Words left unspoken.

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intersticed — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 08:35:16 GMT

I've been writing in my Blogger as of late. Not sure when I'll be back here again, but for now, if you would like to keep up with what's going on in my life and all, you can go to http://unspokeneloquence.blogspot.com/. Kindly leave a tag when you visit too! :)

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intersticed — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:38:53 GMT

A playlist of songs from my top 4 favourite Mandopop artists ending July 2011:
1. Rainie Yang 楊丞琳 — 匿名的好友
2. Yen-j 嚴爵 — 沒有你怎麼辦
3. A-Lin 黃麗玲 — 給我一個理由忘記
4. Aska Yang 楊宗緯 — 那個男人 (the Mandarin version of one of Secret Garden's soundtracks)

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intersticed — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:15:32 GMT

Forget about the continuation of my previous entry — life has been moving too fast for comfort, so fast I find it hard to even recall my days, let alone arrange them in chronological order. JC life has been stretching me to new limits every single day, making me feel eternally drained and leaving memories worth keeping with nothing but a temporal spot in the back my of mind, easily replaced by all the college affairs that don't seem to stop flowing in.

I'll just give a short summary of what my July was like in point form, before I get busy with catching up with reading my lecture notes.

— — — — —

1. 'A' Level Chinese oral exam
Even as I sat at the back of the hall, facing the examiners several feet ahead of me, the atmosphere was completely wrong. I didn't feel the tension expected from a national exam, neither did my heart stir in anxiety. I guess it's probably because everything has been moving so quickly that there's barely enough time left to appreciate the gravity of the situation I was in. I recall having a thousand thoughts running through my head while I was waiting for my turn — PW, SPA, homework, CCA, etc. I couldn't settle with a focused mind at all.
I kind of snapped back to the exam when I was preparing for the passage narration, but I still didn't sense the complete feeling I was supposed to have. Anyway, I messed up the narration completely. Thankfully, I did have something to say for the conversation component (the question was rather merciful — something about teenage street gangs), though I doubt it'll recover the loss, haha. My Chinese is just bad.
I walked out of the exam hall feeling as if I just sat for a school oral exam. I didn't even realise that that would be my final Chinese oral exam until minutes later.

2. Classmate antics
The class, especially the back row people, have been keeping me entertained throughout the course of this busy month, with their antics, jokes and all. Though sometimes they tend to get rather out-of-hand, they're hilarious all the same.

3. Swim team
Jia Min shaved her head, and when Venessa told me to look at her shiny scalp during an Economics lecture on the first day she came to school bald, I gasped in momentary shock, but filed my reactions shortly after under "admiration". Apparently she did that for 'Hair for Hope', an initiative for child cancer. I always knew she'd be the kind of girl who would shave her head. Or rather, do outrageous things like shaving her head. She still looks the same though, just that now, her inner beauty has started to shine through, if you get what I mean. Still in awe.

4. Singapore's unbelievably small after all
I kept in contact with Alan, my ex-tuition teacher, all the way until the JAE results release early this year, when I told him I was posted to Temasek. Then, he told me that his brother was going there as well, but I didn't give it much thought since I wouldn't recognise him anyway.
Consequently, my mom had this crazy idea of getting his girlfriend to tutor my brother in Math. As time passed and her schedules got tight, she had to give up tutoring him and passed the job on to Alan's other brother. He talked about the brother in TJ again, this time giving his name. Out of curiosity I did a quick Facebook search, and realised that I actually saw him quite a number of times. I told Rashid about it and he told me that he worked at the Popular BookFest as his colleague.
Hahaha, is the world small or what?

5. Taiwan Immersion Programme (TIP)
Some of my classmates are participants, and not too long ago, their buddies from Taiwan came to stay over at their homes, which meant that they went to school with them and also sat in during some classes, and that allowed for some interaction between them & I. Frankly, I experienced rather great culture shock. In Taiwan, students are taught every subject in Chinese, whereas in Singapore, English is used, except for Mother Tongue of course. I found myself constantly knocking into language barriers as well, despite being Chinese. Singaporean conversational Mandarin is just way too different from that of Taiwan's, and since I ain't brilliant with the language to start with, I found myself making quite a few embarrassing mistakes before the Taiwan buddies!
Despite the many setbacks, I went out for dinner with a Taiwan buddy, Cally, Michelle & Kai Yuan at Tampines 1's Manpuku yesterday after school. I guess everyone had a rather fun time, though we couldn't stay for long since there were a ton of pressing school issues to deal with.
I genuinely wonder how the Taiwanese students think of life in Singapore... surrounded by people speaking English they understand but find it hard to speak.

— — — — —

Aforementioned are probably the main highlights, though I believe I skipped quite a few. But I believe what I wrote was more than adequate. :P

It feels so good to be able to unlock my creative side after such a stale week.

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intersticed — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 16:08:51 GMT

It's been a really, really long time since I updated. And too many things have happened while I was away. So many, I believe I've already forgotten half of everything that's happened.

I remember sitting for the June Common Tests (JCTs) of course, an exam I performed horribly for. I scored U, S, E and S for Math, Chemistry, Biology & Economics respectively, and that means that I met the passing criteria at its bare minimum. I fared alright for the language subjects, though, with C's for both General Paper and Chinese. I regret not being particular about studying during the June break, but you've got to admit — studying and holidays will never be one.

Drowned myself in a flurry of fun right after the JCTs ended, and I believe I wrote about some of my post-exam outings earlier. Anyway, there were more. On the Saturday right after the exams, I went for a late lunch with Rashid, Janet & Li Ting at Swensen's Changi Airport. It was a great time of catching up, though I had to leave early for training.

On Sunday, I spent the morning with my PW group at Bedok Point discussing about our proposal reforms. Ended at a surprisingly early time of 12pm, so I could afford to head over to Rashid's place to join my secondary school friends. We did baking, and made three kinds of desserts - Oreo cheesecake, banana muffins (which eventually became a cake because we wanted to save some time and effort) and chocolate chip cookies. The process wasn't exactly arduous, though it was funny how we resorted to using a mortar and pestle to crush the Oreo cookies. The waiting times were, however, painfully long. We spent our time during those periods playing Monopoly Deal and fooling with one another's Facebook accounts.

Because one of Rashid's ovens couldn't work, we had to relocate operations to Jasper's place halfway through. Although I felt terribly guilty for crashing his house, I guess the fruits of labour made up for all the inconvenience. The banana muffin-cake, and the cookies especially, tasted delicious! And all of us were really surprised by that. Although the cheesecake was a little too... should I say salty? for my liking, everything turned out pretty successful.

Satisfied from a day's full of work, we went on to camwhore like no tomorrow as we headed home from Jasper's place, haha. But it didn't change the fact that we had such a fulfilling night. :)

Because I was so bushed by what happened on Sunday, I woke up late for my outing with Amira, Michelle, Kai Yuan, Sheryl & Teck Wee on Monday. That resulted in a mad rush to Serangoon to meet them for a karaoke session at NEX. I managed to devour a plate of char kway teow and rush to the karaoke lounge at record speed, though. Had a very fun time with them, but some of them, especially Sheryl, were just way too shy to sing. :( Got to make her open up a little more the next time we sing karaoke again.

We headed to the rooftop after our session ended for a camwhoring session. I swear, I've become such a camwhore ever since I started going out, haha. Browsed the new library for a bit after we got tired of taking pictures, then headed downstairs to have some dessert. Met Sean & Sue Ann halfway through, and followed them to design a birthday cake for Nadhir & Caleb. While they were doing the frosting, I decided to get some bubble tea with Michelle & Amira. Being the cheapskate I was, I ordered the small size, but when I received my order I was taken aback by how tiny the serving was. To make matters worse, Michelle was laughing away like there was no tomorrow! Apparently she knew about it but didn't want to tell me, haha. It totally wasn't value for money at all. All the Taiwanese bubble tea chains in Singapore are just out to scam their customers. :@

Guess those were the highlights of what happened over the post-JCT break. I have to say that I really had a lot of fun in June, but of course, it's courtesy of all the awesome friends I have. :)

I should stop here lest I end up bursting a word limit. But I'll try to divide this long entry into several parts.

Karma for not blogging consistently. Sorry readers (if I even have any of those)!

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intersticed — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:13:02 GMT

I came home with the worst exam results in my life so far. I confirmed my U grade for Chemistry today, and I'm most probably going to finish the week off with another two. Next week, I'll most probably be confronted by my tutor, who will persuade me to drop a subject to H1 level. Who will tell me that I'm not competent enough, that I don't meet the standards expected of a student who reads 4 H2 subjects.

Much to my surprise, though, I'm not worried about my poor results. I'm worried precisely because I'm perfectly indifferent about it. Walking the JC route, I guess, was a mistake. It planted so many circumstances in my life, tired me and drained me of motivation and vigour.

How will I pull through yet another semester?

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intersticed — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:05:43 GMT

The June Common Tests ended yesterday. I bid my temporary goodbye to those terrible days of cooping myself up in National Library to study.

The happiness was short-lived, though — right after the exam, I went to collect my PW group's GPP with some of my group members and we learned that our proposal was once again rejected. And it dawned on me that the thickness of our proposal wasn't even half of those of the groups whose proposals got approval. Honestly, at the state we're in right now, I really wouldn't mind scoring a B or below for 'A' Level Project Work. Pointless crap.

Hung around in the school canteen with some of my classmates while waiting for the class photo shoot. I felt guilty for turning down Sze Wei & Gloria's plea for me to follow them to CCAB to collect the tickets for a swimming competition, but that place is in Bukit Timah and I didn't want to miss the photo shoot. I have a feeling that it's these little details that strain my relationships. Or perhaps I've simply been thinking too much.

Met Rashid, Janet, Jasper, Sylvia & Qing Xiang at Udder's Ice Cream after the photo shoot. We went down to VivoCity from there and spent the rest of the day there. First, we did a little bit of window shopping. And I almost ended up buying clothes, haha. I didn't in the end because I didn't want to try anything on since I was in school uniform and so it'd be very troublesome to change out and change back again.

Went to get movie tickets for 'Monte Carlo', a movie Jasper's been waiting for for so long because he's such a die-hard fan of Selena Gomez. While waiting for the movie to start we went to chill out at Starbucks. I've been patronising that place rather regularly lately, with my last visit a week ago before church. I don't think I should actually, since it's really capable of burning a hole in my pocket.

Met Jun Jie right before the movie started. Overall, 'Monte Carlo' is truly the classic chick flick, with a lot of "coincidences" thrown in for good measure, ideal & sappy foreign romantic affairs, and crazy moments that defined a sort of sisterhood between the women characters. But the good thing about the movie was that Paris & Monte Carlo were exoticised enough to evoke a sense of wanderlust in me. I know that sounds very shallow, but well, if I could, I'd travel there also.

We went for dinner and a short photo-taking session at the rooftop after the movie:

Overall, I guess yesterday was an adequately good break. Off to meet some friends at Eighteen Chefs for lunch now before I head off for swim training. :)

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intersticed — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:38:52 GMT

I want to believe that there's meaning to everything I do now. I want to continue cherishing the beauties life offers, no matter how simple, despite not being under the best of circumstances.

I was away at Dairy Farm Adventure Centre for church camp from last Sunday to Tuesday. While I was still there, I didn't feel that the camp was a very extraordinary one. In fact, I didn't believe I would stand to benefit a lot from it.

But I guess things always seem a lot clearer in retrospect. As I boarded the train home from Clementi last Tuesday night in my lethargic self, I felt that somewhere inside me, something has changed permanently, and that change could stand to leave a positive impact on my life and probably others' as well. It wouldn't just leave its mark on the surface.

The greatest charm of the camp was that unconsciously, it made me reflect greatly on my walk with God, despite its emphasis on fun, laughter & seemingly irrelevant games. I received several revelations during the camp, and they taught me how to better fathom life. I could confidently say that I've become, if not considerably, at least a slightly happier person compared to the me before the camp. I really needed such a swing in attitude, given how the first half of the year has generated turbulence much greater than what I could take.

I realised that a shift in perspectives was all I needed. The camp challenged the usual viewpoints that I've gotten so accustomed to. Truly, a slight shift is all it takes, for one to embrace what he has once turned away from, to accept what he has once condemned. To turn away from selfishness and progress towards selflessness. To migrate from a carnal will to an eternal one.

Ultimately, I feel that the camp has achieved its objective. Because my life has once again aligned itself with its original purpose.

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intersticed — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:29:50 GMT

It won't come across as a surprise to know that an entire ocean of events transpired the whole time I wasn't on LiveJournal, so right now I'm caught under a landslide of matters to discuss here. But I'll attempt to distill all that I have to say into separate entries. In a sense my journal is about to undergo a major revival, hahaha.

I camped with the swimmers in TJ from last Monday to last Wednesday. Overall my experience was great, but I believe it wasn't as awesome as the rest's. Perhaps it's because I didn't get to socialise as much as the rest did, but still I was entitled to my own share of bonding moments. I guess I'll always be a wallflower when facing those I do not know so well just yet. But rest assured that I find comfort in being with them, as I've also found peers whom I can relate to and confide in.

What set this year's batch apart from previous ones is probably the extraordinarily strong bonds between the swimmers and the waterpolo girls. Such a close relationship was never felt before, and in fact, the previous batches had members who worked as individuals. I'm just amazed at how everything has come together nicely this year. I would like to commend my seniors as well, as instead of being intimidated by the sudden, large bunch of junior swimmers, they've magically managed to glue all of us together to form what we call a team. :)

And this team speaks of acceptance. There's hardly any sourness, and members edify one another. I'm an especially weak swimmer compared to the rest, yet I feel welcomed in the team when it's just natural for me to be cast aside. And this only spurs me to train harder and swim faster, as I've found my reason to not let the team down.

I guess I shall get started on writing about the camp. Basically it follows the tradition of juniors planning for seniors. You could say that nearly the whole camp was meticulously planned by the junior swimmers, and that includes me. For my logistics team, the days of backbreaking (hahaha) planning did not go to waste, as everything was executed as smoothly as possible. :)

A brief summary of what happened during the camp:

A physically exhausting challenge which included wheelbarrowing, army crawling, duck squatting & piggybacking across the breadth of the soccer field, which, mind you, was already long enough to kill.
A water-bomb game somewhat similar to Angry Birds, which ended up in a chaotic water fight and the splashing of an entire tub of water on Mr Chua. :P
A game of "Cheat" with the waterpolo girls using Uno cards.
Tent-pitching on the soccer field.
Thai horror flick screening in a dark classroom with the occasional "ghost" appearing outside the window.
Night walk around the entire campus, where the girls screamed over practically nothing every 5 minutes or so.
Eating crushed Twisties in tomato ketchup called 'mealworms' (yeah, right) with a disgusting concoction which stank of vomit strewn on my right arm blindfolded.
My first ever try at water polo, kicked off with a slew of bad attempts. :(
Dragon-boating on a steaming hot afternoon without any sunblock on at Bedok Reservoir. A miracle I didn't suffer from sunburns!
STEAMBOAT DINNER!
An evil game "Shoot Shag Marry" in the boys' room.
Reflections night after night, which culminated in peer evaluation, self-evaluation... and a lot of insignificant things.
Hustings & elections for the new executive council.

I'll leave the rest of the talking to some photos:

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intersticed — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:31:06 GMT

現在的我, 彷彿像一片在天空打旋的落葉, 根本沒有本事找出自己的方向, 何況知道自己在這個世界上生存的意義.

日子一天有一天地隨著時間的流逝過去, 但我卻還在同樣的地點, 無奈地, 一圈又一圈地打旋.

一般人都認同一個人應該追求自己的夢想, 把激情當作生命的基礎, 但一切都談何容易. 社會還是會堅持著經營主義, 而為了滿足社會的要求, 我不得不使自己淪為那片落葉, 那片迷糊, 望著灰暗的未來的落葉.

但幸虧生命中存在著希望這線光明. 我一定要相信, 即使命運絕不改變, 態度並像彩泥一樣柔韌, 只要換個角度對待一切, 說不定我也會從中找出樂趣.

快樂是屬於自己的. 與我同舟共濟的伙伴, 讓我們一起加油.

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intersticed — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:19:13 GMT

(by GRAPHICS DESIGNED)

This entry is probably my fastest comeback since the previous one, at least for these few months. I guess I've recovered some drive to at least start setting my life straight by beginning with doing things that really matter, including writing in this journal. Writing in this space is precious time spent in my eyes, as in some way or another, it assures me that I have truly seized my day, as in carpe diem, and that leaves me enriched with a sense of fulfillment.

I was away at the Pre-University Seminar on Tuesday & Wednesday. All I can say is that I kinda regretted not joining the seminar as a participant, but at the same time, I didn't regret attending the seminar as a student facilitator either. Unlike the participants (and probably the student leaders as well), I didn't get to revel the seminar in all its glory. Although I met them, I didn't bond with most of the people there, who, according to some of my friends who were participants, were inspirations to many. Despite the seminar being a not-so eye-opening experience for me, I did manage to forge stronger bonds with the people I already knew — the people who joined me as student facilitators. And that, in itself, was a blessing as well.

Anyway, my duty as a facilitator was to help my seminar group (SG16) in filming a 1-minute long clip of the theme "Redefining Singapore". I couldn't offer much, because the group already knew what they wanted. They pretty much ran on auto-pilot the whole time.

SG16 members & I.

I went back to training on Friday. Because of my poor time management, I was late, but at the bus stop outside Tanah Merah station, I bumped into Geun Hye. Apparently she was late because her mom came down to Singapore from South Korea to pay her a visit. She came carrying two huge packs of seaweed, and it was a pretty funny spectacle. Eventually I learned that they were souvenirs from South Korea for the team. Her mom's too nice.

Training was as tough as usual, but thankfully I was able to hang on at least 70% of the time. Went down to Tampines Interchange after training with Adam, Sze Wei, Javier & Jin Wen for a light snack before heading home for dinner, and as usual, they were rambling about girls. And how I was a "silent killer", hahaha. I'd prefer to not elaborate on that further. :P

Geun Hye gave me a nice surprise that night — a phone message that encouraged me with the Lord. From the bottom of my heart, I was thankful for her concern. I was reminded, yet again, that I've been blessed with not only capable, but admirable teammates. Although I'm not very close to them as of now, I look forward to getting to know them better.

Swim camp's next Monday, so I'll be away until Wednesday. Right now I'm feeling kinda ambivalent about it, but I believe it'll be great if I open up just a little bit more.

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intersticed — Tue, 31 May 2011 05:14:41 GMT

I have been so reckless with blogging the past month. Nothing was recorded for May. There's a terrible lack of pictures too. How can I possibly compensate for this? But ultimately, I believe that I blog for myself.

Anyway, life has been as busy as it can possibly get, but it's gotten a little more relaxing now since the holidays have officially started. It's really the little joys in the midst of all the busyness that has kept me breathing throughout the past month.

In an hour's time I'll be making my way down to school to attend the Pre-University Seminar. I'm going to be a student facilitator for some special programme. I hope things will turn out fine. I'm not the kind who would facilitate, hahaha. But a part of me tells me that it'll be really screwed up.

I've been planning for the swim team's camp that will be held next week as well. It's more of a summer camp, but it's jam-packed with activities, so I'm not very sure if it'd be more of fun than tiring. I'm part of Logistics under the planning committee (consisting of all the juniors), and boy, is planning for logistics tough or what? Logistics has never occurred to me as a confusing and demanding task before, probably because I've never really got myself involved in it. Though come to think of it, it wouldn't be so demanding if not for my swimming teacher being a PW teacher as well. Just saying, hahaha.

The final week of school before the holidays wasn't a very smooth one for me. I fell sick on Monday night with a rather serious case of stomach flu. But I guess it was my fault for devouring an oily plate of chicken chop rice, a bowl of spicy curry chicken and a cup of bubble tea topped with a generous dose of artifical flavouring all in the same day. I really asked for it. I spewed twice in the middle of the night, and it felt so horrible to the extent that a fear developed. Woke up to a splitting headache and I also had a bad case of diarrhoea in the morning, so I ended up giving school a miss. Unfortunately, that day was packed with important lessons.

And whoever said that staying at home during a school day with an MC is a blessing is out of his mind. I couldn't even get started on a single piece of homework at all, despite having a pile of them waiting for me on my desk. I literally slept the entire day, and so when I went back to school on Wednesday, it felt as if the previous day was Monday.

I also went down to the Prince George's Park Residences at National University of Singapore after school on Wednesday to have a short recce. I'll be stationed there during the Pre-U Sem I'm up for later. Somehow, I'm really dreading this. I just hope everything will run smoothly.

I went for cell group meeting as usual on Friday night. Because the bus at the stop I usually wait at always takes an eternity to arrive, I reckoned it would be better if I boarded another bus. Little did I know that I would be wasting over half an hour because I travelled along a different route to Daryl's house: 15 minutes wondering how I was supposed to get myself to this place from where I stopped, and another 15 walking to his house. But at least I learned yet another alternative route to his place I can use regularly from now on, hahaha.

I know this sudden transition in topic may seem weird, but I can't help but feel that ever since 2011 began, I've grown to feel emptier and emptier each day. I guess this is superficially reflected in the lack of proper entries in this journal as well. I really need to find a motivation, a short-term purpose, to keep me going through this year. I have to.

Guess that's something to reflect heavily on. Oh well, I guess it's time for me to sign off.

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intersticed — Sat, 21 May 2011 09:20:19 GMT

I realised the hard way these past few weeks, that I have always been harbouring lofty expectations that will never be realised. My thoughts were akin to an blank canvas on which fantasies were written, sketched, even modelled; they were never substantial.

Disappointment after disappointment streamed in as a result of the thoughts that were not realised, and the expectations that were not met. Swift and steady, they resembled currents of a flooding river. And I was the lone soul who clung onto the fragile, breaking branch for my life.

Although I have since recovered, I expect to have similar experiences again. Why do I keep living life the way I do now? Perhaps the whole deal about astrology was true after all. I'm terribly possessive, just like how Scorpios are described to be. But I'm tired of this seemingly unending emotional cycle. I'm tired of always having to pick myself up from crevasse-like depths, just to plunge into one again.

I'm tired of learning things the hard way. Of doing things the hard way. Of realising that everything is hard by not having things go my way, not even once.

But what hurts the most is that life is as harsh as it gets. With every dawn in life is a brand new battlefield, and I'll just have to grit my teeth and last the day, just like how I always do.

683

intersticed — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:54:32 GMT

Yesterday morning, I assembled in the lecture theatre with Sheryl & the rest of the Outward Bound India (OBI) group for a short briefing. The teachers-in-charge emphasised a lot on having chosen us because of our "unique leadership qualities". But I still wasn't convinced about myself. In fact, I felt that OBI came to me when I least deserved it. I was trying to articulate how I felt to Sheryl but all she did was give me a whack on the shoulder. But honestly, I really felt like a fish out of water. OBI's probably my first ever opportunity when it comes to a shot at leadership. I was quite intimidated at how the teachers expected so much out of us, too. And their plans to turn Outward Bound Global into a pinnacle leadership programme for the participating students from next year onwards made me feel a little queasy. Until now, I still don't believe that I can be the shepherd who guides the flock. But this has to, and will, change.

Still can't help but feel disappointed at how things turned out, though. I really wanted all three of us to go for the programme together. Not to mention, my excitement for the programme was kind of dampened. But I believe things will change for the better, and that the other members would enrich the experience anyway.

But the sad thing is, reality did not match up to my expectations. It's a given, I know, but for once I just hope things would go my way.

Went down to ITE College East for water training after school with the swimmers and water polo girls. The sets weren't exactly very tough, but I was already very tired to begin with so I felt exhausted after every lap. Thankfully, I didn't give up halfway, especially when I was swimming the freestyle stroke. I still haven't mastered it, so I tend to spend a lot of energy trying to bring myself to the other end with that stroke.

Anyway, with the exception of GP (surprisingly!), all of today's lessons & tutorials were completely yawn-inducing. Worse still, I failed to prepare the homework for more than half of the tutorial classes. I fail at not having a life, hahaha.

During GP class, Ms Quek gave out the marked AQ assignments, and my mark was the second-highest in class, though it wasn't very fantastic. But I really didn't expect it, after having spent almost one whole week busy with the swimming nationals, consequently giving a whole lot of GP classes a miss. But I believe I didn't plan to hand in a slipshod piece when I was doing the assignment, let alone announce to everyone that I didn't put in any effort into the assignment. I would seriously punch myself in the face if I were to exhibit such an obnoxious and annoying attitude, hahaha.

Skipped Mother Tongue class for a compulsory talk regarding Outward Bound. Headed home shortly after, and coincidentally, I bumped into Michelle & Cally outside the bakery opposite TJ. Decided to wait for them while they were ordering waffles. Cally was hilarious in making her order — she told the baker, "Can you burn my waffle?". Of course she didn't want it literally burnt; she just wanted it crispy. But the way she put it made her sound like such a blonde, hahaha.

When they were done, we bumped into Sean, Joie, Marissa & Teck Wee. Again, at the bakery. Decided to walk to Bedok station together, but we stopped pretty frequently along the way, one time to get cheese fries (don't worry, I didn't and will never touch that), and another to get Q-Essential bubble milk tea. It was good to have company walking with me to the train station, though. Just two days ago, Amira, Michelle & Kai Yuan did the same. I should walk to the train station so long as it's not raining from now on. :)

So, I guess that's all that's worth remembering these past few days. Time to get started on my revision for GP.

682

intersticed — Sun, 08 May 2011 15:54:14 GMT

In the midst of a long weekend here, thanks to the General Elections. Monday is a day off because it'll be Polling Day in-lieu. :)

Was very... should I say involved? with the politics in Singapore the past few days. You could say that I was also part of the online fiasco surrounding Tin Pei Ling with her Kate Spades and 'I-I don't know what to say~!!! >w<' poses. As much as I feel that she has proved, at least on the superficial level, that she's more than unworthy to be elected into the Parliament, I can't help but concur that the online flaming has gone too far. But then again, such is the harsh reality of politics. I believe Ms Tin Pei Ling's plight wouldn't be so severe if not for her choice to join the ruling party. Mainly because the ruling party, naturally, has to fulfill greater expectations. Just a slight blunder (in her case, a candid picture of her acting cute with a Kate Spade box), and the citizens will be more than happy to judge, stereotype, and point fingers, while for Nicole Seah, being in the opposing party has worked to her benefit, since she was seen as a heroine who fights passionately for the alternative voices of Singaporeans to be heard in Parliament. Of course, credit also has to be given to her charisma, but I believe you understand where I'm getting at. It's just that Tin Pei Ling was disadvantaged to begin with since she went the "easy way out" by campaigning for the ruling party.

Right, enough with the political talk.

Spent my Polling Day (yesterday) morning at Clarke Quay's Starbucks with Jeanette, Fransisca, Hannah & Sean. Made a few amendments and adjustments to our Group Project Proposal (GPP) for Project Work. Factoring in the time spent discussing about the elections, talking about our lives, and looking at a certain someone's wedding photos, we took 4 hours. The funny thing was that it didn't seem like 4 hours. Which is good, because that indirectly means I've been getting along well with my group. :) And I finally got my dose of green tea latte, hurrah!

Walked to Liang Court for lunch after the meeting ended, and after that we separated. Initially I thought of just going straight to Suntec City to meet Cliff & Jia Yu, but I made an impromptu decision to drop off at Dhoby Ghaut, then travel to Orchard to go to the huge Kinokuniya bookstore at Ngee Ann City. Frankly, I don't really know why I did that, either. But I realised that I had to stock up on stationery after all.

I know it's weird, but I feel good when I'm in a Kinokuniya bookstore, lmao. So after a bit of shopping, I went down to Suntec for church. Bumped into Cliff & Jia Yu at the station, and waited with them for Xue Jia.

The arrangements for church yesterday were quite special. The terraces were removed and everyone had ground seats. Which wasn't very bad, actually. I still do prefer sitting on the terraces, but sometimes when people jump during praise & worship I feel the planks shaking and I kind of get a little paranoid. Dr. Kim gave the sermon today, and I was glad I could listen to her well.

Headed home straight after church because 1. I was broke and 2. I wanted to catch the polling results.

So, that was my Saturday.

I felt terrible this morning. I woke up to a desk cluttered with paper, and in one way or another I was suddenly reminded of how school's always being such a bitch, and so I threw a huge tantrum. Also, because I wasn't careful, I bent my nail, but thankfully it didn't break. But it hurt the same. Now there's a huge blood clot there. Speaking of blood clots in nails, I got one which took on a smiling face a few months ago when I injured my nail during training. It was pretty cool, I guess?

For Mothers' Day, my family & I went out to Raffles City to have lunch together. The meal was a tad too sumptuous. Got a photo frame which I intend to create a gift with, but unfortunately I haven't got started on it yet.

Halfway through Tutorial 7 for Math now. Mr Ng's starting on Tutorial 8 in tomorrow's make-up lesson. I don't know if I should go. And there's a Chemistry test on Tuesday, one I haven't prepared for. My life's always screwed.

Never mind, I'll prioritise. And the gift comes first in the list. I love you, Mom. :)

681

intersticed — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 17:08:11 GMT

(by Moritz Resl)

To love life, to love it
even when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weighs you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

— Ellen Bass, The Thing Is

680

intersticed — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:02:49 GMT

Tuesday & Wednesday was spent with the TJ Swim Team at Singapore Sports School to cheer on the swimmers in the finals of the Inter-school Swimming Championships. Much of my curriculum time was traded off to watch my fellow teammates swim, but thankfully, it was worth it. TJ was brought to greater heights (or rather, it was maintained at its peak). Finished overall 3rd and 4th for girls and boys respectively, with the usual RI, ACJC & ACS(I) crowded at the very top. But compared to RI's team of 100 and ACJC's & ACS(I)'s teams of over 50, TJC, with a member count of around 30 and a significantly lower finalist count, has definitely put up its greatest fight. This Nationals has given me yet another reason to look up to my batch of seniors.

The championships wrapped up on Wednesday evening, after which we had a victory buffet dinner at Furama City Centre. I dare say the food wasn't at all extraordinary, and table conversations were pretty awkward, but generally, I had a great time. :)

Yi Qian & I.

Sze Wei & I; Gloria & Sze Wei.

The leaders — Claudia, Zhe Kang & Gareth.

Adam, Sze Wei & Javier.

Looking back at my history with the team, I haven't regretted swimming. For the bunch of wacky yet extremely driven seniors, and my accepting teammates, I will try my best. I entered the team with the unambitious objective of keeping myself fit, but it's probably time I chased after something greater & more glorious, for both the team and the school. I most probably would not improve significantly, let alone to the extent of becoming nonpareil, within the short span of less than 2 years. But I believe that if I willingly continue to acquaint myself with the water, improvement will come — notch by notch, step by step.

On another note, matters away from the pool, namely school, have succeeded in keeping me short of breath throughout the week. Stayed up until 2am, a new record timing for a school night, to complete my final Preliminary Idea draft for Project Work. Hopefully, I will leaf through the pages of my draft gleefully when it is returned to me next week.

679

intersticed — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:17:46 GMT

678

intersticed — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:09:30 GMT

(via thoughtsonfire)

Today marks the end of a turbulent week. To know that I can finally go to bed tired tonight and wake up refreshed tomorrow morning gives me a sense of relief, although subtle.

I was a letdown on Tuesday. Although I swum hard, I could have settled with something higher. To make matters worse, I spent the whole day waiting to swim in a less than 2-minute race only to be disqualified over a petty mistake. It was a wasted trip, and a wasted effort. But on a more optimistic note, at least I got a taste of how the Nationals felt like.

But not to worry; I feel much better now.

Nationals were pretty much the highlight of this week. Everything else paled in significance, but it was the little things which grated on my nerves the past few days. Because I missed an entire day of school on Tuesday, I had to make up for all the tests that I missed, including the Biology practical & the GP timed essay assignment. As a result of that I ended up going home later than everybody else. It's just annoying to have to stay back in school to deal with such matters when there's already enough on my plate.

Also, I almost went suicidal when I was told to go back to my secondary school and present about Temasek JC to the graduating cohort just two mornings ago by someone in the general office. Thankfully, I managed to convince them that I just wasn't ready enough to present about the college and its various programmes due to the fact that I'm still a freshman. It's quite ridiculous to give a talk about something that you're nowhere near familiar with. But if I was a J2 student this year, it would definitely be a different story.

Today operated on Friday's timetable, so we were supposed to be dismissed at 12.30pm. Unfortunately, the cunning tutors in my college made use of the early dismissal to throw in make-up lessons after school. On top of that, we had a Chemistry test to sit for in the afternoon (which was horrible, by the way).

It was already 5pm by the time my day in school ended. From 12.30pm to 5pm — what a tremendous jump.

Met Sylvia at the canteen then headed to the bus stop together to go back to our secondary school. Just when we were about to board the bus, Sylvia realised that she forgot to claim her ez-link card from the general office (she was late) and so we rushed back to collect it. The funny thing was that there were two guys behind us and coincidentally one of them also realised that he forgot to claim his after hearing what Sylvia told me. Apparently he was also late. So in the end, the four of us literally rushed back to school together. I had a pretty good laugh; something I really needed.

After collecting my School Graduation Certificate from my secondary school, I left in my dad's car to have a family dinner. Ate at this newly opened restaurant at Elias Mall; the food there's not bad I guess. Glad to at least be able to spend quality time with my parents.

Guess I have written down all that I remember of this week. While writing, I realised that there's not much memories worth keeping anymore. Truly, the emptiness of JC life has taken its toll on me.

I feel as if I'm being tossed about, dragged under the waves. Soon, I'll be left to rot in the sun, perhaps because the prospect of me crawling back in the water is just too bleak.

But one thing I'm sure of? It's that there are no depths to explore and no vastnesses to embrace in the ocean I'm stranded in.

677

intersticed — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 15:58:59 GMT

I'm back after yet another week.

Yesterday was a tiring Friday. The Nike Running Club took us (the guys) for Mass PE again, and this time we trained for strength & endurance. Majority of the exercises focused on the leg muscles, and coincidentally I had water training in the evening. Thankfully, the strain didn't persist until then.

Had lunch with Janet at Pasir Ris, after which I went home. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I immediately crashed onto my bed and napped all the way till 4.30pm. It felt awesome.

By the time I reached ITE College East for water training it was already around 5.30pm. Went for time trials that simulated the swimming nationals that will be taking place next week. I'm up for it on Tuesday, but at the rate I'm progressing I'm very sure I will not make it into the finals. I believe going for the swimming nationals in itself is a valuable experience, though, and I guess I'm pretty much pumped up to train harder for the same competition next year. I just hope to earn a form of accolade, no matter how meagre it may be.

Had one of the longest debriefs ever after the training session. During the debrief, Zhe Kang brought up the discussion of the swim team packages every member will be receiving, and from the looks of what's inside it, I believe it'll be awesome. I got a glimpse of the team shirt design, and also beheld the team jacket in its full glory. Can't wait to get my hands on it, and perhaps flaunt it whenever I'm in the lecture theatre. But on second thought, it may not really be a good idea since I'll probably stand out from all the other students and thus get picked to answer questions.

Rushed to Daryl's place for the cell group meeting after everything was wrapped up, after which I went down to the hawker centre outside Bedok station for dinner with some of the cell group members. Had a good laugh over the meal, and I have to say that it was really sinful. Devoured a bowl of oily curry chicken noodles, which unfortunately, tasted divine. Hahaha.

It was already 11.30pm by the time I reached home. Was my Friday long or what?

I slept through this morning and woke up at 12. Got dressed and ready once I awoke to meet Shanggei, Alex & Jeremy to go down to the Jurong West church to watch Tay Xi's, Jeremy's & Hing Cheung's water baptism. As usual, the place was packed so I found myself frequenting the cafe downstairs to seek respite from the crowdedness. I'll let the pictures do the talking from here:

After the baptism, we went down to Suntec City for service. In Ailin's boyfriend's car. ;)

Celebrated Alex's birthday after church. Rashid tagged along too. Had a good time socialising with them, and dinner was especially great. Pepper lunch with ice-cream!

Guess those were the highlights of the day. Sadly, my weekend ends here. I have a ton of homework waiting for me to complete, and I have upcoming tests for GP, Chemistry & Math. Someone please kill me now.

676

intersticed — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:02:55 GMT

So... I'm blogging when I should be doing my Math homework and reading my Economics lecture notes. But today is Saturday so I shall at least cut myself some slack. :)

The water polo match on Wednesday was a victorious one on TJ's end. The girls won their opponent by a score of 6-2, and thus they have moved on to the finals against Raffles Institution which will be held next Wednesday. I'm definitely going to catch that match.

After the match, I went down to ITE College East along with the rest of the swimming team for water training. We did sprints throughout the entire session, and I was left completely out of breath by the time we got out of the water. As the Nationals draw closer, the trainings will become more intensive, and as much as I don't think I can handle it any longer, I don't think I should make room for excuses, either. I'll just have to grit my teeth, believe I can do it, and... keep swimming.

On Thursday, I was notified that I have been chosen to participate in the Biology Olympiad. Honestly, it didn't occur to me as much of a surprise, since I believe the only information the department has about me pertaining to Biology is my 'O' Level score for that subject. I'm just worried that I'm not up for the challenge. But for now it's too soon to hesitate. I'll never know until I try.

On another note, I finally got back my PI drafts for Project Work yesterday, and sadly, I have to say that it's far from refined. I will need to do a lot of brainstorming tomorrow.

After school, I went to Yoshinoya for lunch with a huge group of friends — Venessa, Joie, Charmaine, Sean, Marissa, Kai Yuan, Nobie, Teck Wee & Sue Ann. Stayed in the restaurant for around 2 more hours to catch up on my tutorials while some left right after lunch. While studying, Marissa & Kai Yuan played around with Joie's DSLR camera too, and they took a record number of candid shots. Seriously. Also, Kai Yuan used his iPhone to take pictures of Sean & Marissa only to fit their faces into pin-up posters with this slick app of his. It was hilarious.

By the time everyone decided to go back to school it was already 3pm. Went up to the library with Sean to find Sheryl, then proceeded to the Leadership Centre for the Outward Bound interview. Actually, Sheryl couldn't make it for the interview because of Band, but eventually she made a decision to forgo Band. Guess she wants OBI a lot, probably even more than I do.

On a lighter note, because yesterday was the first time I visited the Leadership Centre, the fact that it houses two squash courts completely took me by surprise. Guess TJ's not so old after all. :)

Steering back to the topic — how was the interview, you ask? It was OK, with a slight tinge of... strange. It brought out a strong inferiority complex in me, since the rest of the interviewees in the room, including Sheryl & Sean, had colourful histories in their previous schools that they could ramble about, and they were filled with leadership experiences, outstanding achievements and whatnot. I'm probably the only one who lived a passive & mundane life in secondary school. But I believe that I have put my best foot forward.

Went for training shortly after the inteview. And after everything ended, I thought to myself, "The weekend has just begun", and couldn't feel any better.

675

intersticed — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:07:29 GMT

Yesterday was Monday, today is Tuesday, and Wednesday comes afterwards. Oh yeah.

Suffered from a severe bout of Monday blues yesterday morning. What's worse was that the school day started off with an Economics lecture. As expected, I caught no ball. And no, I haven't made much effort to find the ball I didn't catch, either.

The day ended on an equally severe note — an Economics lesson that ran for two periods straight. I could have just slept through the entire lesson, if not for Mrs Ang's tendency to call inattentive students out to answer questions.

But there were some parts of yesterday that made it worthwhile, namely the Project Work lecture, lunch and training. Learned about group dynamics during the PW lecture, and in a novel way, too — by watching American Idol group auditions. They were so entertaining, though I would definitely hope and pray for my team members to not be as difficult as the ones I watched.

Spent my lunch break at the hawker centre opposite TJ with the most unexpected company — Shanggei & Tay Xi. OK, maybe that wasn't so unexpected since they have so much time to waste. Didn't really manage to catch up a lot with them because I had afternoon classes after the break, but being able to at least see them was definitely better than nothing.

The trainings the swim team have on Mondays are conducted in the gym. Conditioning was as tiring as ever, but very much worth the pain. Stayed behind to play a few rounds of basketball after training before leaving the school with Adam. In the end, despite leaving earlier, we still boarded the same bus as the rest of our teammates. And so I decided to take the train with them.

Had a hilarious conversation on the train ride with them about Bollywood & Kollywood. And it didn't occur to me that we talked about that right in front of this Hindi lady until the point when the train stopped at Tampines. By then we have already spewed quite a great deal of nonsense, hahaha.

Bought some drinks with Adam & Sze Wei before boarding the bus home. Bumped into Yu Yun, too; what a small world. In the end, I reached home at a shocking time of... 9pm. But I have long gotten used to reaching home that late on a school day.

Anyway, this morning was a miracle. I managed to complete the Biology practical. Is that amazing or what? Of course, I faked most of the experimental results, but that's inevitable unless I'm Superman. The point is that I filled up every blank in the worksheet. What an accomplishment. (Y)

During lunch, I had to go down to the computer lab to help Christine print the documents for our GP project. Coincidentally, she came across the Nike water bottle that she misplaced weeks ago, and started getting all excited over it. She also got everyone to smell the bottle and as usual she came up with a bimbo remark:

If I pour the water on the grass outside will the grass die???

I swear, when coupled with Sheryl, they make the perfect duo.

Also, I got to know the members of my Project Work group today — Jeanette, Fransisca, Hannah & Sean. They're okay, I guess. Though I have to admit I'm not very close to most of them. But whether I like it or not, I'll have to try my best to get along.

That's probably it for today. Excited for tomorrow because I'll be going down to Anglo-Chinese School to support the water polo girls in their match against Saint Andrew's JC. Pretty confident that they're gonna do well. :)

But then again there's water training tomorrow...

674

intersticed — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:55:54 GMT

This morning, I attended 'Cycle 350' with Jasper, Qing Xiang, Wei Lin & Sylvia. An event organised by the Mazarin Programme students (a group of elites) from my school, it was meant to be an environmental cause, though not very obvious. The objective of the event was to reduce participants' carbon footprints through cycling for 2 hours or so, but the irony was that we did it in East Coast Park. Which didn't make much of a difference. I mean, do people even drive in parks?

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. The weather was perfect — temperate & mildly bright, and the route the participants cycled on offered a fair share of spectacles. For example, there was a point during the event where I cycled along this canal hidden among rows of trees; the water was a vibrant emerald green which gave off a brilliant sparkle in the sunlight. It was truly a piece of heaven, given the fact that it was Singapore. I never even believed that such places would exist in where I live, at least not until today.

From East Coast Park, we meandered to Changi, where we cycled along the route opposite the Changi Airport runway. The breeze was light and the sun not too strong, making it enjoyable to look at the planes taking off and landing. Not so hearing the blaring noises involved, though.

From Changi, we rode back to the park. By then it became a relatively painful ride since prior to the ride back I have been sitting all the while. In fact it was terrible; my butt felt as if it was going to split any second.

Despite that, I didn't regret participating in the event. The event T-shirt looks great and in one way or another, I did manage to bond with those friends whom I never really talked to back when we were in secondary school.

Qing Xiang & I before the event.

Decided to go to PP for lunch after the event. Walked along the same long route we took when we went to the park, where we ended up at Victoria School. We boarded the bus thinking that we would reach PP in no more than 10 minutes, but we were horribly wrong. Half an hour passed and we were still 'trapped' in the bus, because there was a car accident which caused a major traffic jam. The bus literally moved at the pace of a snail, spending 10 minutes outside Eastern Lagoon, another 10 outside Victoria JC, and another 10 outside CHIJ Katong Convent, and a final 10 outside Tao Nan School.

We arrived at PP only to eat at KFC. The meal stunk of cheese fries (as usual), but was alright if not for the fact that I spilled some Pepsi on my shirt. :/

Rushed off to Tampines 1 to meet Amira, Cally & Michelle after the meal. Did a little bit of homework at Manpuku (a pathetic 10 questions from the Redox tutorial), then went off to Suntec for church. Today was Family Day and so some of my cell group mates brought along their families, though I didn't really manage to introduce myself to them.

Dinner with the cell group was at Kallang Leisure Park. Initially I planned to involve myself in the fellowship but I ended up doing some self-reflections. Disappointed in how I myself wasn't able to demonstrate friendliness to the people around me. Was also let down by the ignorance of some people, and the oversensitivity of others. But yet again, I don't want to end up in the situation where I only show care to a person just because he shows care for me.

Tsk, I'm such a wimp when it comes to these sorts of things. I'll just let it rest, school's giving me enough of a headache already.

Tomorrow's stay-home Sunday.

673

intersticed — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:43:54 GMT

I'm back on LiveJournal. That was a very short leave, wasn't it? Guess I'm just fickle that way.

Haven't blogged in ages. School just demands so much from my life, although there were quite a few events that transpired over the past two weeks that are unrelated to academics or school, for that matter.

Because I'm only blogging today I'm afraid I will have to put the past few weeks behind.

Can't believe it's Friday again. It seems like yesterday was last Friday. Fridays are always relatively better for me since there aren't too many classes and school ends at lunchtime. However, every Friday to me has its dark side which constitutes the mass PE session in the morning and the arduous swimming trainings in the evening.

Much to my surprise, though, the mass PE session this morning wasn't exactly very bad. The school got the Nike Running Club to conduct the session for the boys today, and although the session was as tiring as ever, I had fun. I guess it's because I've been doing physical training for swimming on a weekly basis. Basically what we did was push-ups, plank exercises and ab training on top of several rounds on the track. I was completely rejuvenated after the session despite having very little sleep the night before. Also, I'm not very sure if it was a move taken by my school or the club, but we were treated to drinks, bananas and energy bars after everything ended. Which was definitely great.

Following the PE lesson, I was up for a Chemistry lecture. Just when I thought that I wouldn't sleep during the lecture since I just had PE, I dozed off throughout the entire lecture. Sad to say, I didn't catch much. Or should I say, nothing. That just goes to show that I need more sleep. And that the subjects I take in JC are boring.

It was Math class after that, and at the same venue too. I believe my class's the only class who has its Math lessons in the lecture theatre. I didn't listen as usual. Well, maybe I did, but I didn't complete my tutorial questions in time so I didn't gain anything. It's a pattern I've long gotten used to.

I had two consecutive lessons in the classrooms leading up to dismissal time after Math. And they were excruciatingly dry. However, for reasons unknown, I didn't doze off. And to me, it's an excellent achievement.

Waited for Raudhah with Amira & my classmates at the canteen after school. Because I forgot to collect the shoebag for the Cycle 350 event tomorrow, I went to find the I/C and when I got to him, he completely ignored my request. Why do event organisers in my school behave so... strangely?

Anyway, I had lunch with Amira & Raudhah at Bedok Point Banquet. Apparently they went there just for the ban mian. Had a nice catch-up session with Raudhah too. It's good to hear that mostly everyone from Ngee Ann's doing fine in TJ. And it didn't occur to me that Amira's such a gossip monger... until today. She's usually so laid-back and indifferent, even, whenever I'm with her in school, so I was completely taken aback when she started predicting potential couples in the campus. And I don't know why, but girls have this tendency to notice even the smallest of details, like how teachers tend to dress.

In short, I truly felt the gravity of my ignorance today when Amira & Raudhah revealed their... bimboticity to me. All I know is that I've been taking girls for granted for way too long.

Training's starting in a matter of... an hour or so. I'd better get a quick nap now before I leave.

672

intersticed — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:00:50 GMT

Just a little farther north, people are hurting. Some of them have lost loved ones, and some of them have lost homes. Some of them have lost jobs, and some of them have lost entire livelihoods.

Definitely, the disaster which struck Japan has called forth cries of sorrow & mournings of grief. But life will still have to move on for them. I'll be keeping the Japanese in my prayers, and I believe strongly that no matter how tough the situation can get, they will emerge even tougher.

Truly, all I can do now is just pray. Not only in the aspect of Japan's meltdown, but also my personal life.

I wouldn't say this week was a very good one. Sure, I had a lot of fun catching up with all my different groups of friends, but there was always this heavy cloud that hung over my head and followed me wherever I went, refusing to disperse. I'm constantly reminded of the need to complete all my schoolwork on time, but I always fail to do so. It's an eternal struggle, really, because schoolwork definitely isn't what I would enjoy doing, and it's also because I'm not a masochist. I wouldn't gladly force myself to sit still only to subject myself to various sorts of brain torture. It disappoints me greatly, too, when I picture myself being extremely productive only to reach home and not touch a single assignment.

However, in social terms, this March break has been a fruitful one. Kept myself occupied with a string of activities. There was the kite-flying outing I had with the cell group on Saturday, the major camwhoring session with some of my classmates on Friday night, the swim trainings where I, more or less, managed to get closer to my teammates, and also the Pre-University Seminar training sessions. On top of that, I've also managed to squeeze in some family time.

And just today, I met up with Joel & Ron for a lunch session which was followed by a trip back to secondary school with my friends who were from Chinese Orchestra. In the evening, we made our way to Bedok for a cell group meeting.

Anyway, I was walking on a new pair of flip-flops the entire day. When I got home, my feet were sore with blisters. I hate how they sting in the shower, and how they make walking so uncomfortable. Remind me to never wear flip-flops out again. I should restrict their use to only for swim trainings.

Well, enough with my social life already. I have yet to complete my share of the GP project. On top of that, I have yet to complete my Chinese homework & Chemistry e-learning. I wasn't able to complete the tutorials for Chemistry & Math either. They're just too difficult, with some questions testing topics the lectures haven't even touched on yet.

I'll try to rush the GP project & Chinese assignments tomorrow morning before church. Wish me luck.

671

intersticed — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:07:33 GMT

Slept with a slight fever two nights ago so when I woke up yesterday, it felt as if there were weights in my head.

It was mass PE lesson first thing in the morning. Did the usual - conditioning and a 3.1km run around the school. The grounds were soaked by the night showers hence I was very cautious while running. Didn't finish with a very good timing in the end. Remind me to bring along track shoes whenever there's mass PE - it's way too scary to run on wet ground with canvas shoes.

Was subjected to the teacher's methods of torture after everyone completed the run. I really hated the treatment during the first mass PE lesson, and while I still hate it now, I guess I'm beginning to assimilate the experience. Slowly, but surely. Thankfully I'm doing so, because it'll be necessary in the future.

The rest of the lessons defined "mundane". The Chemistry lecture was held in the hall, where a guest speaker from A*Star was invited to talk about... his profession in Chemistry. I wasn't really listening, not because I didn't want to but because I simply couldn't. But at least I didn't doze off. I can safely say that for now, a career in Science isn't for me. Ironic, considering the fact that I'm a full-fledged Science student.

Speaking of lessons, I'm starting to loathe GP (English) ones. Don't get me wrong - I'm perfectly fine with having to write and think, but I don't like how there is so much group work involved. I understand the need to place emphasis on "breeding the qualities of teamwork" in every student, but come on - it's only March and to date I have already handled more than four group projects.

Met up with Janet, Christon, Hui Jie & Li Ting (in chronological order, ahem) after school to have lunch at Bedok Point. Hui Jie & Li Ting were late (expected of VJC students) and I couldn't reach them because they were still having their lessons! And to think that they told us to meet them at the entrance at 1pm when their lectures ended at 1.30. :@

Didn't have much time left to catch up with them as a result. Left early because I had a Biology make-up class to attend to, but guess what - I rushed like a madman back to TJC only to realise that my Biology tutor was late by nearly half an hour. Apparently, she was caught up with "Bio stuff", but after double-checking with the Biology students from other classes, I found out that the entire Biology department had a celebratory lunch for good Biology 'A' Level results at the Straits Kitchen over at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and they were late because on the way back they got caught up in heavy traffic. SERIOUSLY.

It was already 4pm by the time class ended. Slacked around in school for half an hour until Temasek Ignite. It's basically this ceremony meant to commemorate the commencement of all the Sports and Arts competitions, notably the Nationals & Singapore Youth Festival (SYF).

Even until now, I don't really fit into the swim team. Not only in terms of skill, but also personality. I just don't match up. The swimmers and water polo girls are such fun-loving people, unlike me. I'm just some boring existence in the team. Not to mention, a burden. The teachers don't remember my name very well because I don't stand out, neither do I make the effort to. But you have to understand that it's very difficult for me to do so. I try to be enthusiastic whenever the team's playing basketball or Captain's ball together, but rarely do I even get a hold of the ball because they don't even know which side I belong to. Sounds retarded but it's true (although I don't call names or try to attract attention either). I'm just like that. It surprises me sometimes to know that I even have friends.

Met up with Christon & Pohyee at Simei station after the game and we went down to Clarence's condo together for his 18th birthday party. Didn't really do much there besides eat - but I didn't really eat much either because for the whole of yesterday I didn't have any appetite at all. I think it's partly due to the fever.

Caught up with Yu Yun on the bus ride home. Talked about a lot of random things. Glad she's been doing well.

Have to leave now for a lunch session with my mom. :D Homework can wait.