic, as you probably can tell from this paragraph, I’m quite an avid fan of meat, but in the comfortable settings and wide variety of food, I felt equally at home as I would have felt at any other buffet.
Oh, did I mention that I had this gigantic ulcer? Well of course those who’ve had ulcers at some point in their lives(I think everyone would have at least one) would know how unbearable the pain can be at times, especially when you have one located right at your gums and your teeth grind against the ulcer all the time when you’re chewing. As you can probably tell, it hurt a lot. Surprisingly though, the food was actually good enough to make me forget the ulcer. For which the food would have to be IMMENSLY tasty in order to achieve that.
Of course, all this talk might make me sound gluttony, after all, the real point of the reunion dinner is to catch up with family. My uncle was also very animated when he saw us coming up with unusual combinations of food, such as putting ice cream into a cup of coke to get Do-It-Yourself coke float! Everyone was also laughing heartily at each other’s jokes and enjoying the food, and so with everyone else in the restaurant doing the same, it was a great place to be in with the lively atmosphere. So yeah, I caught up with some cousins of mine, said hi to my grandmother, and best of all, received my red packets xD Only joking, I’m not that much of a money face.
Back to buffet, it was actually quite crowded, so I regularly had people bumping into me as they tried to get to their seats with their plates full of food. Of course, no one in their right minds would actually volunteer to get blessed with plates full of sauce and noodles and God knows what else, so I respectfully gave way, although sometimes my courtesy was returned with people stepping on my foot as they walked past. I was actually quite tempted to comment on their bodily proportions, but then I decided, well, maybe not. After all, I didn’t want the mood to get spoilt.
One of the more interesting highlights was the spoon which I got for my ice cream. It was bent and it was actually quite funny trying to eat ice cream with a L-shaped spoon.
The meal was actually quite filling, as you know gluten is very filling, so after about an hour or so of eating we were quite ready to go.
And so the reunion dinner was actually quite an exposure. It was also a great time to meet up with family. I mean, isn’t the family spirit one of the intrinsic aspects of a celebration? Maybe I wasn’t able to highlight the family spirit so much, I mean it’s something you can only really experience for yourself, don’t you agree? Of course, I’ve tried to the best of my ability, so let’s just all soak in the experience of the new year and get into the festive mood(and food!).
One thing I’m sure of, I’m joining the vegetarian queue =D I’m still a carnivore though, so don’t worry!
On the 12th of January, it was a very special day for me. Of course, it’s not the day I got married, but it’s close enough.
MY BIRTHDAY!
Yeah. I’m a good year older now, and probably a good year wiser. On second thoughts, maybe not. So anyway, 12th of January was an ordinary school day, so that part isn’t really something you’d want to look at. It’s the part in the evening that’s exciting.
My family and I have a proclivity for Japanese or Chinese food, so today, we decided to go to Bugis Junction to eat at Ministry of Food @ My Izakaya (MOF). It’s mainly mainstream Japanese food, with sushi, ramen, udon, bento boxes and the like.
Before that, I went to Converse and bought myself a T-shirt. I had $20 worth of vouchers from my last trip there, and since they were going to expire soon, it was naturally a perfect way to spend them.
I’m not going to reveal what it looks like just yet, so that my readers will gladly read on about my day until the end. Alternatively, you could always just scroll down to the bottom, but what would be the fun in that?
Back to MOF, well I had something called Tan-Tan ramen. Sounds like sir, don’t you think Just joking. It’s basically a spicy ramen with some kind of meat inside, I can’t really remember. I think it was either chicken or pork. Pardon the horrible memory :X
Yeah. As you can see the broth’s kind of oily and all, but it was really delicious and actually quite light, and the spiciness of the broth added the “zing” to the otherwise pretty prosaic noodles. I then ordered this ice cream desert called “Kakigori”. It’s Japanese crushed ice, much like ice kachang except that there’s only one variety of topping you can pick. I chose mango. The very unique thing is that they come with small bottle of sauce which you can just put onto your Kakigori in case you find it too bland for your liking. Of course, the sauce is really sweet and so you are advised to use with caution.
There’s a small piece of paper behind the bottle of sauce, basically what that is is a little explanatory note, which I think is one of the finer points of MOF, and really an indication of the kind of unparagoned service they provide. It explains what Kakigori actually is, and what the sauce is, in case you didn’t know.
So after that I went home to a surprise: The mango cake that my mom had bought earlier
As you might already know, I’m so crazy about mango that if you notice my ice cream was mango too XD
All in all, it was a rather enjoyable 14th birthday, with a nice meal with my family. I think what really matters is that you’re with your family, because that’s what makes a birthday so special. I don’t think you would enjoy your birthdays the same if you had to buy the slice of cake on your own, squat in a corner and sing “happy birthday to me!”.
So yeah, I guess I do have a lot of things to do now, so I’ll just end off with a picture of the converse tee that you’ve all been waiting for!
RSP Orientation
*This post was written for my English Blogging Assignment in school, so it might be somewhat more formal than usual.
Today was a rather interesting day, which was the Regional Studies Program(RSP) orientation for the new secondary one students. Of course, we the pioneer batch didn’t get one because well…we were the pioneer batch! And though we didn’t really feel it, it’s sort of a duty for the initiated to induct the uninitiated. Although there are many methods, like dunking people into the Eco Pond, we decided to do it the civilized way, after all, we’re all gentlemen.
So it was up to us to make sure that the new Secondary one students had a more special introduction than us. We planned a very special lineup, starting with a little tour of the RSP room and the little “garden” outside on the balcony, and ending with Amazing Race: RSP version. I’ll elaborate on that a little later, but for now, I’ll put up some pictures of the tour.
I was in charge of the spice smelling station during the Amazing Race, so at the start I figured I’d contribute to the instruments introduction, seeing as I had a rough idea of how to play both sets of instruments, the Gamelan and the Arrumba respectively.
A picture of the Secondary One Students with me laughing heartily in the background, at what I can’t remember.
Just a small picture of the garden in case anyone is interested.
So basically, since I had some free time before my job started with the Amazing Race, I decided I’d give Daniel Kong a helping hand in introducing the instruments. The Secondary Ones were very responsive, albeit a little cheeky. They gamely volunteered to try out some of the instruments and all in all I felt that “WOW” factor.
I’m really sorry, but I didn’t take a photo of the spice smelling station. Basically, the game worked this way: I showed them 3 spices, and I asked them to smell them and I told them the name of it. Then I blind folded them and gave them the spice to smell and subsequently name. It was quite interesting to note that some of the secondary one students have really keen noses!
* I did take a photo of the skybridge though.
There were a whole lot of other stations including Bola Bekel(A version of five stones with seashells), Sepak Takraw, Gasing, Chapteh(Traditional games), Naming the instruments, Naming the plants(The garden DID come in handy!) and the Secondary One students really enjoyed it.
The day ended with the grand finale, the pièce de résistance . Ze xuan singing Bengawan Solo!
Let’s watch a clip of Ze xuan serenading us with his Baritone voice!
Wasn’t that just amazing? That smooth voice really launches you into the song and you inevitably find yourself cheering and applauding every time he gives you an opportunity to!
Honestly, humor aside(I thought that Ze Xuan put in his 100%), it’s really laudable that everyone was willing to put up a good show just to tell the Secondary Ones that, hey, “RSP is FUN!”. On hindsight, pulling this whole day into perspective, I think that honestly, it was a really incredible introduction to everything RSP related, and in a certain sense, the Victorian Spirit, how everyone is willing to contribute in their best capacity to make the whole event a gigantic success.
It just shows very plainly, that anyone can plan something that everyone enjoys as long as you believe in your cause and you put in your 110%
It was a rather interesting day today, reason being it was the first scout meeting of the year with the confirmed secondary one students who were interested to join scouts. There was quite a large number for a first meeting with about 13 attendees, as compared to my year’s 7. Almost a 100% increase, which I guess is quite a good piece of news for Arrow Scout Troop =D
The two new arrivals to my patrol(A group of 8, in my case), Washington, were called Yip Ming and Jerald. They were from Tao Nan School. They were quite enthusiastic and eager to learn and generally I felt that they were quite a great pair of juniors…although a bit perverse, if I may call it that. Let’s just leave things as they are. It can get quite disgusting. Anyhow, other than that everything was just fine.
Jerald
Yip Ming
So today we started off with physical training(PT) where we ran from School to Bedok Jetty and back. The Secondary 1 scouts were actually quite good at running and about 5 of them were leading the pack at the front. Of course, I’m not a bad runner myself( Wipe that smirk off your face ) and so I was running with them. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as tired as I was before whenever we ran this route. I still relish the memories where everyone would start cursing the PT-in-charge whenever he took a right turn out of the school onto the zebra crossing to run down East Coast Park =D
After that was a rather fun game at the parade square called “Assassination All Stars”. Basically it was a game where you had to capture the other patrol’s “staff” at their base and carry it back to yours. You carried your scarf in your pocket, and if the opposing team managed to pull out your scarf you were “killed”. You would then have to go back to your base and then you could go out again. As you know, scouts wear scarves as part of their uniform. So it was really a game of “Get the staff but don’t get killed while you’re at it”. It could get pretty rough, with torn pants and minor bruises being the norm. I myself got some minor scratches because of the hard concrete floor and the nature of the game, but I guess it was pretty worth it, with the learning objectives being strategic thinking and teamwork.
After that we had our various lectures and tests for the different components on our Scout Standard. The Scout Standard is the most basic progress badge for scouts. It requires a certain proficiency in First aid, Knots, Foot drill, Map work, National loyalty and other aspects.
As a group of the Secondary 1 scouts, including myself, had already passed, we were tasked to build a rope ladder using the knots we already knew. It was also actually partially due to a talkative scout mate, Fabian, who suggested to the scout leader that we build a ladder. As such, we had a 10 minute limit, and for any knots tied wrongly or for any extra time we took, we were given 10 push ups for each “offense”.
We had tied one knot at the top of the ladder wrongly, and we were also late by a minute. As such, we had to do 20 push ups. However, it was quite fun as we obviously enjoyed ourselves. It was a practical application for the knots we had already learnt, and besides, you do have to know how to tie the knots in a practical setting, rather than just knowing how to tie them without a clue as to their real use.
After building the ladder, we were made to play a game of soccer, albeit twisted almost beyond recognition. We were playing on all fours on the extremely rough ground and our goal posts were improvised with shoes and the monkey bars already there. It was also pretty easy to get tackled as we were all on our hands.
All in all, I felt that it was a rather interesting scout meeting and that it was a good introduction to scouting for the new Secondary 1 recruits. They witnessed the scouting spirit for themselves when they saw us doing the Arrow Yell, and in some sense they also saw the Victorian Spirit. There was plenty of opportunity for interaction, and I also learnt that even though in theory, some things might be easy, but in real life, it could be vastly different. It’s one thing to learn textbook knowledge, but a different thing altogether to put it in practice.
Today was a rather interesting day. It was the day where I went to the Bedok Community Center to receive my Edusave Scholarship. It’s a cash award given out to encourage the top 10% of each school’s cohort to continue to strive for better results and also to keep up the effort.
When I arrived, I hardly saw anyone I knew, surprisingly. I think it’s because most Victorians stay around the Marine Parade area and not Bedok. When I was in primary school, I thought it was natural not to know anyone since my school was located in Tampines. It was unsettling because I predicted that with no one I knew, it would be a long and ardous journey… filled with waiting.
We were supposed to report at 7pm, while the ceremony would start at 7.45pm. Of course, you might be asking yourself, “What exactly did you do for almost an hour?”. The more seasoned people were reading books, obviously used to the monotonous atmosphere. This being only my first receiving it, I wasn’t as “experienced” and I could only stare at my hand phone and play with my games or send messages to my friends.
Before that though, there was something very interesting that happened. The letter with information I received indicated that my seat was A 00 49. However, I was looking around for it and I simply couldn’t find it. Of course it was very embarrassing, especially when it appears that you cannot read the numbers on the seats. Eventually, someone on duty informed me that my seat was changed to C 00 49. Needless to say I was quite angry at being made a fool for nothing
A rather blurry photo of the stage.
Eventually, it was my turn to go up and receive my award. One of the things which could be improved, I felt, was the fact that no one really knew what to do. Do you bow towards the audience or don’t you? For me I just decided, oh well, since everyone was bowing I’ll just follow suit. I went up, shook the Guest of Honour’s hand(Mr S. Jayakumar), went down, all in a matter of 10 seconds. It was a rather short lived moment of glory, but I guess it was good enough.
So yeah. It was a rather interesting process at the beginning, but towards the end it got rather boring as there were over 200 receipients. With the ardous droning of the emcee it was a bit too much to bear, asnd especially since he had already mispronounced my name at the beginning, it was bit hard to get endeared to his voice. When they finally announced that we could go home, I quickly put my certificate into my bag and rushed home.
Moral of the story: Always pack a book when you know something’s going to be long and boring. Since everyone’s crazy about twilight now, maybe picking it up isn’t a bad choice. It’s not really a moral per se, but considering that it was just one long award ceremony I think it’s not so bad to be able to pick something out from it.
One last photo:
I censored the amount just in case people start thinking I’m rich and all. XD
