Life is unexpected.

It is funny how things turn out. When I started the year 2008, I remember I was worrying more about my college life next time and my AP exams. But look at what is one of the last things I do in 2008: A 4km (actually I heard we walked 6km because commanders cheat us) route march down Tekong Highway in full battle order.

I simply hate route marches. First, we are in full battle order so we move slowly and assemble slowly (so we knock it down average of 2 times). Then we walk at 5km/hr and complete 4km in less than an hour (By the time feel like dying already). Then (for reasons like we did not keep compact, keep in step or sing) we march another 3 rounds round the company building (300m per round). Then commanders not happy with our marching standard we knock it down again (lucky today we did not knock it down with our full battle order).

Well, life sucks but I dunno why I still want it to be suckier for I am aiming to go command school...

My last post for a long time (9 hrs from NS)

I can't help but sigh. Everything is happening all too fast and I will be enlisting in another 9hrs. Today is the last day of freedom for me, but it was a hectic day. I have been rushing to complete my applications to Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, PSC, DSTA and NUS. Now I am pretty much done, I just need to click on the submit button.

From the looks of it, I don't think I will get anywhere but NUS, cos NUS is the only University without a personal statement. My Cornell essay is screwed up as I did not really state why I want to go Cornell.Didn't do much research anyway. My DSTA essay is crappy and corny. My PSC essay is outdated. My Carnegie Mellon essay is screwed because...I dunno, it is just screwed. I also don't know what stupid mistakes I make along the way and my grades sucked big time. University applications are always a pain, but I guess I have done my best. I have always been afraid to submit my forms but I guess like I said in my previous posts: Do not fear. Do not regret. I hope I will do my best in NS too and have a wonderful experience. That is all I ask for, for now...

尽人力,顺天意!

Here is an old route march song to boost my morale:

Training to be soldiers,
Fight for our land.
Once in our life,
Two years of our time.
Have you ever wondered
why we must serve?
Cos we love our land,
and want it to be free to be free.

Looking all around us,
people everywhere.
Children having fun,
while we are holding guns.
Have you ever wondered
why we must serve?
Cos we love our land,
and want it to be free to be free!

尽人力,顺天意! To all the graduated boys from NUS High School: Let's do our best!

My Second Last Post Before NS!

I went to send the people off to Australia yesterday. We had dinner at Swensens where I ate this half done Sirlon Steak that was oozing with blood. Yum. I have no idea why it took so long to be served, I thought they made it well done... We did a couple of jump shots after that. I wished I can go with them but like Roy said,"Duty to the nation comes first." That's why I reminded those people to remember, when they return from Australia, the reason why they still have an island to return to. Haha must find a reason to feel "big". Apparently Yi Yi also left yesterday, but somehow we didn't see her. Perhaps she was at terminal one. We prepared a card for her and Jing Min took it to her. I have no idea if she will be returning to Singapore one day. All the foreigners like Hari, will all be going back. At least I heard the Vietnam friends like Long will be staying in NUS.

As time passes, I decided to leave to catch the last train back home. I went back with Eugenie, Reico, and two of Zhao Ye's juniors whom she tutored. Really miss those people going to Australia as they wished me one last good luck and scary well wishes like "Don't die in NS" and "grow fat in NS". We did manage to catch the last train to the city. On the way, we three seniors continued to preach stuff like "How to apply to University" and "How to do well in physics" and "How to get good CAP and don't be like us..." Well, extra tuition and college counseling on the MRT. One of the juniors just lived at the condo in front of my HDB so I managed to send her close to the gate, saving me from the wrath of Zhao Ye if anything happened to her junior. When she come back, I shall make an official report to her:

Recruit Ye reporting, Maam!

Mission accomplished on December 6, 2350 hrs. Escort safely arrived at rendezvous point!

Convocation 2008

Since I am uploading photos on facebook, I might as well do another post. Convocation was really interesting. We received our diploma from the guest of honor Dr Ng Eng Hen. After I received mine, I opened it to find it empty! Then the teacher backstage dumped me a big envelope that contained my transcripts.

After the ceremony, we went for "reception"(it was more like a buffet) at the hall and that was when the fun starts. Me and Abi wanted to take a picture with the minister. Abi had an ice-cream in his hand and we thought it would be cool to take with him while holding the ice-cream. But for about an hour, the minister had to talk to students and teachers until Abi's ice-cream melted :( We also took many crazy photos. I am telling Eugene to edit the one in which we pose as jedi knights and sith as our convo gowns look like jedi robes.

After convocation, I went out for dinner with a group of people at fish and co. We did all sorts of things to the drinks like adding pepper, salt and cheese XD. Benedict added cotton candy until his ice water turned red, then he asked for a top-up and the waitress was like "What drink is this?". He then complained that something went wrong with his ice water.

As we went home, we walked past the school again. There it stood, quiet in the night. Everybody was gone. We decided to take a few more pictures as we walked to clementi MRT. Me and Jing Min tried to take with Nan Hua but it din turn out that well. We had a few cool jump shots too. Elaine always seem to find some new ways to take photo and the girls really dun know death. They keep taking photos in the middle of Clementi avenue 1.

What will we be like 10 years later?

University Application and memories

After so many weeks of preparation for Carnegie Mellon Early Decision 2, I decided that I am not applying Early Decision 2. What a waste! I have done my reading up on the University and I think it is a great place to study in. However, if I cannot get a scholarship, there is no way I am going to pay for the high tuition fees. If I get in (I emphasize on the "if"), I am bound to the university and I will have to work part time. Life will be tough for both my parents and I.

Currently, I am going to apply for just Cornell and Carnegie Mellon University through regular decision. Commonapp is not as worth it as UCAS to spam college as I have to pay for every college I apply to. The personal statements are time consuming too. I also have to focus on applying to scholarships that I like, as well as start on the NUS application. I think these are more realistic procedures.

I guess people can guess why I suddenly have time to come online to blog. I don't really like blogging especially when there are important deadlines to meet (like application deadline). This coming monday is convocation, and I probably should blog about that, since my blog already missed out events like my trip back to China and prom.

I am really tired today. M05305's last chalet before graduation ended this morning and it was really fun. I can't believe that the game of truth and dare can be so sadistic and disgusting, but we just keep fooling around anyway. I think I just developed a new interest for the game of Risk, too bad the time this morning was too short and we only completed one game before we had to book out.

Well, I guess I should continue to finish up on my commonapp. Afterall I still have PSC, brightsparks and NUS applications to fill up. No idea when the nightmare is going to end. At this time of year, I can't help but wonder where all my friends will be 20 years down the road. Doctors, lawyers, bankers, engineers, researchers, musicians...we will all recall the memories in NUS High School. Reminds me of a song:

Midnight.
Not a sound from the pavement.
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone.
In the lamp light, the withered leaves collect at my feet.
And the wind begins to moan.

Memory.
All alone in the moonlight,
I can smile at the old days.
It was beautiful then.
I remember the time when I knew what happiness was.
Let the memory live again!

Daylight.
I must wait for the sunrise.
I must think of a new life.
And I musn't give in.
When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too,
and a new day shall begin!

Last Day of School

I feel so numb on the last day of school. Everyone around me were trying to treasure every last moment they spent in school today but somehow I could not get into that mood.

I ran another race today for Fleming. Li Ang said that he cannot cope with 3 race in a row so I subbed him for 4 x 400m. I joined a team of juniors and they are all damn fast! The race ended without me knowing what position we got, I think we got 4th. I don't think there is anyway we could have outran Cai Yue, Clement and Nat.

The day ended with a farewell party from the juniors of table tennis club. Yan Long ordered pizza and all the year 6s received a farewell gift (a bottle of folded stars). I must really thank Wen Xin for making this. According to Yan Long, she was given a short notice and finished the job within one day! This is what I call efficiency.

I think just like the astronomy club, this table tennis club will be very special to me as it was founded by me, Yun Ying and Dominic (Leslie and Jia Jun too, but they betrayed us and joined badminton initially). We took a great deal of effort to persuade Mrs Lim Jee Nee(forgot how to spell her name) to let us set up this club. We also managed to pull through 2 years with $0 funds from the school (we must thank Mr Chai for his dedication to this team as I guess he payed the original funds). In fact, money only starts coming in this year. I do not know how much the juniors treasure this CCA but I wish they will continue to commit and achieve what we have failed to achieve.

I also talked to one of the year 3s whom I tutored for physics this morning. I found out that he managed to pass his mechanics which is great. I also heard that the other juniors from the tutoring scheme put up by the physics department are also doing well. I really hope that the juniors work harder and maintain the standard of NUS High School(and get that freaking 4.5 CAP). This is because I have been trying to fill up scholarship and university applications and my transcript looked very depressing. Even if I am granted an interview, I guess I will have to think of 101 excuses why I got so many Bs and Cs and so few As. I truly wish that the juniors do not make the same mistake as I did. Now I can only try for scholarships and Universities, but it is most probable that I will end up in NUS in the end.

So do work hard, juniors of NUS High School!

I love the whole world

Finally, my time in NUS High School is coming to an end with only 2 days of sports day, 1 day of convocation and 1 day of prom left. This 4 years in school had been a hell of a rollercoaster ride for me and this had really made me appreciate the friends I have made.

So with this entry I try to end off my entries of recalling how I met people:

Dr Wong-I knew Dr Wong even before NUS High School. She was from the Christofori School of Fine arts at Funan IT mall at I first saw her perform during a Christofori annual concert. She was the only performer that was so full of energy (In fact, me and my parents thought she was a male teacher). And before school began, she was introduced as the music teacher for NUS High School during one of the earlier meet the teacher sessions and I was like O.o "She looks familiar".

Altron- I met him during the first music theory lesson with Dr Wong. We were just dismissed from lecture theatre and he is the only 305 student taking the module, so ok lor, go to class together.

Tan Li- I also knew Tan Li before I came to NUS high School as we were both from Nan Hua. Last time he used to be in the Chinese Culture Club LOLX. I met him during a calligraphy competition and we both won bronze (or level 3) prizes. Then I saw him in one of the early meet the parent sessions of NUS High School. So we both decided to see the principal of Nan Hua together to submit the drop out forms as we thought the principal would be very fierce.

Jieshen, Jaq, Benedict, Gabriel- During the start of the second semester, I got to work in a group with them to build a projectile. We decided to build a water rocket and we went to buy the materials together. I remember we all used to stay very late to do the project and Jaq and Jieshen would stay the latest (hmmm...I wonder...argh nvm). The rocket was not very well made so it is not at all accurate. I remember that the rocket always fire out into the field, turn around, and fly towards Benedict. We actually had plans to put him out on the field during competition to act as the homing beacon XD. Still remember how we took off the casing of the ceiling light to use as a launching device.

Leslie-Like Tan Li, I met this guy when we got called for calligraphy competition. Nothing special to talk about though.

Weiling- Can't really recall when I got to know her, but if I am not wrong she added me on msn. I remember that I found this name familiar but dun know who she is...but heck, I added her to the contact.

I can't really remember how I met the rest of the people but over the years, I got to know more people much better.

Another thing that NUS High School taught me is to love the world. These 4 years had been hell, so I think I can appreciate the world much better now. The school drilled so much scientific information of the world into me that there is this part of me that had been trying to view the world in a more artistic way. Like what I described in my personal statement to Cambridge, I loved the way the tides rise and fall, I loved the sounds of nature and I loved how the sun rises from the east.

I think this feeling is best described in the new Discovery Channel Commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ

Damn this commercial rocks the world! Boom De Ya Da! Boom De Ya Da!
I love the whole world, it's such a brilliant place! Boom De Ya Da! Boom De Ya Da!
The world is just awesome! And NUS High School made me realize that.

Harmony in the world.

Since I was going to enlist on 11th December I thought I would do some investigation of what army life is like. Then I came across this movie made in 1996 called "Army Daze" and I think the show is a very interesting portrayal of army life. Now I know about the existence 5BX, standard obstacle course, and field crafts. The conversations in this film are also very funny. These are the top 5 funny conversations:

5. Lathi (a recruit's girlfriend): You are very young you know, to be an officer? Are you also in the NS?
2nd Lieutanent Heng: Oh I am a regular.
Lathi: and I'm a large.

4. Corporal Ong: Recruit Png!
Recruit(covered with leaves): Yes corporal!(blunder around)
Corporal Ong: Recruit Png!
Recruit: Yes Corporal! (Finally found the corporal)
Corporal Ong: Recruit, your camouflage is so wonderful......I cannot see you......and you cannot see me.

3. Sergeant(during field camp): I have some good news, and some bad news.
Recruits: good news, good news first.
Sergeant: Everyone will get a change of underwear tonight
Recruits: YAY!
Sergeant: The bad news is......Platoon 4 change with Platoon 5.
Recruits: EH?!

2. Corporal Ong: Recruit Krishna.
Krishna: Yes corporal.
Corporal Ong: Jump.
Krishna jumps and his camouflage of leaves fell off.
Corporal Ong: Recruit Krishna, you call this camouflage arh? You are a disgrace to the nation...wind blow only, all your stupid leaves fall off. My grandmother can do better than you. (walks away)
Krishna: Then ask your grandmother do lah......
Corporal Ong: What's that?
Krishna: Sorry......nothing......
Corporal Ong: Sorry no cure, drop twenty! drop twenty! drop twenty!
Krishna: eh?! That means drop 60 arh?
Corporal: ah then?

1. Lathi (Krishna's girlfriend): Krishna I heard you were the best PT. How did you run so fast arh?
Krishna: aiyah, nothing lah, I just pretend I was being chased lah.
Lathi: By Corporal Ong?
Krishna: No lah, by his grandmother.

Recalling the First Days in NUSHS part 3 and how I got to know 2 people

There was this greatest prank in the history of NUS High School that occurred somewhere during the first semester of school (I think). So there was this Indian guy in our school hanging out with the rest of his friends. They were teaching this guy to learn Chinese! Or so it seems......

"Hey, I dare you to say "嫁给我吧" to the first girl you see." Thinking that it is some vulgar phrase, our Indian friend hyped up and went straight to a girl who was entering the area and said to her,"嫁给我吧!"(Oh men, I would have loved to see her reaction XD)

This is how I first heard of the name Hari (our Indian friend) and Zhao Ye (the girl). And people continued to tease them for the rest of year 3 and year 4.

Recalling the First Days in NUSHS part 2

This is a continuation of my previous post. The other thing that I managed to recall about the first day of school was breaking up into our respective houses. That was when I met Long! I was sent to the Flemming house and I remember clearly that I was sitting right behind Long. He turned around and greeted me and Abi (who was also in Flemming) and introduced himself. I thought his accent sounded funny thought he was French. He was the second new person I spoke to in NUS High School.

The next person who I met was non other than Gregory Lau! This happened around day 3 to day 4 (big lag). We were in the same subject class and he was sitting right behind me and Abi. I remember that one of the first discussions the three of us had was about quarks (up, down, strange, charmed, top and bottom). That was before the first physics lesson with Mr Lim where he showed a picture of the physics professor standing on the wall in his first slide. Oh men! Mr Lim was teaching with ppt. that time. Can you believe it?

I also got to know Tat Leong at that time. He was sitting beside Gregory on the first day of lessons. He later went back to his old school after a term.

We had an introductiory session during English with Mrs Zheng (wonder if anyone remember her). That was when I got to know Samantha Wong. Why? Because she was the only one who could not remember my name and came to ask me a second time. -_-lll

Sometime later, we had our Chinese lesson in that Chinese classroom. There, I got to know Fung Ai Wei because she sat beside me (er...I shall not go into the details of how this happened, but she chased Kenwei away and say she wanted to sit beside me. That freaked me out.) I also talked to Yi Yi and Jing Xuan (and I found out Jing Xuan was from Nan Hua! Epic Fail!).

Now I need to go and salvage more memories of interesting encounters from my memory.

Recalling the First Days in NUSHS

Now that most of the major exams are over, I have decided to end the hibernation of this blog. Last Wednesday was farewell assembly, and that sort of marked the end of the "NUS High School" chapter of our life. This is the parting of ways as the girls will be preparing to enter University and the guys (except Tan Li ) will be preparing for NS!! (I am enlisting on 11th December) Therefore, I feel that it is appropriate to post some of my personal flashbacks on how I met some of the wonderful friends at NUS High School (if I can still remember).

If I am not wrong, I remember when we first started on 3rd January 2005. The first person that I remember clearly seeing at school was Lip Tong. I did not talk to him however, and he was not the first person I know in NUS High School. Back in 2004, I remember meeting Abi at the Maths and Science camp (he was awarded best member of the team) and Lei Lei when we were buying uniforms and books (both our parents were consulting each other on what to buy and what not to buy). The first person I talked to on the first day was Abi, because we remembered each other from the camp. When assembly started, I met up with Tan Li, Royston and Andrea and Chai Yue (from Nan Hua). Then I remembered that Lei Lei was the first to be punished by Ms Norizan for forgetting to hand in some form.

Later, I remember breaking into the mentor groups and that was when Nicholas was appointed mentor rep. Sadly, I did not remember any other names on the first day. I cannot recall any other events that happened on that day though, but I remember talking to Nicholas on the way back to the MRT that day.

The first day was more or less like that. In the next entry, I shall try to recall how I got to know the other people in NUS High School.

Do not regret

I must say that I am a man of few entries. I still find it kind of difficult to start writing in a blog. Anyway, I strongly few that I must post this story that I heard so that maybe years later I can still look back and reflect upon it.

There used to be a chieftain of a particular tribe who gathered the teenagers and said to them,"I will be sending you all away to seek your own destiny, your own path and your own life. I have only six words to guide you and these six words shall be sufficient. You will receive the first three words now and you shall return when you are older and I shall give you the last three words."

And so the young ones set off to seek their own destiny. Over the years, they braved every ups and downs of life. They experienced both failure and success each in their own special ways. But they always remember the three words given to them by the chieftain : Do not fear.

Many years past and the young become the old. Some have achieved great things which brought them glory and fame, while others returned tired and bruised from their quest. They all gathered around the old chieftain who gave them the last three words: Do not regret.

五星红旗迎风飘扬， 胜利歌声多么响亮!

Beijing Olympics had finally begun 2 days ago with the official opening. The official opening was a huge success with good reviews by western media (though the many Chinese people were not that impressed). I think the best part of the ceremony was when the little girl came up to sing the song 歌唱祖国 as the national flag of China was brought in. I am sure that everyone could feel the sense of pride and achievement at that very moment as the Chinese people sacrificed too much for the fulfillment of this century old Olympic dream. I can't really describe that feeling well but at that moment I could not help but sing along:

"五星红旗迎风飘扬， 胜利歌声多么响亮； 歌唱我们亲爱的祖国， 从今走向繁荣富强。"

Oh, and the flag bearers were damn cool.

Yesterday, I watched the weightlifting competition. Chen Xiexia was so "inba". I switched on the TV when the competitors were lifting 84Kg. At that time, I could already see those weightlifters struggling to lift the 84Kg. 3 athletes from Turkey, Thailand and Korea( I think) were eliminated at 84Kg. Then came 85Kg, 86kg and finally a Turkish athlete attempted 88Kg and barely succeeded. The crowd cheered. I was thinking that this is it, the limit of what everyone can lift.

But what happened to China? China had not even attempted once. The weights were once again added and now it is 90Kg. Finally China's Chen Xiexia appeared, and she lifted 90Kg (first attempt) with ease!! Kind of reminds me of the time when Theo do his chin ups. The rest is all her show with 92kg and 95kg, no competition, but she could win just with her first attempt of 90Kg!!

I wish China gets more gold this year. I also wish Singapore gets a medal.

I was really amused yesterday. The morning assembly at school ended with a series of prize presentation for my friends who won at the international Olympiad, and the principal announced that we year 6 and year 5 have done really well in our AP exams with everyone getting 5 for year 6s. The amusing part is when he announced that to celebrate, the school will be having half day off next Wednesday. At this point all the year 6s were like -_-lll diao... The reason is that we year 6s have compulsory internships on Wednesday so it doesn't make a difference to us at all. I was amused at the fact that the school rewarded the juniors who did not take the exams while the year 6 are not rewarded at all. I could not stop laughing after the announcement as it was sooooo funny. The juniors better thank us.

The Difference Between Heaven and Hell

This is an interesting story I heard:

One fine day (like how we start compo in P3), a guy decided to pay a visit to hell. So he went down and found everyone starving to skin and bones. It is not like they are not given food. The people of hell were in fact given all the delicacies we can dream of (i.e sharkfin, abalone...yum!). He found that the problem lies in the spoons. The people in hell were given spoons with a loooooooooooooong handle. So they will never reach their food with their mouth.

Next, this guy went to heaven. There, he saw that the people were served with the same food, with the same spoon with long handle. However, the people of heaven are all happy and well fed. Why is this so?

Answer: Unlike the people of hell who are trying to put food into their own mouth, the people of heaven feed each other using the spoon with long handle.

Well, I guess there is no need for me to point out the moral of the story.

Do you believe in balance?

Do you believe in balance?

Yesterday, I failed my 2.4km run at east coast----yin :(
Today, I received news that I passed my piano exam, woo hoo!! ----yang :)

The 2.4 km run was really depressing. I had the feeling that I didn't try my best because I were not dead after finishing the race. I should have tried to pace Roy. I guess I will have to keep on running till the end of the year.

But who cares? I am happy that I still passed my piano exam even though it was as screwed up as my 2.4 run (I wonder how, I wonder why). I thought that I would have definitely failed and here are the reasons:

Scales---mostly Ok except cromatic scales, which I played an octave more (probably too excited).
Exam pieces--- Die!! The room was soooo cold that my hands went numb. And my pieces have so many ornaments.
Sightreading---Same old same old.
Aural--- ARRRGH, this one really screwed. I had no practice at all and I had no book, so I dug out an old grade 5 aural book to study. But somehow the examiner still looked at me with a "What are you doing?" look.

This is a miracle. Now that I passed my piano, I expect a major failure to be coming soon XD.

Rough Working for Maths Assignment ( In Chinese!!)

人= 吃饭 + 睡觉+ 上班/学 + 玩------1
猪= 吃饭 + 睡觉-------2
代入公式: 人 = 猪 + 上班/学 + 玩
转换公式: 人 - 玩 = 猪 + 上班/学
结论: 不会玩的人是会上班/学的猪.

Something sad just happened...

Yesterday I received news that my friend from my old secondary school just passed away. It is shocking as I never expect this kind of thing to happen, at least not to him. We used to be good friends back in secondary 1 and 2 and I remember him as a cheerful and maybe a bit mischievous person. He gave me the impression that he was tough both physically and mentally. I wonder what happened that made him choose to end his life.

This is the first time that something like this happen to people I know, and I really really hope it is the last. I never believed in suicide is a good way to solve problem. In fact, I strongly oppose it as it cause more pain and suffering to the people around than the one who committed it. Death may be a way to end the sorrow but life is a gift and we should live it well no matter how hard it is.

I hope my friend rests in peace, but I wished he had chosen otherwise.

My first post

I bet that nobody would expect me to have a blog. I am still not sure what is the true purpose of a blog, whether we should spill our minds out or we should refrain from posting somethings. So I am still exploring.

For this few days, I am really really bored as I have nothing much to do (other than read journals, play piano, read journals and play piano again). All my friends are able to start their internship while I am still waiting for a reply from the company. Due to the fact that I am stuck at home waiting for internship to start, I became more bad tempered and get's angry easily (side effects of unemployment). I am also becoming crazy. This make me think deeper into alot of rubbish topics. I start to think about what I hate and what makes me angry, and I set them as guidelines for how I shall act in future.

5 things I hate:

1. I hate it when people get angry with me.
Therefore, do not get angry with people.

2. I hate it when people get pissed (at anything).
That is why I must look at the bright side of life and smile.

3. I hate it when people make fun of me.
Therefore do not make fun of people.

4. I hate it when people show off/ get arrogant.
Always try to be humble and open-minded (kind of difficult for people like me).

5.I hate it when people criticize me.
If I have nothing good to say, I better shut my mouth (until I learn to accept constructive criticism).

I also came up with 5 things I try to avoid (gosh I really had nothing to do with my time):

1. Anger
2. Evil thoughts (thinking about harming people is bad enough)
3. Arrogance
4.giving too much criticism ( People don't need it and don't like it)
5. Politics ( This one is a no no. I can lose my head)

I wish internship starts soon other wise I will soon be in Woodbridge. Playing piano is the only thing that keeps me sane on Wednesdays to Fridays.