The Big Tsunami

I kinda wasted the whole day searching for inspiration to write my upenn essay, unfortunately, there were no muses hanging around to give me inspiration and thus, I'm still stuck at paragraph one. Oh well...



I'm quite shocked by the extent of damage not as a result of the earthquake which measured 8.9 on the Ritcher scale but rather the after effects ie. the tsunami that came crashing down on the coasts sweeping away tens of thousands of unsuspecting victims. It's quite a tragic incident and it reminds me of the show Deep Impact and how that stupid piece of rock from the heavens generated a 500km tall wave that sweeps away the Statue of Liberty. Ah, the destruction of Mother Nature's wrath...yet surely, it reflects on the wonder of how God created this earth, even at the height of its fury. I am postulating, based on what I've learnt in geography, that the tectonic plates, the Pacific and the Eurasian plate finally mustered enough energy to slip past each other, after years of intense pressure caused by the subduction of the pacific plate under the eurasian. Frankly, I can imagine how part of the earth's crust is being remelted and in time to come, emerge as new terrain, in areas where lava sprouts out from the depths of the earth's upper mantle. Okay, enough of geography.



I actually must thank God for certain things...my parents and my bro had the intention to extend their trip to Phuket when they were in Bangkok but luckily, some kind soul who pick-pocketed my mom of a few thousand dollars, came to their rescue and there was no mood to continue on with the holiday that already included an episode of Jonathan puking at the Sheraton...in the hotel room toilet of course, thank goodness! Pity that some holidays such as isabelle's were cancelled because of this but it's a blessing in disguise...you never know what might happen when they are there... At least, I doubt they lost any money cause their tickets weren't exactly bought and I bet belle and mich are more than happy to have the original sum directed to the purpose of post-christmas shopping.



Yes, more than ten thousand people have died from just a tiny wave, in the eyes of God that is, so you can just imagine the power of God. WOW. Anyway, as Malthus (I think) stated, perhaps natural disasters are just a different way for nature to control the burgeoning population and to ensure that we all have enough food to last us for the next couple of years, or perhaps, in my perspective, a subtle form of revenge for the way we have destroyed, plundered and polluted this wonderful earth we live on.



Mother nature. I salute you.



9 more days.

Happy Boxing Day!

The Yeo's christmas gathering yesterday was great - I haven't felt any happier after attending it. Well, God taught me about fellowship this year and despite my initial skepticism and apprehension about it, God told me to just enjoy and adopt the same attitude to which I use when I'm with my friends. It's great to go to a place without expectations and yar, even though Uncle Charlie had dropped my gift somewhere, which he should replace soon, I didn't really feel disappointed about having less gifts. Can still remember many years ago counting the number of presents everyone had and realising that I only had 6 instead of 7. I almost cried there and then but yes, I was still a kid then.

Was co-organising the programme with Nicky, no thanks to Uncle Steven and his great skills of delegating work to us - he notified us 5 days before the day itself. The programme went okay, and even though my bingo game (inspired by the one at prom) screwed up, I think everyone had a fun time.

Oh, I didn't make a mistake in dyeing my hair. Everyone loves it and even Auntie Valerie (who used to think I dressed badly) said she loved it. Auntie Evelyn came in after her Christmas service in church and screamed when she saw me. Terribly amusing. Teeheehee. Uncle Aik How asked me what colour it was though, to which I couldn't find an answer - I just told him that I told MY stylist to give me a colour that wasn't too 'beng'. Haha. The presents that I got this year were great, so I shall adopt what I did this year, which is to send out a list of things I want.

Here's what I got: an adidas cap from TAH, Timberland T-shirt and cap from Peter, polo from mama, 2 shirts from steven and family and bedsheets from uncle tony and family who's currently in Canada now. Yupz, so I'm quite happy cos I went there without expectations and came back feeling much better than previous years. God has SO taught me this year how to handle relationships - though the one with my younger bro leaves a lot to be desired. Oh well, it's just part and parcel of life.

Stayed up till about 3 am trying to burn CDs again and writing Christmas cards - my stupid CDs weren't compatible with the writer so I gave up. Woke up again at 6.45 am to prepare for church. Julia came early, but I felt bad about leavin her out cause I was busy trying to prepare all the stuff, but I'm glad she enjoyed it and I'm glad she came.

The drama didn't go as well as I expected. Firstly, the IT was screwed up - someone had deleted the TM folder on the com so the presentation was gone. Luckily, I brough the CD which contained some of the stuff so it wasn't that bad. Unfortunately, it wasn't updated and so I had to redo everything again, to which I forgot to click Save. Worst, someone rebooted the com and everything went down the drain and I realised that everything was gone only 2 minutes before the actualy drama itself. As if things weren't bad enough, my mike was screwed up and plagued with irritating noises and interferences so the PA team was nice enough to switch it off. Sighz, ended up screaming my voice hoarse throughout the entire event and I pity those behind who couldn't hear me. However, I wonder why people say that I was the clearest despite Liz and Cheryl having working mikes...I wonder. Oh, revelation: I have a loud voice and a big mouth - sounds like I'm a walking loud-hailer. Oh well, the gifts of God. Teeheehee. Luckily, we managed to work around and had last minute translations with help from Mich, Tsura and Sarah. Thank God for them.

After the dismal first service, I zoomed up to fix the powerpoint and finished it in double time. Redid a mike check again and things went well initially. However, the second performance was plagued by feedback, feedback and more feedback and I was literally prancing on stage to try to minimise it. Seemed as though I had forgotten a line but oh well, the downfalls of technology and an inexperienced VA team - our YF VA team rocks man. So I performed the drama again without my mike on and my staff broke too. Sighz. I guess things weren't meant to go well.

Gave away all the Christmas presents that I bought for my CG mates, bought for the guys, neglected the girls cos I didn't have time and had no idea what to buy. Mark loves the mini skateboard - he said it was "Cool dude" and welcomed me to the club. Got a few gifts here and there - a bookmark of a mask that was reserved for the "upper class old people" from Bryan and Cheryl, and a cookie from Liz. Nothing else. Sighz - it is better to give then receive eh.

But the one thing God taught me this time was that it is the salvation of people that counts much more then the success of the drama. Upon further reflection, I think that I should have heeded the signs about just focussing on the youth drama and just forget about doing it for the main service - I guess God just didn't want it. So, despite the glitches, the (un)glamourous poses onstage when angel gabriel spoke, God spoke this Christmas, clearer then ever. And yes, even though I felt that this was the worst drama in my entire life (despite all those who have said good job and well done, to which I feel are just formalities and words of encouragement), two people told me the exact same thing - God appreciates your efforts. Wow. The exact same thing from two people who don't know each other at all - now that's not a mere coincidence. So the whirlygig of a screwed-up drama brings in its revenges and it has taken me thus long to realise that God appreciates my work. Thank you God, you've really encouraged me.

Just had a conversation with Julia and asked her what she felt about our church. Btw, she hails from a Catholic church so it was a very different experience for her, she even asked me whether BCC was charismatic, which, to me means that her church is REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY traditional. But yar, she encouraged me to attend Mast or something just to understand the different "cultures" and the diff. ways people worship. Perhaps one day. Perhaps.

So Christmas this year is really what I call Christmas. Perhaps the Reason for the Season was one of the best times of my life this year eh? Looking back, the year is almost gone and boy has it flew in the wink of an eye. Free Gift?! last year seemed like yesterday and I'm growing old and going to earn my very first paycheck from the RSAF, very soon.

Well, I'm entering NS in a few days time which is going to be an entirely different journey and yeah, He's definitely prepared me in some way. I suddenly sense that me and CYX are going to be put together, for some reason. We'll find out, on 6 Jan 2005, 8.30 am, Basic Military Training school, Pulua Tekong. Quite exciting!

Teeheehee. (I am so being influenced by Michelle)

Merry Christmas!

Haven't updated in a long while because I am a very busy person. Busy doing university applications, which I have been slogging at, socialising and catching up with friends and finally, doing last minute christmas shopping.



Spent the 21st and 22nd at Mich's house to celebrate her birthday, though it wasn't quite the event of the evening given Channel I's rundown of soccer matches which sent the boys, (except me and Kelvin) scrambling to the google box. Soceer, what a game. Oh, I mistook Gloria's "so cute!" as referring to Jason Yang when it was reserved for Paprika, the son of a bitch which could be mistaken for a rug - terribly embarassing. Spent the whole night and the morning talking about all sorts of stuff, from things that happened during MOB to certain people and the splitting of CG10, well I guess I've broken my record for the longest conversation. Anyway, it's great to see Michelle having so many friends at her party, which I kinda envy, given that each year, mine's usually without anyone, since EVERYONE is studying for some sort of major exam or another. Okay, time for me to stop comparing and getting depressed, to count my blessings and to remember (as Michelle reminded me) those in Africa who can't even celebrate their very first birthday.



Yet there is an underlying problem, all this comparison and stuff. I suppose I tend to set high expectations and ideal situations that often don't come true and even when they do, the utility, the happiness, the satisfaction sometimes just fails to meet what I have in mind. Christmas is always a sober reminder of how much receiving gifts is not important. Frankly, it's a hard lesson to learn and struggling to overcome the depression that arise from seeing so many people receiving so many gifts and not getting back in return is draining, for I see it as how much another person values me. Materialistic eh? The irony is that I accuse people of being too superficial and hey, I get this satisfaction from receiving material gifts...heh.



I finally spent my G2000 on this nice shirt with blue stripes. cost me an additional $9.00 but i think it's quite nice. Finally, something for myself.



Was at ZY's house today for a class gathering cum Christmas party. Wasn't really that fantastic but it was just great to see my friends, ZW, Ben, Cheek etc. all with their new but common hairstyles. Gift exchange was terrible, I was the unfortunate one to be alloted ZY as my gift giver, who gave me a pair of super ugly slippers, those which old men wear. I'm kinda disgusted actually and disappointed, I didn't even get a card from ZW this year. Didn't exactly receive a gift from anyone else either (except Jason's letter), instead giving every single person a CD full of class pics and videos, which I painfully took to burn and cards which I individually personalised and wrote a different message. I hope people actually appreciate it. Urgh.



Took a walk with the remaining few, meh meh, boonk, esther, KP, Jason down Orchard road, which was just havoc. Never knew Orchard was such a happening place during Christmas, with everyone spraying fake snow at unsuspecting passerbys. Even got to witness a fight a Taka - cool. Meh meh was just exhilarated by that mini fiasco and was telling me how much he enjoyed Man U and Arsenal matches since they always ended up in fights between the fanatic fans. But overall, it was rather sian, cos everyone else was having fun, and this bunch of stoners just seemed to be disgusted by everything happening around them. Well, I should have bought those 5 for $10 cans of snow and distributed it - hopefully SO3E people will lighten up. I was so hoping to get sprayed by snow, quite fun actually, and a great way to jsut go havoc but again, things are often not up to my expectations, disappointment again.



Tomorrow's gonna be the Yeo family's Christmas gathering, which I've learnt to hate. As a grandson who doesn't carry the surname Yeo, it's been torturous to endure and actually know that you're treated as an outsider. Everyone denies this but they're actions just betray them. Perhaps we don't fit into the class of people that they are - and no matter how much I strive to meet their expectations, it ain't beat the miniscule things done by the second eldest grandson, one who'd actually carry on the family line. Come on, we're living in a modern age, surely we can put aside name differences and just treat each other with respect.



I dread tomorrow, since I'm running the programme as well.



Merry Christmas everyone.



I'm sick of it.



On the other hand, I found out that a friend of mine received Christ and actually got baptised. Have been praying for him and well, this is the first time God has ever answered my prayer (for someone to accept Christ). I guess it just takes time, for God to put His plan to work and yeah, for me to know that things to instantly happen. Also, it really comforting to know that Wilson actually accepted Christ despite his parents having fallen away from God. PTL, but hopefully, he too will be able to touch the hearts of his parents and turn their hearts back to God. Anyway, Julia's coming to see me perform this Sunday, perhaps with Wilson. Yippee.

Dinner at Sizzler's

Nothing much happened today, except that I was desperately trying to finish up my UCAS personal statement...I wondering whether I really want to go UK or am I just going for the sake of it...I don't know. University applications just suck cos of the fact that I don't really have fantastic writing skills and that my English standard is just going downhill. What is happening to me?!



Dinner was spent at Sizzler's with the comm, I kept silent for quite a while cause I didn't really click with those around me - alas! Mark Chow was sitting on the other side of the table and again, teasing me about studying and stuff. Hate it and find it very over used but I'll just let it go. I spent a whole night eating, basically sending any efforts to improve my fitness down the drain. I can't do pull-ups anymore, which is a terrible thing and my muscles are just a flabby mess of fats. I'm FAT! Yet why am I still eating?! Oh well, as Joash said, enjoy what you have. I guess he's right. I should enjoy myself.



I may be going to Zouk on Wednesday to catch Rebecca, she's taking part in some jc thingy, like a popularity and looks contest, which I find rather stupid. Rebecca, what on earth are you doing?!



Anyway, there's nothing much to surf on the internet and nothing much to do at home, except to go out and shop. However, I'm terribly running short of cash, ARGH! I shall send an email to everyone with my Christmas list. People, please get me some nice gifts!

1. Accessories: shades, dogtags, things to wear around my neck, silver chain
2. A CAP, white one, nike or adidas that will go well with my BOTAK head
3. A nice shirt, stylish enough for the new year
4. Some nice CDs for my listening pleasure to bring into the army

24/7

Had coffee today @ Coffee Bean with Dexter to catch up - this holiday for me has been spent doing a lot of it lol. Anyway, we were talking about things like army life, christelle etc. and basically chilling out at Junction 8, which I must say, has changed a whole lot.



At night, the family went to watch a musical by Covenant Evangelical Free Church, 24/7 which was a repeat and modified version of Neighbours which we saw two years ago. Despite watching it two years ago, we could still remember the entire storyline and recognise the songs, which I don't think changed very much. However, the rewrites weren't that good and some of the issues that the writers put in, for example homosexuality were included but not developed or even touched on, which was quite unfortunate. There were some familiar faces and new cast members but everything overall was quite the same. The jokes that were inserted were of the same nature which showcased the distinct style of the original writers who did the re-write.



However, the best part was meeting Zai Xiang and recognising him onstage after so many years. Such a small world to see my PSL from 6 years ago in the same church that my uncle is a pastor at. SMALL WORLD. Luckily, I was able to catch him after the musical. ZX looked stunned at first but after saying 1H etc. he finally recognised me. Nicholas was there too and there was a sense of nostalgia. Both had similar reactions to meeting me... "You look familiar" and the "you were so small and cute in sec 1" with the hand gestures at the appropriate height. Well, I guess I've changed; they haven't. Nicholas is currently in LSE doing Law and back for the hols, while ZX is currently studying at SMU. Way cool.



Don't know why, but it seems that this holiday is going to spent catching up with many people and building relationships. So far they include:



Shopping with SY, Esther, KP before prom - 3 Dec

Shopping with Isabelle and Yaxin - 4 Dec

Prom - 5 Dec

BB Boys - Company dinner 10 Dec

Leader's Retreat (including archer on the 12)- 10 - 12 Dec

Sec 1/2 class - 16 Dec

Dexter - 19 Dec

ZX and Nicholas (my sec 1 PSLs) - 19 Dec

The new tertiary fellowship - 17 Dec

Keith and Tsura - Christmas drama (including a shopping trip with Keith and Mich on 17 Dec)



with more coming up...

TM comm dinner @ Sizzler 7pm - 20 Dec

Shopping and lunch with Chee Keen

Upcoming Christmas party for JC class - to be confirmed

Family Christmas celebration - 25 Dec



this holiday is so fun!!!

The Reason for the Season

TM412 Christmas Outreach 2004



Finally, the drama is over, concluded, done, finished etc. Had quite a great time doing it, despite having some of cast members overseas and stuff like that but we managed to pull it off quite well, with God's grace I must add. The cast was really nervous, me included before we went onstage. I don't quite understand why I still get the butterflies in my tummy syndrome but I guess I haven't been onstage for quite a while, plus it was an unfamiliar crowd with many new visitors, so it's not quite the same feeling as seeing the same faces, ie your friends.



The drama brought in quite a bit of laughs: some of the notable ones include: Tsurayuki Murakami Guan Zhi which flashed during the intro ppt, the cell rejuvenating face masque, the Hebrew PUB, my "fishy" line, "you put God in a lunchbox" and who will forget the moment when Angel Gabriel spoke, complete with sound effects.



For those who don't know, I played the role of Ryan, a wetblanket metrosexual. Cool eh?! Had eyelines in my eyes, petroleum jelly on my lips and foundation that clogged up every pore on my skin. Oh, I got to wore my new Billabong jeans which I bought yesterday for the first time! Yippee!



There were a few boo boos I made, which I shall now declare.



Firstly, I screwed up my first line, which was really obvious. Mind block.

Lesson learnt: Run through lines right before you go onstage.



Secondly, I didn't switch on my mike for the second part. Luckily Dave reminded me about that while I was onstage. I did switch it on, but I guess I switched on the wrong switch (there were two). Thank God that the first lines of the second half of the play was in the dark, allowing me time to actually turn it on, though I failed to get it back into my pocket before the lights came on. So I was stuck in a posture with a hand in my back pocket listening to the Angel Gabriel speak. Guess no one noticed that. Lalalala. My sis was telling me about how Kelvin was busy snapping photos while I was stuck in that unflattering posture. Argh.



Anyway, I was glad that quite a few people accepted Christ - Two at least from the two discussion leaders that I spoke to so far. So God has indeed kept his promise. I believe that in the coming years, He will be faithful. PTL!



The evening was great fun, I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Btw, my drama team ROCKS. It seemed quite peaceful when some individuals away, but now that they are back, it's another story. Sighz. Challenges lie ahead.

I've not been slacking for the past few days...In fact, I'm hardly ever at home since my holiday is kinda packed to the brim.



A few things have happened in my life this past week. Firstly, the maid has gone home for the week, leaving behind a trail of a mess that my family leaves behind, as well as a grumpy mom who can't stop nagging despites all efforts to do my share of the house chores. Perhaps I've taken my maid for granted, and forgot that she does a GREAT job in keeping my home in a decent condition. My mom gets really really really really really stink (as Dave puts it) when she has to do housechores. I don't understand why she has to go to great lengths to frustrate and make comments about everyone, like she's the only one taking the initiative. I do my stuff, so I'll just keep quiet and let her do the talking. Yet again, I'll get scolded for not listening to her and being disrespectful. Yada, yada, yada. Perhaps it's best to adopt a servant's attitude, from what i've learnt from Leader's Retreat - which is to do my stuff and not expect anything. In fact, I don't - just that my mom gets off my back.



Right now, I take the entire day to mop the floor. Can't really believe that the satisfaction that I derive from hearing squeaking when people walk over it is just indescribable. Now I know what the meaning of squeaky clean is. Jon helped to sweep it, but left tons of dirt and broom hair on the floor. Thanks very much dear brother. Was talking to Michelle on the phone about drama and carassing the floor with my sole. Though it sounds sick, but I just couldn't help cooing over what a smooth and nice floor it was. Ah, the joys of doing housework.



I know it's wrong to bitch about parents but I guess I have to let it go somewhere, or risk letting it out on anyone who steps on a raw nerve. It's not that I don't want to do anything, but she always nags at the wrong time. I would appreciate it if she just asked a second time or something, especially when I forgot to do something... cos she just strings them all up and it's hard to catch what she says, instead of adding spice to it with things like "I don't like your attitude" and stuff...drives me and my dad mad. It just drives us mad and I'd rather sit in front of my com and chat with my friends instead of doing whatever she told me to - REBELLION. Well I guess I should do chores IN FRONT OF HER, let her know I'M DOING SOMETHING and just forget about taking initiatives. Urgh.





BB Reunion Dinner



10th December, 7.30pm, Civil Service Club. A day of nostalgia and a somber reminder that hey, I'm getting old. Although it was meant for primers, which I was supposed to be one but never got down to committing myself too, I tagged along as an ex BB boy. Despite the many new faces ie the new batches, there was an air of nostalgia - the event was held at the exact same venue (where we found cockroaches in the chilli sauce a year ago), there were the familiar bunch of us from the same batch, the same officers, and who can forget, my dear Sec 4 English teacher, Ms Tang whom I fondly remember telling us during lesson that she had to refill her red pen and came back only when the bell rang. Perhaps my pride and joy was the batch that was taking over the company, the very sec ones that I was in-charge of when they first stepped into 60th Company. Though I don't remember much about the process of training them up, I can still recognise most of them - they are still the same sec ones (in my eyes that is) just grown up. Perhaps one of the more unpleasant events of the evening came from Joshua Lai, who is still an ass to some extent. My mistake of not sitting next to Wenbin, and as I was quite cynical about certain things, I threw out some comments. The ever goody two shoes proceeded to lecture me about being more sensitive etc. which made the situation super awkward. That spoilt my evening. Thank goodness I don't have to work with him EVER again. Bad things aside, I got to meet up with my ASL (chong keat) and my dear friend Chee Keen and found the article that I forgot that I had ever written in one of those annual magazines, with a few pictures of me in Sec 1,2,3,4. Seeing my transformation was just - Cool.



Leaders' Retreat



Spent a great time there even though I missed the first day. Rushed straight to Rhindu right after the BB dinner and reached Dave's at about 12am, quite cool eh and surprised everyone with my appearance the next morning. Oh, we had an archery course at night on Saturday at Jurong which was really fun and exciting. Got a pathetic score of 3 out of 8 arrows which hit on target at the end but I was quite happy and I didn't get 0 - Edmund picked up the dubious honour. Looking forward to the Sizzler dinner on the 20th!



Christmas Drama



Well, that has taken up half of my holidays with the highly intensive rehearsals. The props are done, visuals are spectacular (cos I did 'em lol and I'm acting) and the script has been memorised. I'll have the honour of taking up the role of Ryan, a wet blanket metrosexual so catch me later on at 7.00-9.00pm TM412 Christmas Outreach event : "What's the Big Fuss about Christmas". Yippee.



Tertiary Fellowship



The church is starting a brand new fellowship for young adults so we won't fall through the cracks. I'm not really excited about it, cos we're the experimental batch and from my past experiences, it ain't a good one. Hopefully, I'll be able to resolve issues with certain people such as S***** who has hurt me deeply in the past - I was cheated by the superficiality of this person, who brought me back down to yf by "befriending" me and blatantly ignoring me once she achieved her goal. Disgusting. But I guess I'll have to get over it. It ain't good for the soul... The event was held as Isabelle's house and with my CG members there, it wasn't as bad. I was though rather stone since I was tired from shopping (I bought a new pair of jeans and finally utilised my Isetan vouchers) and the afternoon rehearsal. Besides, I'm still having trouble fitting in, though I don't really express it openly. Mark Chow keeps stereotyping me, well I know fair well that I don't bury my head in books all the time - I know it's a joke, but hey, JC is over - time for a new one.



Sighz.

RJC Prom 2004 - Tequila Sunrise - A Review

Met up with the guys at room 610 at Conrad hotel after meeting up with ZW at City Hall. Most of the class was already there and

One night of glitz and glamour which eventually began to fade as the night progressed.

That's quite an apt way to sum up RJC's prom for this year so here's a review of the good, the bad, and the fashion hits and misses.



The night started off with a flash, and many more flashes. People started taking pictures the moment they arrived to capture those last moments before they all progressed into the next step of their lives. Suntec's atmosphere was quite okay but it was unwelcoming in the fact that the personnel over there started shooing us into the ballroom stating the reason that we were blocking public space. I noticed a foreign couple who stood by the side, wondering what the big fuss was about and looked as though prom itself was an event listed on the itinerary of What's on This week in Singapore. The event was meant to start at 6.45 but as with all Chinese wedding dinners, it started at approx 8 I reckon, with the emcee desperately trying to get the photo taking frenzied bunch of RJC people to sit down.



The stage was a letdown, poorly decorated and situated at the side of the hall, where all the lights were facing the other direction, so basically, it wasn't illuminated. The rose spray painted on discs was typical of this year's batch of RJC councillers which equates to three letters - BAD. The quality of the council is reflected in the quality you get.





The emcee



The emcee was not one of us but an outsider who sucked big time. He's crude attempts at making jokes came crashing down as he costantly made fun of other people's names which I found quite appalling. Not only that, his jokes were extremely lewd and he was an obnoxious f*cker who just couldn't keep his mouth shut and constantly screamed into the microphone.Yuck.



So far so bad.



The Food



Surprisingly, the food was good as compared to those at Ritz. From what i've heard so far, $80 at Ritz can't really get you a decent meal so $69 wasn't too bad a deal. In the whole 8 course, some dishes were great while others were okay, nothing as terrible as RI's monte's cafe in the good ol' days.



The Fashion Hits and Misses



My favourite part. I wore a dark brown pinstriped suit together with a rustic brown shirt and yellow tie, my hair dyed a slightly golden. I shall leave the rest to my critics while I critique the rest.



Fashion Misses:



Frankly, when I walked into the room and saw Crys, the first thing that came to my mind was that she looked like a hooker. In a tight yellow dress and rainbow coloured belt, the make-up left her looking like she had had a nose job in most pictures. Bad combination.



Zyang looked nothing but unglam in his sharked skin coloured suit courtesy of his dad. He didn't look like a shark but he did look like a fashion disaster. Horrible taste. However, that did not stop him from winning the 5th prize of a digital camera in the lucky draw, perhaps a good way of the glitzy night in mocking him by making him go up on stage.



Decked out in a champagne gold gown, Es's hair was quite a disappointment, which further made everything looked worse. Unfortunately, the gown on her looked unflattering as she didn't have the assets to show it off. Bad mistake.



My dear friend CW, came in a short sleeve shirt without a decent tie. Goodness me, even Zhong Wei made it a point to borrow his suit. Unfortunately, even though his name appears under my good friends list, it also appears under my list of the worst dressed.



Fashion Hits:



Sharon was stunning in a white and light blue gown and curled hair. She looked gorgeous the moment she entered and I couldn't stop looking at her. Wow.



Pink is for bimbo but Boon Seer carried it off stunningly. Amazingly, her tight dress which was rather short wasn't degrading to her figure and though it's a fine line between looking like a hooker and looking amazingly elegant, Boons carried it off with such poise and such a figure, it's hard not to imagine her as the poster girl on the cover of a magazine. Thumbs up. Not forgetting, she's extremely photogenic and the picture she took with me, bedazzling - unfortunately, it just made me look even uglier. Sighz.



Al with make-up was quite a refreshing sight. Her light yellow gown and shawl was quite elegant, adequately covering up for her bonny skeletal figure. A wise choice.

Yangqi was one of the better dressed. In fact, he looked dashing in his blue and white striped shirt from Zara. Always admired this guy's taste in clothes and he seems to do it effortlessly and carries it off like a guy who has really good taste. He has that sporty kind of look, a bit heck care but this guy has substance. He deserves credit for that hip and stylish get-up.

Cheryl looked good in her classic LBD (Little Black Dress) and a fake tattoo that started peeling off midway during the dinner. Terribly amusing. Unfortunately, she lacked a bit of height; perhaps stilts could have aided her in reaching greater heights.

Other include: Yang Qian, Jamie, Pamela and def more whom I don't know...

Prom's tomorrow!

Dec 1: Got my hair done.

Dec 2: Got my face done. (after starting on our first Christmas drama rehearsal)

Dec 3: Suit bought, after 8 hours of non-stop shopping.

Dec 4: Pants altered. Prom's tomorrow. Great!



Dec 5: Prom.

Mom's coming back

Don't want to see her, don't wish to hear her. Peaceful days are over.



Going for rehearsals later for Christmas drama. We're finally starting!!! yippee!! and I'm acting as a met. lol

It's over

That's the tone I used when I finally realised that the A levels were over. 13 years of my formal education has come to an end and yes, I am ready to embrace the adult world with open arms.

As a customary practice, the econs S people, who finally finished the race decided to go out and celebrate. Well, it has started a series of days of firsts for me. Went to K-Box for the first time in my entire life together with Esther, SY, ZW and Al, which wasn't really my cup of tea (ah, we did drink peach tea there) and just sang Karaoke, which was a waste of time to me that is. Lunch over there wasn't too bad though and I ate up half of Alina's rice cause she couldn't finish it (why do girls have such small stomachs?).

Everything was quite monotonous and the memories of the anti-climax when the O-levels ended came flooding back. Perhaps I had already celebrated after that Drat Bio MCQ paper which I think I, and the rest of Singapore screwed up (hopefully). Had gone to watch the Incredibles with the class that day and wasted like 3 hrs trying to "shop" with 3E guys.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Let me tell you, I will never forget the day when we stormed G2000. There was a few guys, I suspect from HC or AC who were in that doing fittings. Boy you should have seen the shock on their faces when a whole bunch of white nerds came storming the place. I tell you, it was EMBARASSING. Anyway, people left one by one, and our group shrank to a more manageable size. At least, those really sian people, I shan't exactly point out who were gone. So I decided, why not me and Ben head to coffee bean, get a nice cup of coffee and just enjoy and nice chat. We sneaked off but was in the end joined by the rest who caught us (why do I make us sound like a couple?! Gosh...He's just my really good friend who currently is in Okaido enjoying sushi and soaking in the atmosphere and rays of the rising sun). SY, Jason, Enming and Shiming. So yar, we had a nice chat and rested our tired feet that had been in use for the past 3 hrs non-stop.

Later, the guys decided to DOTA and tried desperately to get me to learn and join them. Nah, computer games, I'd rather play Roller Coaster Tycoon than hacking characters to death (I derive more pleasure from watching people die in crashing roller coasters going at top speed. WooHoo!) So we headed for Dhoby Ghaut (Michelle: note Dhoby gHaut) and I went home. Was rather tired from the entire day. Sigh. Anti-climax.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, my mood was kinda spoilt when Michelle called and said the Christmas comm rejected our script saying it was too long when they allocated us only 10 mins. Got quite pissed again, cause firstly, they hadn't updated us on what had been going on and secondly, they were treating us like a script churning machine again. SO much for initiative. heh.

Anyway, heading to do my UC Berkley app. Crap.

The Final (Core) Paper

Officially, I'm done for the As if you don't count the final S-paper. The most sadistic thing today was finding out that I got tricked by those Sly Cambridge old men in a simple food test and the fact that I was able to laugh at all those who still had to take Physics in the afternoon ie. at 2.00pm while those in my combi were free to wreak havoc at Orchard.

M is for Metro

My previous entry provoked/instigated a reaction from the few good friends that read it and commented that it was very metro. Come to think of it, I sort of like it. In fact, "I'm Lovin' it!" (A typical example of how advertising does have an impact on our lives . Did you know, you are exposed to an average of 3000 ads, both print and on screen and online a day? Now that's shocking news.)

Before I start to rattle on again, it's just to let everyone know that despite the fact that I go for facials, which is sometimes relaxing and sometimes an awfully painful experience, I'm learning to groom myself to prepare for my future career. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a job as a banker, a financial analyst or something but I do hope that it'll be something good. Anyway (there he goes again), I think girls prefer well kept, groomed men despite proclaiming that "guys with nice shoes are gay" courtesy of Gwyneth Paltrow. Who cares anyway (waves and frantically says I do).

Perhaps I'm sending the wrong signals here. A friend of mine had a parting message for me in the wee hours of the morning and I quote "no matter what happens, I'll still love you, even if you turn gay". . . . Fine, I have nothing else to say - maybe I'm not adequately equipped for acting straight - with the word acting rather redundant since I don't need to act so.

On that note, I end my case.

Oh, I need to go for a facial soon, or else my face will just rot.

M is for McDonalds and hopefully Maths S

I've survived the most worst few days of my life - econs 1 & 2 and bio 3 plus maths S today.

Anyway, I don't really feeel good about econs - felt that I screwed up so there goes my 4As (if I was even there in the first place). Anyway, Maths S today was not as hard and on the other hand, not as easy as well. I spent quite a lot of time sifting through my workings to pick out those super pesky careless mistakes. So, a pat on my bag for wasting so much brain juice on that stupid paper.

After, I went to get my university references to Mrs Toh. Hopefully, I'll get a good one so I can go to either the University of Chicago or UC Berkley, or risk getting stuck in the forsaken NUS. SMU seems to be a good place but my parents are vehemently objecting to it. My parents are highly "influential" - they get influenced easily by what people say and base my uni decisions on whether they've heard about the university before. That makes it equivalent to them having expectations of me getting into an ivy league. Yippee.

Anyway, I decided that I needed to chill out - the A levels are finally ending and I need to get back my level of fitness for round the clock shopping. I tagged along with Esther who was supposed to meet up with ZY. When we arrived and met up with him, I felt that he wasn't happy with tagging along. I didn't really know that he was meeting up with Esther in the first place so my presence was not appreciated. As such, he pulled Es to one side and started complaining to her, it put her in quite a difficult position and I felt really awkward. I kept telling Esther it was me that made ZY unhappy initially but she refused to admit it. Haha, my sensitivity to people is paying off - I can be an empath soon. Heck with ZY anyway, I decided to be thick skinned and continue my shopping. I couldn't really be bothered though I felt like leaving the two alone by themselves - I have a feeling that he crushes a girl. i've come up with two suspects but i shan't say who.

Yes anyway, with esther's and my expert expertise, we picked a pair of earrings for him to give as a gift, courtesy of my good taste. It's quite nice and Esther, my co-stylist concurred with my decision. We visited taka and esther found a super round and cuddly quack quack which was super cute. perhaps I should get her that as a Christmas present... The next two gifts were harder as we had wrecked our brains over what to suggest. In the end, we settled on two earrings at bits and pieces. After the two visits to those shops, I'm kinda contemplating on getting a dog tag for myself, or at least a chain to wear my OG ring around my neck...at least some people might think it's a gift from my girlfriend (I wished I had one)... walking down orchard road along it a tormentous experience and seeing all those other guys, who are as gorgeous and even better looking than me, is an ego-bashing that just goes to say, looks triumph over intelligence. What a materialistic world we live in.

(I seem to like to use anyway) so anyway, after we settled the gifts, me and Esther went on our own shopping journey, together. We are good shopping partners and we trust each others' taste. Es was suggesting that we star in style doctors - we play the doctor role. We visited all sorts of shops from Daniel Yam with its horrifying barbie dresses collection and a hoard of sec 4 girls being conned into buying them to BSBY (not too sure about that) where Es still fantasises about her dark gold US $1288 runway gown, we visited every place. I would never step into a girls shop if not for Esther which kind of gave me the guts to enter Mango, Topshop (and Topman which I found really gay and at the same time nice stuff), Guess and the likes - at least a girl is an excuse to go into them. It just reinforced the notion that it's better being a guy. Thank God for less variety - a shirt, tie, pants and nice shoes as compared to a myriad of colours, togas (I learnt that word today which refers to blouses with a strap on one side and a string on the other) and halter tops.

As for catering to my needs, we visited G2000 where we contemplated on the colour of my suit, the shirt colour and tie. By the way, I am so in love with ZARA. The shirts there are gorgeous but they're pricey too (89.90) ouch. Sighz, my unlimited consumer wants restricted by my limited income. Side tracking: This trio just couldn't get micoorganism and bacteria names out of our head no thanks to bio tech. This includes: Zymomona mobilis, saprobiontic bacteria, Aspergillus fumigatus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, clostridium botulinum, zoogloea ramigera, staphylococcus aureus, lactobacillus bulgaricus, lactobacillus acidolphillus, streptococcus thermophilus, methanothrix, methanococcus, rhizomucor pusillus, bacillus stearothermophilus, mucor milieli, penicillium roqueforti, and so on... go figure out the rest. Biotech paper was a pure give away. I finished within 1 hour of the 1hr 30 mins and ended up writing two sides for a 6 marks question just to while away time. I even included a big smiley face on the cover of the next option topic: growth and development which my fellow AC and HC friends were struggling with. Muahahahahaha.

Back to G2000, after discussing for a 20 minutes (I reckon), I decided why not try on a jacket. So Esther gladly aided me in that task and I slipped it on. I kinda heard a gasp actually when I looked into the mirror. Esther commented on how smart (and maybe suave) I looked in that, seeing me for once in a nice coat which you don't get to see me wearing that often. I felt good anyway, and I just couldn't help grinning to myself. *blush. So now, I know what I'm looking for. I'm thinking of settling for dark brown with pinstripes to give a bit of edge to my overall look plus a great shirt and tie, perharps from ZARA. I love shopping.

Shopping is a tiring activity... besides walking 24 km (I'd be so willing to walk 24 km worth of shops in the army), it drains the glucose out of your head. My theory of why women tend to shop so much and make so many pruchases is due to a lack of glucose in the brain - standing for so long, it's hard for the heart to pump blood continously into the brain, so they become irrational decision makers. That's my hypothesis. So test it using hypothesis testing and take a random sample of let's say 1000 women and test at the 5% significant level whether my hypothesis that up to 80% women become irrational after shopping for 2 hrs is true. For hypothesis testing template, email me at math@notsogenius.com. I'll be ready to help.

After running out of energy, and realising that the fatigue from math S paper was setting in, we headed for Macs, sat down and heaved a sigh of relief. Ahhhhhh.... those aching feet. Grabbed a bite and chatted awhile about certain stuff... my getting to know you better session kind... before heading home.

frankly, i'm dead tired. My eyes are closing. I should head for Armani Exchange the next time...darn I missed it today.

I shall dream of taking over ZARA.

Winston.

An Update

I had originally wrote about my auntifying experience a few days ago but the server on blogger.com screwed up so the entry was gone. Sighz.



Anyway, I'm really tired right now...I'm sick of the A levels and the way it drags on like there's no tomorrow. Before I know it, Michelle (and the rest of the sec 4s and those not taking econs S) will be boasting, celebrating and using shampoo (brand: rejoice) while I await with bated breath with a sense of impending doom the dreaded econs S paper. Darn.



Econs today - was tiring. I can't predict what my score is, based on the fact that econs is oh so unpredictable and impressionistic (there goes my marks for my handwriting) and the fact that I had never felt so uncofident of a paper. ALmost freaked out for chemistry in the morning, but I kept my cool and did what I was supposed to do (score an A?) in the end.



I've thought of the some of things I'm going to do after the A levels.



1. Shop (retail therapy, celebration, suit for prom, new pair of adidas, buy Sun Yanzi, Robbie William, Ronan Keating's albums, get new clothes)

2. Get my hair highlighted and styled (for prom)

3. Facial (get my face done)

4. Enjoy myself - eat good food, go for movies

5. Jump into the pool after school

6. Go celebrate with my CG

7. Burn my books

8. Do my uni app

9. Work on the Christmas drama

10. Be spontaneous in coming up with new lists of what to do!



13 more days.



and counting...



and someone shut that dog up at Rio Vista...it barks more than I gossip...

The Beginning

...and I'm already looking forward to the end.



Okay, I'm typing this for a second time after my page refreshed as I attempted to unblock any pop-ups...



It's pouring outside and I'm glad I've made the right choice of not going out to eat with Mom and Jonathan, guess they're stuck at some weird spot munching on more and more food, growing fatter by the moment... (I am so evil)



Okay, GP today wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to do well as I feel quite good about it, though I felt that I could have done better for my essay in terms of the quality of my arguments - but what's done cannot be undone, so I'll just pray hard to get good results.



Decided against going out with my class to our usual haunt - GM Food Centre because a good friend of mine (a junior) convinced me to have lunch with him. We headed to CompassPoint as we wanted to get away from the dreary place also known as Hougang Mall. Lunch was at Jack's Place, a treat for myself given the fact that I had spent my birthday studying, with a meal at the exact same location as last year eating the exact same thing so I decided that I needed it - it herald the start of my A-levels.



Anyway, both of us went for a walk around the small. I first entered Sembawang Music shop where I was browsing through the CDs, looking for Sun Yanzi's new album... i guess i wasn't ready to buy it so both of us left the shop. The moment I stepped out, the bloody sensor started beeping for no reason! It was so embarassing as if I had stolen something from the shop - which I sworn I hadn't...Didn't even touch my bag! So there I was, the counter guy came over and kinda searched my bag - my first bag search and as I was innocent (duh!) he couldn't find anything. Argh.



After the ordeal, we both headed down to Popular. I was about to step in when suddenly I triggered off the damn alarm...the whole bookshop just stared at me, including all those students from those neighbourhood schools, looking at me with BIG WIDE stare. Okay, enough of such crap. I think God wanted me to study, so I headed for home.



Well, tough luck for me the first day of my A-levels.

SIGHZ.

3rd November

I never thought this day would come....

Freaking out.

Lord help me.

I'm 18!!!!

At 12.00am

1. Doreen msged me online to wish me Happy Birthday on msn.
2. I got a msg from Mich to pick up my phone, followed by a high-pitched rendition of Happy Birthday in whistles courtesy of Michelle and Isabelle.

Life feels good with friends don't ya think?

I'm All SMILES now

God has answered my prayers.

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

TO ME!!!

:)&

SCREW DRAMA

The last day of my 18th year

It's the last day of my 17th year and I'm meant to be happy. No, I'm not.

The sun rays filtered through the silver-grey window grills and unto my butt. I was too lazy to wake up, having been up till 2.30am chatting online with Jason. It had lasted for four hours but we had dwelved into various interesting issues - a no-holds bar conversation. It's interesting how chatting online brings out the other side of people, removing the awkwardness of chatting face to face. I lazed in bed, trying desperately to sleep more when the irritating music of the phone ringing relentlessly filled the house, like the band members in school practising individually. Argh. Gave up trying to sleep and headed for the hall for my weekly dose of Neil Humphreys.

Breakfast was fulfilling, comprising Thosai, roti prata and finally wanton mee finishing off with a traditional cup of tea. Nice eh? As I spent my time sipping away, I wondered what I would write in my blog, reflecting on the 18th year of life. The Lord had taught me a lot, and it had been fulfilling, together with its fair share of ups and downs.

End of narrative.

I shall stop trying to sound like Adrian Mole and to put an end to this pathetic attempt of trying write another narrative.

Anyway, I think it is apt to spend time reflecting on what I have done over my past year.

A year ago, we were all busy preparing for Free Gift?! the christmas drama that I had written. It was the spark that triggered off my "career" as the scriptwriter in the drama team. It had been written out of the blue, inspired by two separate words, Free and Gift as I was making my choice of script, browsing through the 3 scripts that we had picked off the internet. It sort of came and suddenly the idea of Free Gift?! was born. It was a miracle, God's plan, a way of starting me off in my ministry and suddenly, we were on our way to producing a big drama. I had never written a script in my entire life and though I had doubts about myself, God assured me through the entire journey, through Jeremiah and those people around me. I learned a lot about directing, about handling people and at the end of it, the praises that I got for a job well done made me feel good. It was gratifying.

Yet behind the curtains, the process of putting it up had been tormentous. I shan't elaborate more but with the two co-leaders away in Thailand on their MOB trip, I was left to helm the ship which treaded dangerously in shallow water, dotted with hidden rocks. Cliched as it might sound, no one would have guess the conflict that had arisen behind the wonderful product that God had carefully carved out. Amazingly, I was able to handle the conflicts between those from the opposite species (a one of a kind) through the preparation that He had put me through from the day I first joined the drama team. It had been planned and the success of the Free Gift?! got me to a spiritual high, God, for once, seemed so real.

A year on, this very day, instead of the rehearsals, the situation it completely different.

I'm tired from serving in this ministry, sick and frustrated by all that I've been through. The superficiality, the bitchiness, the fights, the last minute preparations, everything. The drama team has been treated like a script-churning machine and we seem to have lost direction, doing things without God. I thought the Lord had taught me all there was about service but I guess He left out the part about feeling discouraged, the period of trial whereby you just feel like giving up. The A-levels are approaching - I should be focussing on it and yet I'm having to spend time preparing for the Christmas drama. Things are moving at snail's pace - the theme had just been confirmed last week, one completely different from the church's and we're expected to do 2 dramas, each within a span of a week. Dave had told me before that we should do a big drama and use it as many times as possible but Amy seems to be over-ambitious, wanting to do two despite her incessant complaints about being busy. Can she manage? Can we manage in the first place? I don't know.

This month has been really trying for me. I'm disappointed with YF; I've seen the superficiality, I've seen people doing things for self-gratification, I've seen TM grow in numbers, but somehow or another, have we grown in God?

I don't know.

Enough of this melancholy.

On the bright side, my CG celebrated my birthday today and for once, after a period of 6 years, I have a birthday cake! Thanks to them who remembered. Love them so much - they've been the ones who have brought me back to TM time and again and we're growing in the Lord together. A few people came to say Happy Birthday to me - a situation that is completely different from that of last year - my birthday had fallen on Saturday and not a single person remembered. Twas' was a day where I cried in my heart, alone. Turning 18 this year isn't so bad after all.

Went to the exact same hawker centre to eat the exact same thing as last year, this time without mom as she's at the other end of the globe in US on a business trip. This time however, I toppled over my cup of tea while trying to get my lil bro to eat his prawns. Felt so embarassed. Currently sitting in my tea soaked pants typing this out.

I'm spending the last day of my 18th year brooding over drama, feeling sick of it and wanting out. What a way to end the year.

ARgh.

"Welcome To My Life"

"Welcome To My Life"

Do you ever feel like breaking down?

Do you ever feel out of place?

Like somehow you just don't belong

And no one understands you

Do you ever wanna runaway?

Do you lock yourself in your room?

With the radio on turned up so loud

That no one hears you screaming

No you don't know what it's like

When nothing feels all right

You don't know what it's like

To be like me

To be hurt

To feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked when you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

With no one there to save you

No you don't know what it's like

Welcome to my life

Do you wanna be somebody else?

Are you sick of feeling so left out?

Are you desparate to find something more?

Before your life is over

Are you stuck inside a world you hate?

Are you sick of everyone around?

With their big fake smiles and stupid lies

While deep inside you're bleeding

No you don't know what it's like

When nothing feels all right

You don't know what it's like

To be like me

To be hurt

To feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked when you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

With no one's there to save you

No you don't know what it's like

Welcome to my life

No one ever lied straight to your face

No one ever stabbed you in the back

You might think I'm happy but I'm not gonna be okay

Everybody always gave you what you wanted

Never had to work it was always there

You don't know what it's like what it's like

To be hurt

To feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked when you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

With no one's there to save you

No you don't know what it's like, what it's like [x2]

Welcome to my life [x3]

"Great Sexual Scandals"

That's the title of the book my friends gave me as a birthday present; which features a Queen and her sexual encounters with a bull in the first chapter. Interesting eh? I'm not too sure of what to make of it - it borders the lines of hardcore porn yet seemingly has an underlying meaning to it. Ah, literature - my type.

Okay, I'm counting down the days of my 17th year, which will end on the very day SQ006 slammed into some construction equipment on a runway in Taiwan and burst into flames. 4 years on, I can still remember that very morning on November 1st when Dad told me the unbelievable news of the crash which forever put a blemish to a once sparkling track record. I guess no one is perfect these days.

Woke up at 6.00am this morning due to a sharp pain in my stomach and I knew I had to go to the toilet. I think it was something I ate yesterday - the wanton mee at Ghim Moh, a stall which I swear I will never patronise again. Shouldn't have made an order knowing that the auntie was washing dishes before she attended to me. YUCK. It wasn't a pretty sight in the toilet - I was in so much pain, I felt "hot flashes" shooting up to my head and yet I wasn't running a fever. It seemed as though the purple solid used in the chem prac yesterday was being mixed with the conc. HCl in my stomach, an exothermic reaction accompanied by the evolution of an oh so acidic gas - CO2 slowly eating through my alimentary canal. I was so drained and my body was in chaos. I felt like vomitting, yet on the other hand, I was feeding the toilet bowl. Everything seemed to be working in opposite directions - a case of severe disequilibrium? By the end of it, I took a look at myself in the mirror and realised how bad I looked- white as sheet, Ju-On style. Stumbled on to the kitchen and requested my maid to give me some hot water, which she added salt to since my stomach was so bad. Drank a sip and slumped into bed, exhausted from the whole episode. That's more draining than ____. Fill in the blanks (I shall leave it up to one's imagination and one's impression of me). Lucky for me, it was a one time affair.

Yesterday's chem pratical wasn't a dream. It was a pseudonightmare that lasted for 2hrs and 30 mins. Confident was I as I walked into the lab, Confused and Chastised (for my overconfidence) was I as I walked out of it. Cambridge's getting smarter. Darn those people.

At night, it was catching up with a junior of mine who was choosing his S-papers while I watching OC. Singapore Idol was okay, though it's starting to fade away as part of my life. Liberaty, Freedom!

I shall try to mug as much as possible today so I can enjoy the next few days.

Today's acronym:

PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens

Another mugging day...

Dragged myself out of bed this morning in a bid to readjust my biological clock. Woke up to find myself struggling to stay awake as I had my daily dose of the morning news for 1 freaking hour. Ha, I read a lot, yar right.



Spent the morning doing kinetics and reading through the design practicals to prepare myself for the big day tomorrow ie Chem prac after which I met up with Melv for a consultation session :P. Gave him a crash course on QA which lasted for 2 WHOLE hours but that proved quite effective - he was at the level of being able to predict the ions without doing the experiement *wide mouth*.



After that, we went for a break at Hougang and had Macs - he ordered a burger Big Tasty something (can't remember) and took out most of the tomatoes and onions, which triggered me to question his rationale behind paying so much instead of settling for the cheaper alternative, which was the double cheese burger which only had pickles. Consumer rationality anyone? Argh, prelims econs s question.



So now, we're both online testing each other for the final time, actually just one way, while I relish in spending my remaining time awake slacking. Life's good. But yes, I don't feel the As coming yet (pun intended). Because

1. I haven't been able to bring myself to study for it so i doubt I'll be able to get the As
2. It just doesn't feel like the A Levels yet

Sigh, this is sad. I'll be spending the remaining few days of my 17th year mugging again, which has been the case for quite a years.

Anyway, pray hard that I'll be able to GUESS THE ION correctly and get my design pracs done. AND PRAY FOR ENOUGH TIME. I'll just say: I've God the Lord on my side, on my side 2 3 4 yeah yeah.

Wish me luck! reply: Good Luck Winston...lalala

Mugging day...with Isabelle, Kenneth and Yaxin

Just came back from Isabelle's house after a long day of mugging which laster from 1 to about 10. Mugging's good but nothing beats mugging with friends and let's not forget Paprika, whom I met for the first time. He's this cute black and white dog who's really friendly and enjoys my massages - I feel so appreciated!

At about 3.30, we had a break and headed to an ice-cream shop (which I don't really know the name...Geletaire?) The ice-cream there wasn't too bad, just that quality comes with a price ie a whooping 2.80 for a cup of homemade ice-cream. There, Isabelle, Kenneth, Yaxin and me had a great time chatting. After a few seconds of mindless chatter, the conversation shifted its focus to the state of YF and all 3 of us, I K and me were just bitching about the state of the ministries there. We all seem to be tired of serving, desperate to just leave and give it all up but all of us face a dilemmna in that we have a responsibility to voice our concerns over the state of yf.

Anyway, I was shocked to hear that Dave is starting to let go of YF, for Shukun to take over. I'm apprehensive considering the fact that I feel that the leaders, the maturity etc. of YF still has some way to go and a lack of clear direction and good leadership would turn YF into a crumbled mess.

Along the way back, we stopped by a pet shop which had an oversize black poodle. It was real big and looked as though it had been artificially engineered with pig growth hormones (bio overdose here). After that, on our way back, all of us continued to bitch, I mean, give our feedback and views on YF and SOME of its people.

No doubt, YF has so much potential. HOWEVER, the most important thing should be for us to consolidate our ministries and get to work on "restructuring" - not just in the way we do things, but also in terms of the spiritual aspects. YF has grown in numbers, we're using the sanctuary now, but are we growing as a youth fellowship in God? I have a good mind to give it a good scolding since no one is willing to address the issues that we all know about and yet keep in under wraps in fear of offending others. Brothers and sisters in Christ should be encouraging but at the same time all of us have a responsibility in rebuking each other when we are not going in the wrong direction.

Why is TM falling apart when Dave's not around? That's the question. Shouldn't it be self-sustaining and self-supporting? i guess it's an indictation of where we stand thus far...

Anyway, Dad came to fetch me from Isabelle's to my upmost surprise and I appreciate that kind gesture. We had a nice talk about the church etc. and to some extent, I've learnt that God put Dad in Riverlife for some period of time for a purpose, and that has led to changes in my life, in the way I look at things etc.

So I guess there's a part for me to play, as someone who isn't really close to YF and thus having the ability to see things from a third party perspective. However, he did point out one thing. That we should give others a chance to serve - if they're not suited for it, eventually, they'll just step aside. Maybe it's a dynamic equilibrium, or maybe it's like free market forces, in which everything just tends towards equilibrium.

Ah, the workings of God.

and an overdose of mugging.

2 am.

2 am, monday morning.

i can't sleep, and don't really feel like sleeping. My thermodynamics notes are right in front of me as I type this. Have spent the last hour or so reading other people's blog and realised everyone's enjoying themselves. There's tons of things that go on in people's lives and it just brings out the wonder of God: chaos with a purpose, God's plan working in action.

Typed out a long message or should I say comment on Mich's blog in response to someone else's. I may have been rather direct but I guess I feel the need to do so. YF is going a tad bit crazy and disoriented. Have we forgot God in the midst of our business or in our quest for personal glory? I have been brooding over this question for the past two days, especially after yf on Saturday. I'm actually in no position to condemn or to criticise so I shall reserve all my comments and thoughts that I have about others. However, I must point out one issue to all: Service should be about God, not about self. Personal glory? Is that the distraction that's keeping us from whole heartedly serving God?

I think I need to voice my opinions to Dave when he comes back.

at the same time, I think I need to go to sleep.

and mug tomorrow.

A Practical Joke

My A-levels have started! Okay, forget the big hoo-haa, it's just the pracs.

Anyway, I tried to sleep at 10 yesterday but was unsuccesful in falling into dreamland no thanks to

1. My Biological Clock
2. My lil bro and mom watching Indiana Jones: The Lost Temple, together with additional sound effects like oh no, haha, goodness and commentory (One thing they have in common is that they think they're the scriptwriters, so they try to predict everything that's going to happen ...)
3. Things running through my head - from enlisting into the Army, to just plain freaking out
4. The mosquito in my room, which was eventually squahsed by my bro when he plunged into bed (and he's THAT heavy)

Okay, the practical wasn't too good, wasn't too bad. I followed instructions but got a weird graph, which, i don't really know whether I'm right or wrong. When asked to plot this against this, it's y-axis first followed by x-axis. So why did everyone invert it?

CAMBRIDGE. (Though i have to admit the photosynthesis experiment was good ie. well set)

Things I did during the prac:

1. Draw a kidney (I spotted correctly!)
2. Measure the seeds of 30 rice grains using graph paper, which was disgusting
3. Tremble when I was attempting to do so
4. Spilling the cup containing ice which had my DCPIP and buffer solutions
5. and Attempting to salvage whatever piece of cold solids that I could find on my table

So yes, my last and final Bio prac. Rejoice. PTL. But I think I screwed it up

OH WELL.