Graduation Night 2009

Tonight (technically ytd night since it's 1+am alrd...) was the big night - Graduation Night 2009, also fondly known as prom night. i tried sleeping early the night before to reduce eye circles, but i couldn't sleep for like 2 hours so yeah, ended up sleeping late after all. i then woke up at the same time 8am in the morning argh, just can't sleep in!

i read more of S.H.E's book, fiddled with the com and read newspaper, then started preparing for prom at T-minus 5hours? i showered and was nice and clean and just about to head to liwen's house, and here comes the downpour. it started raining cats and dogs the moment i was about to leave, so i randomly grabbed an umbrella and went out. it was only after i opened the umbrella that i realised it was faulty and couldn't be engaged, so it ended up flapping rainwater onto my back T.T the only part that was not wet when i got to liwen's house was my head (not the hair, my hair got wet bcos of the faulty umbrella T.T)

yeah then i watched liwen get her nails done by her sister; apparently she chipped two of her nails when she was showering, so had to have them redone haha. liwen's sister is really pro at nails and makeup and stuff. we then got our hair done. generally mine was half-up-half-down hairdo, with hair curled and the top bits twisted into weird stuff on the back of my head. couldn't see bcos i don't have eyes on the back of my head. i then had lots of glitter spray and hairspray and i thought that my hair was too curly >.> not used to curly hair. the curls then loosened out within like two hours and started straightening! so be careful what you wish for, it may actually come true and you end up with straight hair again T.T

liwen's sister then helped us do makeup, and liwen got cat eyes, i got red eyeshadow matching my red dress, and silver shimmery dunno what stuff. in the end my lips had the most layers! i had lip balm, lipstick, some other pink lipstick to enhance the colour, and lipgloss. the lip balm was strawberry flavoured and tasted nice ^^ (yes it's all edible, and there was so much of it that everytime i talked i was eating lipstick/lipgloss/lip balm etc)

eh well. it's quite a fun experience if we weren't running late. we should have planned everything an hour earlier instead, but we thought makeup would take like 30 min only >.> ended up we took more than an hour! we took lots of photos of our hair and stuff, and afterwards, i found out that there's actually 20 hairpins in my hair in total! liwen had 19, seriously they spam hairpins la! at least i get to keep them xD

shihui was supposed to arrive at 6pm+, then we're all leaving in liwen's father's car at 6.30pm and reach swissôtel at 7pm. As things always don't turn out the way you want, (Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.") in the end it was 6.30pm and my makeup wasn't done yet, and shihui was still at home! she cabbed over afterwards though she could have just cabbed to swissôtel herself haha. we then had a hard time trying to get our eyelashes to curl since we forgot to get eyelash curler, and the mascara wasn't curling, just extending. we ended up doing stupid things like holding our eyelashes up just to get it to curl >.>

shihui's really pro! she did her own makeup and had fake eyelashes and did some eva longoria look (someone from desperate housewives) which was really good! shihui then wanted to help me put on fake eyelashes to solve the non-curly eyelash problem, but i refused vehemently, bcos it's itchy and icky and uncomfortable! furthermore, the fake eyelashes aren't curled really, so they may just end up looking flat and well, fake. thus im very happy with my nice and natural eyelashes thankyouverymuch.

yeah so we ended up leaving house at 7plus when we're supposed to be there alrd. we thought by the time we reached there, everyone would be seated and eating, and we'll be "fashionably late" T.T when we reached at around 7.40pm, surprisingly there were still loads of people lounging around outside the ballroom taking pictures and camwhoring and talking and whatnot. we saw zijun and i almost couldn't recognise her, she's so beautiful tonight! she got contacts and the really nice daniel yam dress we wanted to get but was out of our budget haha. liwen and i were just saying that zijun prolly won't bother doing her hair and much makeup; probably will just wash hair towel dry go there, but we were so shocked when we saw that she did her hair and makeup and everything beautifully!

the whole night passed by in a whirlwind. we just kept taking pictures with people we knew whenever we saw them, and i barely touched the food haha. i ate some food then decided it's not nice and tossed it aside, then ran out for more pictures, taking pics with every single classmate etc. then came back to find like 3 new dishes on the table, shovelled everything in 5 min and tossed aside what i didn't like, then ran off for more pictures/get phonecalls to go take more pics haha. out of $88 worth of food, i ate maybe around $15?

the food wasn't very nice, esp after leaving them there to rot and turn cold before coming back. the soup was too salty, the dessert too sweet, the veggie too much sauce and starch, you get the idea. im the kind who prefers bland food. furthermore, i was no longer hungry after the first dish because it's way past usual dinnertime, plus i was on the taking picture high mood, so who cares about the food! liwen and zijun both said the prawns were nice, and liked them very much. well i don't eat prawns so too bad.

the 3 inch plus heels didn't even bother me as i bounced around from place to place xD i was even running around in them ^^ but the balls of my feet started to get tired because of all the strain on them, so yeah. i don't think i'm going to attempt wearing any heels higher than 8.5cm ever, it's like the highest i can go without falling on my face stumbling around or tripping all over the place. carpet also cushions your feet so not that bad too (:

eh yeah, no one was paying attention to the ongoing events on stage. our tables were right at the back, at the entrance, so we couldn't see the stage well at all, and we were so near to the outside that it was super convenient to run out and back in for pictures ^^" i only paid attention during some bits of the lucky draw (i think no one in our class won), and during the farewell video. couldn't find any familiar faces though, it was too far away to see clearly anw. then i only know sherrie won dance queen, seng henk won dance king, yan han won prom queen (of course la, everyone knows her), but i missed the prom king. can someone tell me who won prom king?

unbelievably, mrs koh really came, and she wore a nice black dress and even did up her hair! i didn't see any other teachers, but i think there's a teacher's table though. the ballroom was too dark to even see the black dresses, not to mention find people haha. just like i predicted, some 65% of the girls wore black dresses, and over 99% of the guys wore something black, either trousers or jacket. shirt and tie were the only stuff with varying colours, but oso can't see clearly under all the black jackets/trousers haha. im so glad i got a nice shade of red so i could be seen much more clearly, and differentiated myself from the sea of black yay!

we managed to take a jap club exco photo minus one (jojo! why u nv come!! :/) i almost couldn't recognise sam, i hesitated for like 5 seconds while staring at her before being certain that it's sam haha! she's usually dressed in rock or punker style, but this time her face had soft colours and she wore a ladylike dress with super high heels (4+ inches)! she's alrd so tall still wear so high >.>

all in all, it's a pretty memorable night, though it could have been better if we were seated near the front so we could make sense of what's going on onstage, and not waste the efforts of the j1 council. i didn't manage to find zek gian though ): they said she's so unrecognisably pretty that i won't be able to find her haha. wanted to take astro club photo with her :/

i think elaine should win a best dressed girl prize tonight! she bared her back and showed her middle, and wore this long flowy turquoise-bluish gown that made her look like a mermaid! it's super pretty and i admire her for daring to bare so much! apparently it cost $200, and that's already 30% of the original price! (which means original price like $670??! so ex) i liked yewei's purple dress too, and the xiangyan's smokey eyes. makes her look so seductive and mysterious haha!

i know all of you can't wait to see the photos, i'll upload them soon onto facebook, so check there! people who took pics with me, add me (joy sim) on facebook if you haven't alrd, and tag me thanks! (:

爱的三温暖

just started reading the book, and even though it's all in 繁体字, i could read maybe 80% of the words? it's quite mafan though, i had to check dictionary for quite a few words, then realise it's not a new word after all, it's just in 繁体 >.> too long nv read chinese though, so 慢半拍 and need more time to think and recall xD

among the three of them, i feel hebe has the best grasp of chinese language. she's so pro la. must be her father's influence, since they both have conversations/letters in pro chinese. i like hebe's father! he has a nice character from what hebe wrote in the book.

他曾说过：“其实世界上根本没有上帝，最厉害的其实是写圣经的人。”

i know blaws will love him too ^^

happy days

we went shopping for our prom dress and shoes on wed, with a budget of 100 and below for dress, and 50 and below for shoes. we spent half the day at far east shopping for shoes bcos there were JUST so many shoe shops, and we ended up buying a bag, earrings, flats, everything but our prom stuff T.T it's called retail therapy haha

my fren eventually decided to stick to her sec 4 prom shoes, and i got a pair of white and silver heels. i thought it wasn't very high bcos it looked 2 inches or so compared to all the other super high heels that we saw, but i measured the heel just now and it's 8.5cm = 3.34645669 inches!!! who knew 3 inches looked so short!!! T.T im going to die in those heels within 10 minutes. and i'm going to be 178cm tall! that's taller than like 99% of the guys in my class >.>

the nice dresses that we saw were too ex, like 200++ and many dresses were not very prommish. then most of those suitable for prom were tubes, and we refused to wear tubes bcos it's accentuates our lack of figure xD it would be worse if it ended up slipping off! i think tubes must be in vogue or something, everywhere you'll find tubes T.T also, most of the dresses were too short for me, and they're not even cheap - at least 100++ which is out of budget!

we went to far east, og, centrepoint robinsons' and takashimaya. in the end liwen got her toga one-shouldered dress from taka at a record 47.70! there are amazing discounts all over orchard, like at least 10% off most of the stuff. i got my prom dress from og's daniel yam (branded kayyy, don't play play). original price was $89, but it was a sale item, so i got it for an even more stunning record of $39! that's 43.8% of the original price!!

the dresses on sale were the cheapest dresses i saw in the entire day, and since i couldn't find any dress i particularly like, might as spend less and choose the cheapest one. esp since we usually wear our prom dresses like once or twice in our lifetime, don't waste the money! my prom dress is not too formal, so still wearable in the future though... ^^

it's a nice red colour, and while i find it rather short, it's not bad. we had a hard time choosing between champagne, silver and red colour, and between different designs, but yeah. that's how it is when you shop >.> if you want to see it, come for prom/wait for photos to be up haha. prom is tomorrow! hope it would be fun...and hope no one cries (unless they wear waterproof mascara hahaha). even though we may not meet again ever (esp the guys), we have had fun times right! and prom should be a happy event!

we had to rush our shopping bcos we don't plan to go out again for prom, so we ended up getting everything in a day. liwen said it's impossible to get everything in a day, but i just proved you wrong so THERE. ^^ though it's super stressful shopping with a mission AND a time limit, more stressful than a levels la! it's physically strenous rather than mentally draining, but it's also an emotional burden you have to carry the whole day!

there was also a class dinner right afterwards, but we were still shopping for the dress, so we ended up late by one hour+ >.< very coincidentally, there was a fireworks display at vivocity that night! it's super nice (better than ndp ones), with lots of star shapes, and lots of blue fireworks. zijun said that apparently blue fireworks are very hard to make, probably because it's harder to see. blue light deviates more from the normal! it was like some 10 minute show, and there were red green pink golden silver orange blue etc, my favourites are the green and pink, and the flower firework where the petals grow out and the middle part explode then the petals explode! i also liked the circles that opened up, looks like a planetary orbit zoom in, though some of the circles ended up elliptical/out of shape, it's still quite good! this is such a pleasant surprise after a day of tiring shopping. we're so lucky ^^

apparently it's in celebration of vivocity's 1st year anniversary! happy birthday vivo! in fact, there were so many photographers there so you can watch it here and find pictures here! (open the links in new tab/new window! don't navigate away from my blog :/)

oh i bought S.H.E's new book!
proof that i got the book xD

ok it's not so new anymore, but i had a hard time getting my hands on it haha, and it's cheaper than i thought! thought would be 30+, but it was 25. and i'm super lucky, i got the last copy of the book at that branch! yay. btw i'm working at google now, so i got the google shirt (:

look at the back!


cute right!

anw i applied for basic theory test for driving ytd. the place is so big, and there were so many people and everyone knows what to do and where to go! i was totally intimidated and lost. i expected a sign saying theory test --> but don't have! then the info counter was so small that i had to walk one whole round before finding it >.> im amazed that there were so many people when it was raining so heavily. i pity the people having their driving test in the heavy rain. i hope mine would be in sunny and good weather!

im learning as a private candidate and taking P3A licence ie. auto car. there were no more test slots for dec, so i booked the earliest date of 2nd jan. i shall mug hard! basic test should be easy, most of the stuff alrd know liao/common sense.

very very coincidentally, i met my pri sch classmate there too! apparently he saw me queuing early on, but he couldn't rmb my name, then so paiseh to go up and forget my name right, so he only came over when i was at the booking station. i couldn't recognise him at first, and there's this awkward silence of 5 seconds as my brain tries to fit his face to a name xD he said something like "hi you're joy right? remember me?"

-awkward pause-

-his face frozen in the smile, my face frozen in a half-smile of non-recognition, thinking why this guy knows my name-

then finally, i remembered him HAHA. aiya so long nv see him, i oso not very close to him in pri sch, plus a levels took up all my memory space, so need recognition lag haha (not the econs recognition lag! xD)

ok i shall end my rambling here and go take a nap. i've been sleeping late and waking at 7+am everyday. seems like my internal clock isn't adjusted to waking late; i just keep waking early. at least it's good for work in the future haha xD

p.s. if you actually believed i'm working for google, happy april fool's day! my bro got the shirt for free when google went to his school for a career fair and gave out free shirts, but it was woman's size so ya. ^^ gotcha!

good byes and hellos

it's time to dedicate a post to my high school life. time to say goodbyes, and prepare to say hellos!

a few days ago, when i couldn't sleep, tossing and turning on my bed generally due to the stress from a levels and thinking about stuff, i suddenly remembered this incident. It must have been one of the most memorable experiences i have had in rj, and maybe even the most memorable. i did my first and only dare ever one fine day this year in february (i remember this because it was so obviously not my birthday, you'll find out why next). i was at the canteen during lunch break with a few of my classmates, and we were playing dare or double dare or something crappy like that which was designed to make you do stupid things.

haha obviously bird was the one who made the bunch of us play it. we were spinning a bottle and whoever it points towards have to do a dare. bird got dared the first time and she went up to the first guy that walked past and said that his chest looks nice xD another guy who got dared went to a girl three tables away and asked her for her number, and believe it or not, she actually gave him! we checked and it was the correct number haha! i bet she knew it was a dare because we were all staring and giggling and whispering. xD

then when it was almost end of break, guess what? i got dared! (so unlucky) i had to go round the canteen twice singing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE!" and the guys at this table were laughing at me. one of them even came over and shook my hand, congratulating me! it's so unbelievably embarrassing! it wasn't even close to my birthday and everyone was watching >.> i wonder if anyone i knew actually saw? eh yeah and fortunately (or not so fortunately), the bell rang at this moment so i could end my agony quickly, but it should have come sooner so i didn't have to get dared at all in the first place! i had many fun times like that in rj haha.

hmm...i'm not comfortable with the name ri(jc), im more used to saying rj, 比较亲切,也很顺口嘛! we're the first and last batch that have been to rgs, rjc and ri, and we're the H1N1-for-A-levels and SARS-for-PSLE batch. luckily h1n1 didn't affect our a levels though sars may have affected our psle, considering the top psle scorer for our year was only 282? (compared to the pro 290 or 286++ they have each year)

eh sorry i digress. i'll miss the games and fun times we had, i'll miss the food even, for it was cheap and they give a lot haha, probably bcos it's a mixed school so they give as much for us as they would for guys whee. the food was a whole lot better than rgs food too! part of the reason why i miss rj more than rgs. but mainly it's because i have great memories of fun, joy and laughter in rj - in jap club and astro, even bridge.

i had fun in ccal camp, in befrienders' dance, open house, jap fest, chingay, every single event and activity i took part in or organised in rj. rj really gave me many many opportunities to excel and improve myself, and i feel sorry that i couldn't have contributed more to rj. the thing i loved about rj was the atmosphere. so full of energy, laughter, fun and friends, and opportunities abound. if you want to do something, there's a 95% chance for you to succeed as long as you're willing to do it. it's this kindof spirit that is encouraged, and it made me do a lot of things i nv would have dreamt possible.

what i regret the most is that JC2 life wasn't as fulfilling as JC1 life. i guess it's mainly because we're so obsessed with mugging mugging and more mugging, which is good? i mean it's a student's job to mug haha. but definitely school life shouldn't be just about mugging.

it's true that what you'll remember years down the road are not your a level results or the tests and exams, but rather the friends you made and the wonderful experiences you had. i don't rmb my results and tests and pts from rgs anymore. in fact, i don't even rmb PW or my JC1 CT results or lecture tests and little stuff that mattered so much to us at those times! sigh, that's why i felt that this year was a pity. i guess things are always like that in a premier school or even any jc in singapore, but i'm already very grateful for all the fun i had out of the classroom!

and because of H1N1, a lot of activities and events got cancelled, and so we missed out on a lot of fun activities this year ): i feel sad for the j1s, for they got robbed of the great experiences that i enjoyed in my j1 year from all the activities i organised and participated in.

im glad that i have learnt a lot out of the classroom from rj, and now i shall bid rj farewell! with this, i shall move on... and start preparing for prom! tomorrow we're going shopping for dress and shoes, and then we have a class dinner to send the scholars off! sigh bidding farewell to the school means bidding farewell to all my friends, classmates, ccamates. i even spent 6 whole years with some of you! we'll be going our separate ways, to different countries and taking different paths. i only hope that all of you will live well and healthily, and may our paths cross again in the future (how about a reunion each year!)

i've got this whole list of things i have to do and want to do, including uni apps, scholarships, applying for internships and work. (home tutoring anyone?) but i also want to read a lot of books, watch a lot of drama, mug french/jap/astro/anything i want, and generally have fun! oh yeah i'll have to go learn driving too!

this is not the end. well maybe it is the end of our high school life and childhood and everything innocent and nice haha, but it is also the beginning of our adulthood and entry into the big wide world out there! while the future remains uncertain, murky or scary, the bright new future with unlimited opportunities also lies ahead! rmb, only we have the power to mould our future!

the light at the end of the tunnel

Whenever I experience a significant event, I will blog about it. This time, it's no exception. With my last paper over (H3 physics), this marks the end of my 2 years at rj, and of course the end of the much dreaded a levels, and i finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! my future lies ahead, as i shall embrace the limitless possibilities of all that i can do now...

this a level exams must be the longest exams i'll ever take, and one in which i spent the longest preparing for (6 years in IP), and the longest i spent mugging for (at least two full months, and random mugging in between in the last 6 months). 3 whole weeks of exams, out of which only 12 days had papers (13 papers in total). so there's like more than half the time for mugging which is very good haha, but just prolongs the agony and all. i'm still glad for the extra time to mug though, may have helped slightly?

looking back, mugging last minute really doesn't help for a levels. what helps is everything you've been doing the past two years. a lot of the knowledge i had to use ended up coming from long-term memory and crapping skills, as many qns involved explanations and application of what we have learnt to new situations, which i didn't quite expect.

seriously, i expected a levels to be as easy as the stuff in the tys, but looks like a levels standards changed towards less memorising and rote-learning, and more application of skills. well it's good for ppl who are pro, but im not very pro, so it's not very good for me haha. i just hope i lie within the band of proness (ie. A A A A A!) but now that it's over, there's only the wait.

i shall give a -brief- account of how each paper went for me. maybe after i get back my results next year, i can look at this blog post and check if how i felt about the paper = how i did for each paper xD

By chronological order (or thereabouts, since each paper is spread out over 3 weeks):

Mathematics
the paper was odd. when i saw the first question and couldn't do it, i was shocked. it was our first paper, and it was already like that!? but afterwards i read the question again and kindof understood what they were asking and yeah, it was ok. i didn't know how to do the graphs qn, and i left it to the end and just did what i thought should be right. seems like it's correct (according to solutions posted online by math tutors haha, ask me if you want the solutions).

a whole lot more explaining than expected. qns were phrased weirdly too, probably to make it look more difficult, and trick weaker students into freaking out and giving up on the paper (which i almost wanted to but of course i didn't). turns out math is going to be the best paper among all my a level exams, so see how much worse things are going to turn out...

should be an A. according to solutions, i got almost everything correct (i lost 2 marks for sure, a few more uncertain marks for explanations), provided i didn't make careless mistakes. even if the solutions weren't accurate, it should still be an A...

General Paper
Paper 1 was good in that there was a question on poverty! yay! but my intro was crap and i don't even think i wrote a proper thesis statement. i had too many points and i was squeezing everything in, so i think that wasn't good. but my points were good, so should have quite a bit of content marks. it should be at least a B essay, hopefully A because paper 2 was crap. i died for the compre. ):

i didn't know what they were asking for in half the qns, bcos it was mostly inference/why u think the author used quotation marks (WHYY??!?!?)/explain weird stuff that involves weird crapping skills. thus, i am absolutely unsure about the validity of my answers and if i'm lucky, all my answers would = answer sheet. if im unlucky, i'm going to get a horrid grade T.T oh and i didn't know how to do the vocab, and my aq was crap, my summary was useless and only had 7 big points (and there were 8 marks!)

worst cast scenario: B4 (better not be anything below a B :/). best case scenario: A2 (impossible to get A1 with such a crappy compre right, unless everyone else had crappier compres)

Economics
argh essay was horrifying. just thinking about it makes me shudder. i didn't know how to do some part of every single one of the six questions, and you know how horrifying that is in the biggest exam (as of now) of your life??? i randomly chose the 25 mark micro qn bcos i had two points (kindof), but it's a 25 mark essay!! i probably failed it :/

i then chose the first two macro qns because i didn't study globalisation well so i couldn't do the apparently quite easy qn on globalisation, but the part a was difficult so there! i would have screwed up that part. i hope i passed both essays, though i think i did badly for some parts of both questions ):

if i had more time, and if i were thinking more clearly, i should have chosen the qn on price discrimination. i thought up quite a few good points for it after the paper, and i think i can get a L2 score and probably pass the essay at least, which is already better than the 25 mark qn T.T i was panicking throughout the paper and not thinking very clearly, plus it was just too cold in the hall!!

case study was much much better, at least i knew how to do most of it, and guess what? i wrote more than i did for essay, AND i drew more diagrams! while they tested on random weird stuff like the multiplier, it was doable and it was like giveaway points! (they probably repented after the killer essay paper haha). pretty much everyone predicted the high oil/food/energy prices! apparently some jc's prelim paper predicted 90% of the a level paper or something, so those ppl who did the paper, lucky you.

but the last parts (e,f) for both micro and macro case studies weren't very good because i had too many points and i lacked time. oh yeah why in the world did they give us so many parts ah, and make me write so much for like what 2 marks, 3 marks! gah wasted my time, could have done better for last parts hmph.

worst case: S? raw score is probably a S for essay ahaha, so ironic, considering i have never gotten below D for econs before (which should warrant an A for a levels according to everyone but yeah life is not a bed of roses). best case is a B. with essay score 60% and case study only 40%, it's impossible to get A raw score, and unlikely to get A moderated score. :/

Chemistry
i feel cheated after i finished all three papers. like half of what i learnt in the past two years were actually NOT tested? i touched the calculator like twice for paper 2/paper 3??? and there were a whole lot of explanations and qualitative answers, which tested on stuff that we haven't learnt before really, but must apply what we know to the paper. bcos of the time limit, i didn't have time to slowly think, and so some of my explanations must have been crap. sigh.

papers 2 and 3 were ok ba, but it wasn't very good because i know i made quite a few mistakes, and since the papers were pretty easy, everyone will do better than me and i can't get my A :/ paper 1 was more difficult, and very very tricky. i was rushing because i always don't have enough time to do chem mcq papers (ask our chem department. they like to kill us for chem), and because of that, i fell into the cambridge examiners' traps again and again and i made a whole lot of mistakes that i seriously SHOULND'T HAVE MADE. while i had time to go back and check and salvage some of them, i missed out on the rest et voila! i had a lot of mistakes, and while im sure many people make the same mistakes, does this put me ahead of others?

predicted score: possibly a B, of course hope for A

Physics
This paper ah, why start so late ah. when we did the first paper (paper 2), it was alrd near the end of the second week of exams? bio ppl alrd took like their paper one week ago? then when we took the second paper (paper 3), some of the arts students already completed their a level exams?!?! gah. the wait for the third paper (paper 1) was the longest la. i totally didn't study for it, except the afternoon before just to recap and make me feel less nervous about not mugging for it >.> spent most of the time mugging for h3 physics (more below haha)

paper 2 and 3 were pretty easy i guess, but so much more explaining than expected. and all those definitions (of tesla?! of the volt!!) luckily they've appeared somewhere in our notes before, but i forgot the definitions and i was making them up/deriving them on the spot XP

paper 1 was DIFFICULT. everyone was probably expecting a easy paper, but from my experience previously with chem mcq, i knew paper 1 was bound to be difficult. but who knew it was going to be so difficult! i mean it's doable, but i probably had quite a lot of wrong answers ): it was like more difficult than our prelims paper, and comparable to any prelim papers actually. i always thought a levels was supposed to be easier than prelims T.T

some of the qns were simple enough, they didn't bother tricking you, but those qns were the minority. the rest were plenty of tedious calculations/weird stuff i nv heard of before which makes me wonder what i've actually been learning the past two years. how could there be stuff like CENTRIFUGAL FORCE when we never even seen it in our notes before. bah.

hopefully it's an A. at least everyone else dies with me, and hopefully i did better than most ppl ^^"

H3 Physics
i mugged quite a bit for it, but only in the few days before. i felt awfully under-prepared when i went into the exam hall, because the syllabus is made up of new unfamiliar and unknown stuff that i've only had the chance to memorise, and not internalise. i could rmb the eqns, but if they ask me to do all the explaining and deriving, i freak out and forget. that's kinda what happened today.

i expected the paper to be difficult, from past year papers and stuff, and it turned out pretty much the same. i couldn't show this eqn, and im still really upset about it. i should have worked backwards but i was so focused on getting it from first principles that i gave up on it when i couldn't get it. bah. 4 marks gone. a lot of explanations too; i didn't know some of them and pretty much made up based on whatever concept i believed it to be based on. so a lot of uncertain marks that could have been lost/gained.

then for section b, i had to choose 2 qns out of 4. i chose one qn that was obviously easier than the rest, as i couldn't do like 4-10 marks in each of the other 3 qns (and each qn was 20 marks!), so i had to randomly choose. after i did the second qn, i realised i couldn't do quite a lot of it T.T

when i got home today and worked out the other 2 qns i didn't do, i realised i could do like 6 marks of showing for one of the qns after all! though it required quite a bit of thinking and stuff which i may not be able to produce in exam conditions, but still. sigh.

oh well, nothing i can do to change it. not like i'll change my decision in those conditions, i was kindof freaking out bcos i didn't have much time to choose anymore, and i was alrd demoralised by the first part of the paper ):

possibly a merit grade, but let's hope it's a distinction.

All in all, GCE 'A' Level examinations proved to be more challenging than expected, and don't underestimate the meanness of the cambridge examiners! I think because of all the complaints and feedback that a levels were too easy, that students just needed to mug and memorise to score well, the examiners have decided to set questions that test more than just calculations/rote-learning, and differentiate between the good students and the average.

the awful thing is that i know i made some mistake in every single paper i did (except gp essay?), which made it worse because i couldn't even live in ignorant bliss that i did well for the papers. i mean just having some mistakes doesn't mean i did badly, but because of the few mistakes, u will think that you could have done better and avoided a worse grade! maybe if i get b -choy choy touch wood- i will regret it in the future, because i could have answered the qn correctly and maybe get a A instead!

i guess it's possible that all my complaints were overly pessimistic and i'll turn out with perfect scores, but i guess i'd rather pin my hopes on how i feel about the papers than on overly optimistic scores and end up badly disappointed.

insignificance

"The significance of man is that he is insignificant and is aware of it." - Carl Becker

indeed.

im a teeeny bit depressed by my sat results, and awfully depressed by the oxford interview, but i have to keep reminding myself that in the grand scheme of things, man is insignificant, thus these even more insignificant little blemishes don't really matter.

jiayou for a levels!

nice quote

Interesting quote I came across:

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
- Bill Watterson

haha i kindof agree actually >.>

Tomorrow's Farewell Assembly! I predict long hours of wait with hundreds of people going up and down the stage. I hope it won't be too boring, and at least I'm getting three certs! they're all unexpected so yeah I'm happy.

Last Day of School ):

oh nooo it's the last day of official lessons in school today! it's like the last time we'll get to have lessons as a class T.T but i shan't dwell on it now. I shall feel sad after a levels are over. For now we can still see each other, albeit during mock exams or A levels itself >.>

sigh we're all splitting up and moving on with our lives soon, going our separate ways. it's like once i graduate, i'll have to say goodbye to my childhood, adolescence and high school years. i'll have to officially grow up and become an adult, to become mature. this is such a big transition! i'll miss the times when we were carefree without worries about "adult" things. maybe i'll post some more after A levels about saying goodbye to my beloved school. i've really learnt a lot within these short one year and 10 months from this school, and i hope i have contributed back to the school during this time too.

ok i shall concentrate on mugging full force everyday up to A levels! it's my best possible contribution to the school currently, to score as best as I can to bring up the average of the school's results, and to achieve my personal best.

There's so many things to do within these two months up till end of A levels! i'll really have to learn to prioritise and sacrifice many things...

Tomorrow's SAT II subject tests! I shall go mug now. Good luck to everyone else who's taking the tests too! (:

END OF PRELIMS!!

me ish happy, bcos my prelims is finally over!

now i can start mugging for a levels properly. it's not the end, not the beginning, but just the middle of the super longgg journey ahead. (ok about 2+ months, but it's a long time to be mugging non-stop okayy!)

yeah i'll be mugging harder than i've ever had, and probably ever will in my life. i've planned out this whole study timetable and i realised i don't have enough time to do everything xD so i'll be doing as much as i can within these two months. -nods-

Top 10 things i learnt from this prelims:

1. Don't use the computer/Internet unnecessarily. It's a huge source of distraction!!
2. Don't EVER turn on the TV, even if you're just resting for 15 minutes. you could end up watching an interesting one-hour TV documentary on cosplay culture in Japan. in the middle of prelims. yes.
3. Last minute studying really works. But revising normally plus last minute mugging work even better.
4. Sleep. Lack of sleep really does affect your performance during the exam. (so does hunger)
5. Mugging too much can actually cause insomnia!!! and you start having nightmares about being late for exams and getting 0 (for papers that you don't even take.)
6. Don't panic during the last 5 minutes of the exam, even if others are flipping pages and generally being distracting (which usually means they're done). If not you'll start messing up when you shouldn't. T.T
7. Learn to ignore the teacher! >.>
8. Do the paper quickly, but CAREFULLY. don't rush and start missing out questions/making careless mistakes. bleh.
9. ALWAYS check that you have done every single part of each question. better not make this mistake again in a levels T.T.
10. Set realistic timeframes for each topic and subject. it's impossible to finish 21 topics in two hours (but i did in 4 hours. hahahaa)

Sigh. this prelims turned out worse than i expected, especially for chemistry. I just hope my A levels will turn out much better.

im actually starting to find studying fun (i must be going nuts), but it's good for my a levels anyway, so nope im not complaining. it's a really good thing. you should learn to love studying before you can sustain long-term mugging! (add that to the number 11 on the list xD)

in the meantime, i wish everyone all the best in these few crucial months! it's the last few laps of the 3km race, or as ppl like to say, last dash for the finishing line (of the marathon?) but i can relate better to the last few laps of 3km thing. ok nvm gambatte! have a brief respite before mugging full force again!

Prelims!

im sure you're surprised im even blogging. i seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth or something, but no, im kindof in some informal hiatus. just didn't feel like blogging, with or without exams. prelims is here! gp and econs case study are over, but there's still econs essay to "look forward to". it probably should be better than case study >.>

im applying to oxford for eem! i've been busy settling my ucas account and personal statement and application stuff that i haven't actually revised enough for prelims. imsodead.

i've been spending quite a bit of time these days reading the news and about politics. i nv realised current affairs can be so interesting hmm. the most interesting news is of course that of the girl who was kidnapped and hidden for 18 years, and whom i believe developed the Stockholm syndrome. and there's the yip siblings who're super pro at studying or something, and they're getting o levels and a levels at a really young age. u know their younger brother is aiming to do his o levels at the age of 9!?!? he must be really stressed out to do well bcos of his parents' expectations and his siblings' good track record T.T poor boy.

anw who knew we had a gossip girl for our school on twitter? not like i understand any of the initials. who's B, L, A, etc??? someone enlighten me!

ok shall go mug. byeee. xD

JOY-eux anniversaire!

Happy Birthday to me
祝我生日快乐
Joyeux Anniversaire
Otanjoubi Omedetou!

sadly, my birthday is situated right in the middle of the flu season. let's hope the fever subsides asap.

im sad that i missed all the birthday wishes, hugs and smiles i could have gotten in school, but at least more people seemed to notice my birthday now that im sick xD had some unprecedented 20++ smses or something from many many different ppl. (not to mention the dunno how many million messages on fb!)

eh im going to collect all my birthday presents when i go back to school ah! don't try and pretend u didn't get me any, especially since you've got more time to get me a nice present! (:

thanks for everyone's well wishes! i'll definitely try and get well soon (don't want to miss anymore lessons T.T) and in the meantime, i shall do a whole lot more mugging than you all wahaha! ^^

this is indeed the most memorable birthday i've ever had.

"holidays"

hi everyone!

it's the 3rd week of the june holidays. happy father's day!

hmm just felt like slacking off for a while.

been mugging a lot, and im getting quite sick of studying, but imagine! there's still at least 5 months more to mug. >.>

i figured i need some balance of work and play. so i've been allocating like one or two hours each day to watch tv/slack/do what i want. yet, it takes much self-discipline for anyone to tear themselves away from slacking and back to mugging, thus i allocate myself targets for each day (not that i always achieve them, but still better than nothing right? xD)

once i reach the target for the day, i get to slack for the rest of the day (or usually night)! isn't that great!

i think i should study more though, im not studying enough. >.>

ahhh so depressing! i haven't mugged this much in my life before.

through all the mugging, i realised that i can't live without music. after reading through half a chapter of chem, i'll subconsciously start humming some random tune and i won't realise it till i finish the chapter and realise that i was humming some ancient song from my childhood, or i was humming some recent new SHE song, or i was actually randomly composing music as i was mugging. it's interesting.

oh for those who didn't realise, i haven't been using my computer these days. in fact, today's like the first real day im using my com. the past few weeks, i've been just checking mail then turning off my com. nothing else. but even if i come on msn, i'll appear off 99% of the time haha xD

thus i have been living without music from my com, and so i resort to humming and singing to keep me sane and alive. after all, the best instrument of music is always what you're born with - your voice!

ok this is so crap. im super disappointed that the waseda exchange thingy got cancelled. "bad baaaad H1N1" indeed!

shall go sleep. im keeping to a routine of sleep-early-wake-early so that i won't end up being too tired waking up super early during CTs week, which hopefully won't get postponed. I'm counting down the days to end of CT2, so PLEASE don't prolong my agony! let's hope the H1N1 situtation improves >.>

So long, farewell...

uh from popular demand (of one person xD), and from peer pressure (since all the exco blogged), I'll have to blog about japanese club J2 Farewell and handover to our new J1 exco!

J2 Farewell on wednesday wasn't as wonderful as i expected, but I guess I had high expectations. The lack of forfeits was a pity T.T There were good stuff though, like a lott of food + a really nice cake, and the going around to write comments thing. The style of this batch is different from ours, so we shouldn't judge them based on what we did. we focused much more on forfeits and games, while they had really great ideas which were too crazy and so got rejected. What they should do is just to modify their great ideas to tone down the craziness and adapt it. don't get demoralized by little setbacks, and instead work around them to make the best of it! I guess it's all up to them to incorporate more fun stuff as they go along.

I'm both sad and relieved to hand over, because I'll miss all the happy times I had with all the jap clubbers, but I don't have to organize each week's session and worry about all the "logistical nightmares". Throughout the course of this one year as part of the exco, I learnt a lot from everyone. We bonded well as an exco, so much so that it's become so familiar to just see you guys around. I'll always go on some high when I see zhiwei and joanna, haha.

To my wonderful exco: Hontoni Arigatou Gozaimasu! Suki desu! <33333

To zhiwei:
Thanks for being there to help me all the time, and actually taking the initiative to borrow vga cables or bring your lappy even though your sister will "kill you" T.T you'll even volunteer to do saikang work like print photos and stuff even though it's troublesome! you're the greatest vchair I can ever wish for (: you're a happy person too, and you make me happy whenever I see you, so I'm really glad that I got to know you and have you as part of my exco!!!

To ben ben:
Thanks for being there to help me all the time! your pro memory does have loopholes in them, but it really aided me many times (since i have short-term memory ahaha)! Even though you're treasurer, you did much more than your job scope. you helped whenever you could, and you take the initiative to bring your lappy (mochi) so many times!

Every time i see you at lecture, you'll come and ask me something/remind me something about jap club, which is really great! while you're the only guy in the exco, you never let that deter you from airing your views and stuff. you're the guy who always wants debrief, reflections and money haha. it's great knowing you, and i learnt that there are still guys in rj who have gentlemanly habits haha. i guess i'll miss your sarcasm and snide remarks (but definitely not the bullying! T.T)

To joanna:
Thanks for being such a great friend and motivation! you've always been the 2nd joy (ie. the other person who will go high with me haha) and you inspired me to be more optimistic despite all the challenges we face! you have pro drawing skills and photoshopping skills, and you're a really funny person! and i picked up my camwhoring skills from you lah! so uh thanks for that i guess? xD if not for being in the exco, i don't think i'll even get to know you so well, and the exco wouldn't be as lively as it is now! i hope we'll always remain good friends, like FOREVER!

To sam:
Thanks for being the silent supporter in the background! i always thought you're a really outspoken person and everything, but from being in the same exco, i realised you're the quiet type who only opens her mouth for meaningful 金玉良言, and for fangirling! i think i learnt quite a bit from your motivational words, though i can't rmb what xD

I like your professionalism in things that you really like, eg. cosplaying and learning japanese. it's a pity you couldn't come for our dinners most of the time, but i managed to learn a lot about you through this exco experience. I hope we'll always keep in touch, and hopefully i can learn more things from you!

To all jap clubbers (yes you exco ppl too):

I really <3333333 you guys! even before exco, i was part of the club itself. for the past year and 5 months, I came to love jap club more and more, and it's all thanks to you guys. the main reason everyone remains so committed to the club is because of the people in it. jap club in itself would be nothing if not for all of you!

So i'd like to say thank you for all the support and efforts you've put in for all our events, but most importantly, thanks for making my jc life so enriching and fun. I always looked forward to each week's session to see all of you and to throw aside all mugging and worries, just to relax and be happy! the greatest thing is the lack of competition and politics in our club, so thank you all for being such great people. we'll always be one big family (:

To the new J1 exco:

All the best for the upcoming challenge! It's a responsibility to lead the club, and I hope you'll appreciate the opportunity you've just been given. Remember, the going is never easy, but we can only learn through our mistakes. If you don't try, you'll never be able to improve. Remember, we'll always be more than willing to guide you if you ever need advice or help (:

Actually, I'm quite worried about you guys, because you're a majority guy-exco, which is unprecedented, and there are many problems i can foresee. I hope you will be able to lay all my worries to rest by proving yourselves to me, that you can do a good job and bring happiness and fun to the club.

Now's your time, the rest is up to you.

<3333 your greatest and most joyful chairperson ever ^^

DIne in the Dark!

Dine in the Dark was better than I expected! It wasn't perfect, and there were delays, technical difficulties and stuff like that, but it turned out much better than I thought. The interact clubbers really put in a lot of effort to make this turn out well, from the music to setting up everything like 3 hours beforehand to training all the members. I'm pretty amazed. ^^

I learnt to appreciate our food much better, because it's really difficult to find the food in the dark haha. I kept coming up with mouthfuls of tartar sauce T.T and mouthfuls of mashed potato mixed with tattar sauce haha. I even tried to dip some fish in the tartar sauce but it took like 5 attempts before I succeeded xD

And yes, we must appreciate the important of our eyesight. While it's all fun and laughter to be blinded for 1hour ++ for a meal, it's no joke to be blinded for life. What's more, if you've never seen anything before, you wouldn't know for example, how the packet drink has a hole on the top left corner. Then you wouldn't be able to feel for it and stick the straw through the hole! Such difficulties for something as simple as drinking from a packet drink.

Astrigue Challenge 2009...

is over! It's been fun and enjoyable, and while we're all tired and busy from organizing and planning the event, our efforts finally paid off! It was imperfect, but it's been a great learning experience for all of us. For one, I now know my juniors better ^^ And thanks to all our seniors who came down to support us! Especially kb who stayed till the end for the dinner and even half-treated us to dinner! thanks to our great chair who somehow got psychoed into half-treating us too haha xD

I hope everyone had a great time and learnt something new, and thank you all! ^^

Congratulations to all prize winners! This is but just a competition, and there are more upcoming ones ahead! Therefore, I hope you have learnt something new that can help you in your future competitions. Remember, everyone is a winner in their own way.

I wish you guys best of luck in your future endeavours!

I recently chanced upon this photo essay called "Days with my Father". It's so touching it made me cry, so I hope you'll take a look at it. Click on the picture below (:



p.s. To read the photo essay, place your cursor at the bottom of the main picture and click. The next picture and entry will come up.

Have a good friday!

PW results were out yesterday, and amazingly, rjc did even better this year with 92% obtaining distinction! fortunately for me, i wasn't part of the minority 8%, but there was 1 guy in my class who was. I have no idea how to comfort guys, so i hope his friends are doing something about it. There's no way one wouldn't be affected when everyone else in your class gets A and you get B, even though he acts nonchalant and all. Now that PW is over, it's a great relief, a burden off my chest. hurray!

and finally, i am better than my brother at something! (he didn't get A for PW wahaha) yay!

Joke:
How many mainstream economists does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to assume the existence of a ladder and one to change the bulb.

Economic forecasters assume everything, except responsibility.
- RECONS July 2008 Issue

wise words indeed.

I finally got down to reading RECONS, and it's got quite interesting stuff in it. do read it if you've got the time.

Anyway, I shall publicise "Dine in the Dark", a charity event to raise funds for the blind, organized by my friend in Interact Club. Details:

Date: Friday, May 8, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location: Raffles Institution Junior College
Price: $10

you'll get to have a dinner in the dark, served by the blind. There are such restaurants around the world, but they requires reservations like one week before and only allow small groups of customers. Hence this is a great opportunity to have such an experience!

Let me know if you're interested, because i want to go but not sure who to ask xD we can go after astro session!

Yeah, have a good friday ^^

Favourite quote of the day: "Talk is cheap. Supply exceeds demand." xD

End of T2W2

it's yet another end of the school week! Happy end of the week everyone!

As you probably can tell, I'm like in a high mood. My friend describes my mood as a sinusoidal wave, with interesting dips and peaks at odd moments. Seems like im at the peak at the moment. Here's why:

Tomorrow's Astrigue Convention! All the best to everyone and I'm sure it will be a success! A pity I won't be able to make it, but be rest assured, I'll be there for the Challenge 1 & 2 ^^

Instead, I'm dedicating my time and efforts to RJCC day-camp since I'm the one who organised it; obviously I've got to be there. Anyhow, I'm really excited now and looking forward to having a great time tomorrow! I hope all the J1s will enjoy themselves as well, and get to know each other much much better!

Note to self: Remember to bring rice to test the club rice cooker tomorrow.

What's more, the test paper results I got back so far are not bad. Chemistry wasn't too difficult so not bad. Math was super easy so not bad (but i still made stupid mistakes like leave out the modulus and get 2 marks deducted or something) And I've got a L3 mark for one Econs case study question xD How did i know? Because my teacher used my question as one of the better answers from the class for that question! I think that's the first time i've ever gotten a L3 mark for econs. wow monumental moment!

And I seriously can't believe what I got for H3 Physics. It's exactly the same feeling as I had for the NTU Astrochallenge diagnostic test last year in astro! Still, what makes it depressing is that I'm seriously going to do worse for my H2 physics CT than my H3 physics. Looks like my prediction a few days earlier is going to materialise T.T

Anyhow, it can only go downhill from here. The papers left are the ones I know I'm not going to score well for unless some miracle occurs: GP, Econs and Physics. i think i really did badly for these three depressing subjects. ESPECIALLY PHYSICS, which was the most depressing paper I've ever taken in my life! I can't believe i did so badly for it!

how can ppl like yizhen implicitly suan us by moaning, "Oh noooooo, I can't get full marks already! I left out the 'lying at right angles to the magnetic field' for the definition of magnetic flux! Oh nooooooo..." while grabbing his head and pulling out his hair and whatnot. sigh. if no one got full marks for chem ct (which was much easier), how could it be possible for anyone to get full marks for physics ct!!!???

Note to self: Don't ever turn complacent, NEVER again. It's a terrible mistake and it's not something you should do, especially in THE A Level year. i may have done well, but so did everyone else. it's not the best I could have done and it's seriously stupid to make careless mistakes like that! I HAVE to work harder from now on!

i think i just depressed myself. sigh. mood swings back to minimum...

I realised that mrs tan is quite funny when she lectures, so i should pay more attention listening even though she goes through quite slowly haha. Let me end off with one two quotes from her (inspiration from blaws' way of blogging):

"...detectors, such as a thermopile or a bolometer...

What's a bolometer? You don't need to know." haha xD

"We can't use a mercury thermometer as er, things will melt, you know?"

- Mrs Tan on measuring radiation and temperature of blackbodies respectively.

let's all imagine the "things melting". have a great weekend ahead! ^^

Mathmaticious

haha talking to pw just made me rmb about this video. Enjoy!

J2 CTs 1 are OVER!

Wow my blog is dead. My inspiration for blogging is only because I saw this really funny joke and I wanted to put it up somewhere. (see almost end of post) eh why did i type in caps and complete sentences o.O

since im already here, might as well blog a bit more. uh J2 CTs 1 is officially over! yay. physics is the most depressing paper I've ever taken...i just hope i'll do fine for everything sigh. i pretty much made careless mistakes for ALL the papers i did (except uh gp?)

ok let's stop dwelling on past mistakes and crying over spilt milk but 收拾好心情，准备继续往前冲！

i really like this song and im getting addicted to it. i nv knew 郭美美 sang it too! didn't know she could sing ballads, but i prefer other people's versions of the song. and i found out that imeem allows interesting colours for embedding in blogs xD anw this version is by the original singer Ke Gui Ming. enjoy!

Ai Shi Ni Yan Li De Yi Shou Qing Ge - Ke Gui Ming

actually im starting to miss the mugging. it would actually be quite fun if not for the stress of exams and time constraints. after all, it makes me feel accomplished when i manage to finish a test paper, or some long question. i feel smart! even if i don't know how to do it, i will get to learn how to do it so i'll feel even smarter in the future!

now that cts are over, i have no more excuse of "mugging for cts" and i have to worry about the many other facets of life, including jap club, astro, iya, and there's HOMEWORK which is still mugging to a smaller extent. hence the viewpoint that mugging without any other worries or time constraints or stress is better than having all these worries. well i guess we can eliminate these worries after june and really concentrate on pure mugging!

oh well but purely mugging is boring, and it would be good to have other activities right, and when you have other activities, there will be new worries generated. hence the cost-benefit analysis. why does this start to sound like an essay?

ok nvm it's not like we have a choice of wanting to do purely mugging or wanting to have purely worrying activities or whatever. there is always a mix of both and where there is mugging, there will always be the stress of exams (CTs 2, Prelims, A LEVELS!!!); where there is stress of exams, there will always be time constraints; where there are activities, there will be worries accompanying them; where there are fun and slack activities, there will always be mugging that has to be done. hence i will not be able to attain complete happiness this year.

eh that was seriously not intended. ok i better put a disclaimer: The writer of the above paragraphs will not be held responsible for any damage done to your brain, line of reasoning, or mental capacity. It is purely the perspective of the writer, and you are not compelled to believe in it.

I think i shall go finish my math revision exercise later and rearrange my notes and stuffs. now i can do these things in my own time and not rush them out before the day of the exam! hee.

jap club day camp is next saturday! which means i have to rush out proposal by this weekend ok here comes the worries. sigh it clashes with astrigue convention so i'll have to miss that ): yikes. well there's still challenge day 1 and 2 though.

today's earth day, turn off your lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm tonight!

ok here's the joke as promised:

A minister told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17."

The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up. The minister smiled and said, "Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying."

haha I hope that made you smile. it sure did make me smile. shall go back to doing my work cya!

back in singapore

im having a really packed holidays now. why did i ever get myself so busy???

i've been on a school trip to western australia (uwa), and on a family trip to shantou (china) and hongkong.

im doing a lot of activities and im committed to more things than i ever thought so yah. you won't see me blogging much bcos there's just too much to say and too little time to.

both trips were pretty fun in their own way. the uwa trip allowed me to make many new friends, learn many new insights into the lives of both the females (other than myself) and males, and the ways of poker. anw, i oso learnt some interesting sciencey stuff through the science programme at uwa. and that the word "summer", can be deceiving.

trust me. singapore's summer can be VERY, VERY different from other countries'.

reaching st cats, the boarding school we lived in. it was just across the road from uwa.

kookaburra sits on a tree. this is taken at st cats, behind tennis court.

solar viewing at uwa physics rooftop

my favourite tree in australia. when it catches the sunlight, all the leaves shimmer white and silver. it's super pretty.

flies. they're attracted to dark colours apparently.

leaning tower of pisa gingin. taken at gingin gravity discovery centre.

down the trail to nowhere through the solar system

as for the family trip, i was there to visit my relatives (my half-aunt/uncle, half-cousins, their children and grandchildren), and obviously i was rather "old" there, though my cousins' children are all older than me. bah.

my 3-year-old half-cousin twice removed. ie. my cousin's granddaughter. she loves camwhoring. who would have imagined that?

she has a nasty temper with strangers, and she would dao you and kick at you. i managed to make friends with her one night bcos no one else would throw her the shuttlecock for her to whack xD plus i had the best skill at throwing than anyone else there. so she would not let anyone throw her the shuttlecock except for me. ^^"

i got to experience the villages' rural lifestyle and their wedding traditions. i got to strengthen our relationships and make new friends as well. i got to see how the females have an inferior position to males, but since i was of a high status there, plus im a rich guest, i got much better treatment than the females of the village. i rather pity them.

wedding bedroom with all the wedding gifts on the bed. kid with her play balls.

my cousin's 2nd son and his bride offering tea to my parents.

wedding lunch at the houses.

then again, they've always known this way of life and they're struggling to fit into the modernized society. they've improved quite a lot over the past 10 years, actually.

view from my relatives' house in the rural village

i saw quite many different variations of lifestyle over there, with the poorest, and the moderately rich, and the rich rural ppl there. i oso got to see the city lifestyle vs rural area lifestyle. quite an experience (not that it was the first time i've been there, but the previous times i was too small to analyze and rmb so much xD)

March of the Geese. Watch out! these geese were being herded across our path on the way through the village. i nv thought these things were soooooo HUGE. and noisy.

roads at rural village

normal city roads

oh yeah i got to ride on a motorbike (as a passenger duh) which was super fun! it was alrd pretty cold there, plus the strong rush of wind as you ride; it's unbelievably cool!

on the motorbike

as for hongkong, it was a short stayover as there was no direct flight to shantou from sg. we had to transfer flights, so we stayed at hk for 3 days. we met up with some sis parents who were in hk, and we got to eat. a lot. (just like in shantou) and we shopped too! a whole lot more than eating, bcos it was xmas sale and everything was 30% off, 50% off, hahahaa! i bought dunno how many new outfits and shirts.

normal hk road + crowd at tsim sha tsui.

view from our room of 3 days. we lived at a cheap hostel for tourists.

it was amazing. just the xmas atmosphere there is electrifying. everything is so hyped up and even at night, you would believe it's still day what with all the bright lights. the mtr rush is even cooler. u'll see crowds u'll nv see in sg, not even at orchard!

we missed two trains bcos the trains were sooooooo filled up that we couldn't get into them. what's more, the trains came once every 2 min so as to "clear the crowd", as my dad says. the mtr system has to be super efficient or the whole place will get choked up with ppl! imagine if a train breaks down...xD

times square's beautiful xmas decorations (yeah that includes me xD)

harbour city's xmas decorations. it was super crowded, and it's like wayyyy huger than suntec or something. we walked for what seemed like kilometers before finding a way out. and it was ALL on just ONE SINGLE FLOOR.

for more photos, look at facebook.

the real mugging starts...

now.

ah yes promos are finally over, this long-awaited moment is finally here! i can only say that i did badly for all of the promos papers, all to differing extents, with probably math the worst. yes math which was supposed to be the constant, the nice easy paper i sure can score in.

surprisingly physics was ok, and chem wasn't. -wails- gp and econs were normal, horrid papers as they always are, so no surprises there. they're quite ok. ^^ however, i guess im pretty disappointed with how i've done with my sciences, because i know my time management was horrible, and i expected better of myself. tsk tsk. i should have mugged better for them T.T

i hope i don't get worse than Bs for any of my subjects, (highly unlikely for econs, gp too...) but if i get anything less than B for a science i don't know what i'll do. maybe i'll go crazy and start mugging everyday from now.

(hey that's a good idea, if i want to actually do well in my next tests)

enough rants. i shall enjoy my week of break, and then i'll start mugging for SATs! yep im taking it this year, in a month or so actually, so just nice time to start mugging. i got the nice big book and i plan to work hard on it, and see what happens. let's hope my english components will turn out good ^^

definitely will do better than for my promos. come on, we PAY for it, of course must do better right? plus if i do superbly well on my SATs i can -hopefully- go some wonderfully good US university and don't need to worry so much about my a levels. or my promos. whee.

let's start slacking before the real mugging starts!

rgs speech day 2008!

congratulations to blaws the pro who got both top in bio and raffles top scholars award! congrats to myself too for getting the award, and so i now have a medal (why would they give a medal for academic achievements? it's really my first xD), $50 voucher and a certificate! me is happy.

ok i did the meme thing from blaws! heh I can only send you the quiz questions if you promise to do the "Meme".

1. Next to each number, write only the name of the person who fits.
2. Answer one question with one name.
3. Don't tell the questions to anyone who isn't doing the meme.

1. my brother
2. blaws!
3. demi lovato [ok this is superficial. maybe just no one. xD]
4. rebecca ling
5. quek sijia
6. that sounds like me o.O
7. ang qiuping!
8. jane
9. blaws ^^
10. elizabeth! (bird)
11. darsicles =X
12. queen haha
13. wangyi
14. yes amelia! unanimous (:
15. uhhhh...amyas! he's got cute blur look!
16. yubai
17. blaws (again -.-")
18. su liwen
19. bhuvan!
20. qw haha
21. no idea
22. no idea
23. kweky (but she's fun all the same)
24. yy
25. cheryl lynn?
26. oho qw!
27. slau
28. wong yinkwan!!!!!!
29. kingone wang the superstar xD 王传一
30. don't ask me what these qns are. and 中秋节快乐！

yep wishing u all a very nice mid-autumn festival, with loads of yummy mooncakes (MY FAVOURITE!) and nice clear skies for moon gazing tonight! ^^

good luck with prelims my dear seniors, and good luck with mugging for promos, me and my wonderful peers.

omedetou, watashi no tennis no kami-sama!

so. just to pop by and tell you all im not dead yet. pw written report is DUE THIS COMING THURSDAY! hurray. last lap for a major part of pw...let's hope for the best.

no, actually the point of this post is as mentioned in the title ^^

CONGRATULATIONS, MY GOD OF TENNIS ROGER FEDERER for your 5th consecutive US Open Grand Slam! wonderful performance there and well done! you're always number one in my heart <3333
i can't wait for him to regain his ranking (prolly next year), but go on to surpass pete sampras. you've got the potential to expand!

hmm there's speech day this saturday.
4 years in rgs, and never a chance to go. finally, now. hoho.

anw i like this song a lot. it's really touching, about how fathers will always love their daughters and will never be ready to let them go.


"Ready, Set, Don't Go" by Billy Ray Cyrus & daughter, Miley Cyrus

Natsu Matsuri 2008

fine i updateth. but kiabs, youuu yourself nv updated since april! the pot calling the kettle black. gah.

anw ytd was Japanese Summer Festival (Natsu Matsuri 08)! Practically half the jap club went ^^, we met up at expo mrt and went on to the japanese primary school, changi campus. It was raining though, so the performances and dances couldn't be held at the open-air stage in the field, but it was still fun! I spent a lot on food xD


there were games as well, like hooking for balloons in the water, and there were lots of food like yakitori, sushi, bento, okonomiyaki, icecream <3! (gosh the icecream was realllyyyy good), and mochi, and onigiri and more! there was even this vinegar drink which tasted quite >.< at first, but after a while it tastes really nice. yummmm. the queues were quite reasonable and since u have your frens, it's fun and cozy to sit around and eat!

we were simply stuffing ourselves with all the good jap food around, until we felt like we'll burst like a balloon. =P

we then went to the sports hall for the Bon Odori dances, which apparently was there due to the rain (fine we lagged and missed half the dances :/) We were given plastic bags to carry our shoes, bcos no shoes allowed in the hall! it's really fun, even though i had no idea how to do the dances, u just follow the ppl on stage and ppl around u, and it's really simple and easy to learn! it's like mass dancing! if u do it alone, u'll feel really embarrassed, but since everyone is doing it with u, it's very fun! a whole new experience i won't forget.

mm yeah i want to go next yr again! hopefully won't miss half the performances and can catch more games and food food fooood galoreee! ^^"

eh yah i won't be posting much till promos over i guess? there's lots of things to do, and now it's lots of things to mug. i prefered the "doing" days as compared to mugging days. which reminds me. i need to do the stupid workplan thing. garh.

best of luck to ppl at ioaa and hope they're having fun. >.<

Japanese festival over :/

japanese festival is over, we managed to finish selling the chocolates (which is good ^^)

unfortunately, we couldn't finish the manga postcards/posters (with LOTS of surplus) so we're still trying to sell them! here are the designs, they are original and hand-drawn specially by art club talents (who should seriously be selling their artwork out there. it's like how imba LAH! so pro.)

i can't draw for nuts, but one look and u can tell how they're really good. uh the digital one is hand-drawn onto a tablet screen, so no it's not like photoshop or what. hand-drawn. xD

Design 1, most popular among RJC students. this took one night by the pro lingxi.

Design 2. the most popular among japanese exchange students (and my personal favourite xD) this took FIVE nights by the pro liru. (and rjc students didn't even look at it!! poor liru :/)

Design 3. the most popular among ghosts? (ie. no one) not sure who did it, but only one person bought it, and it was the art club chair to help the sales. T.T

Postcard-size - $0.50
Poster (A4)-size - $1.50

We're still taking orders so do let me know asap k! the quality of printing is good so don't worry, it's like 240gm paper i think.

there'll be a Japanese Summer Festival at the jap primary school on 23rd august! so fun. who's going? (half the jap club definitely ^^") Click here for more details

bon anniversaire!

nothing much, just dropping by to say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

to who else? me of course xD

counting down...9 days to go!

lala. i got my first class birthday celebration today during civics! for once my class remembers my birthday and i got a birthday cake (: ok it's not really for me, it's more for babies born in july, but there's only me this month xD every month we celebrate for the whole month of babies and we have the cake and some photo-taking, and we sing bday songs and we light the candles and we blow.

haha i told them not to bother with the candles bcos i didn't need that so yah. it was a coffee cream cake! very creamy, very delicious. and i actually got like 3 servings bcos there was too much leftover and they kept insisting that bday girl should eat the extra (and that i should eat more T.T) bleh. but it's oishii so i don't mind ^^

mmm yah. i used to countdown to my birthday, like from months before (so i'll start from like 140+ days and counting...) but i guess this year i kindof forgot to do it? maybe it just feels too childish to countdown from like MONTHS before.

haha so 2 days to go! but that's not the only thing im counting down for. im also counting down to the all-important upcoming...-drum rolls-

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-ok i shall stop this mystery and suspense whatsoever-

















...Japanese Festival 2008! 9 days to go and counting...it's just round the corner on 24th/25th july, the thurs and fri of week 5, so do come support us! we're selling chocolates, sushi, manga postcards, and even having yukata trying and anime screening etc etc! there's a variety of activities we're having to promote japanese culture and generally to have fun! ^^

the theme for this year's japanese fest is Seishun Amigo 青春 アミーゴ! The focus this year is on the youth culture in Japan, which encompasses Japanese pop music, Anime videos and Manga art drawings.

since it is racial harmony week, there should be stuff put up around the school by the other cultural clubs, eg. chinese society and dunno what? i know french x is setting up booths for the week too (and we only get 2 days :/) it used to be japanese week, then it became 3 days last year, and this year it's just japanese day. but we can sell stuff for 2 days so ^^

get your friends to come and support us! we need your support to make this a fun and memorable festival! ^^

here's a preview of one of the publicity posters u should be seeing around soon

Seishun Amigo. Coming Your Way Soon...