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So, it's the last weekend before the exams. Aargh. So far I'm still following my schedule. Hope I can maintain it. Anyway, gonna be doing a lot of Calculus and Trigonometry this weekend. Whee, so fun.

I've been calculating how much I need for exams to get overall A1 for each subject. I've calculated for Maths and English already. Haven't done IH, 'cos I haven't got the OP for Term 4, haven't done Chem and Physics, 'cos I haven't got my SPA marks, and I haven't done Chinese, 'cos, well, I don't wanna know.

So, for Maths, I need 66 to get A1. For English, I need 74. Not too hard....

One more month to freedom.

But of course, there's no freedom if I don't work now.

Quote of the day: "There is no such thing as luck. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."
Mr Tieu suddenly said this during Physics. Everybody went "WaaaaH!". Haha. It's quite true... that statement...

So, today was our final Sec4 level assembly- next Thursday, the exams start. Our 'speaker' today was, for the first time, our school's CEO/Principal, Mr Ang. Turns out he 'wanted' to speak with us since the beginnig of the year, but our "schedule' is so packed...etc." Er,ok...

Anyway, I was quite eager to listen to him. I must confess, my first impression of him was not very good. When he addressed the whole school during the morning flag raising at the start of the school year, I was a little 'shocked' by his way of speaking. (Read- he's not good at speaking). So I wanted to see if my first impression was a correct one today. Also, I heard recently that RJC's principal is very cold, and VJC's principal is very friendly, so I was wondering what my principal was like.

Mr Ang spoke in English, by the way. It wasn't bad English, and it was quite fluent, but I dunno.... it just sounded very weird. Very unnatural. But I could tell he was trying to be friendly, though it seemed contrived.

Wonder how JC principals get chosen...

Note: I'm not saying Mr Ang is no good. Don't accuse me of slander.

Just took a short nap. 1 and a half hours. I was feeling very tired from the late nights and was still coughing. Haven't napped in ages. I set my alarm to wake me up at 5.30pm, 'cos I wanted/needed to get up to start on the Sec 3 Sec 4 词语 for tomorrow's revision test. Got up at 5.50pm in the end. Strange. Better check my alarm..

Anyway, not only am I still feeling sleepy, but I'm a little disoriented as I just woke up. Aargh. Guess the nap didn't help at all.

Almost forgot to blog.

IH Core test today. On race. It was an open book test, so I didn't really study for it. Just read through. On hindsight, I should have read a bit more. There was a lot of time to write- 1 hour for one essay question. I wrote 4.5 pages, leaving line, but my points were very disorganised. For example, I mentioned stereotypes in the first part, and then at the end I mentioned it again. All my points all over the place. Aargh. I think I may fail...

Anyway, my IH marks won't be affected that much. At least my Geog can balance it. I hope. Speaking of Geog, Mr Chng didn't come today again. Some of us went for early recess. I stayed in class playing some lame racing game on the handphone. Crash n Burn. LOL.

The Core test was a common test, so it was at 8am. Missed Chinese as a result. Don't really care. Not much to do for Chinese already anyway. So, at the end of the day there was still a Core lesson. We went on to Gender. Ms Foo made us each give a reason why we would want to be a male or female if we had a choice. Haha, someone said, "I want to be a female, for a new experience." LOL
Can't blame him. We used up all the reasons we could think of for wanting to be a male. Of course, stereotypes were brought up. Males are stronger... etc.

So, tomorrow there's a PCME (Pastoral Care and Moral Education) test tomorrow. They said the grades for that 'test' will be reflected in our report books. There're even 'notes' to read. Wth. I'm not gonna read 'em. It shouldn't be too hard to pass. All MCQ. Hm... but seeing I haven't had much luck with MCQs lately...

Ah, what the heck. Who cares about PCME? A load of crap and propoganda.


Edit: Sigh, 12 am already. Sleeping very late again two days in a row. I should be sleeping more. Cough. Aargh. But I can't sleep earlier tomorrow. Chinese test the day after. Must do 习字. I guess that leaves the catching up of sleep to the weekend.

My cough got a bit better today. I didn't cough much today at school. But when I got back home, at night, I was coughing like mad. Maybe 'cos I was trying to sing the high notes of some songs I was listening to...

Anyway, my cough is probably getting better.

Nothing much to talk about, so I'll just say one word.


COUGH



P/S: My cough has gotten from bad to worse. Aaargh. Can't stop coughing for even a minute. Not good. I think I'd better go see a doctor. Aargh. Getting sick during exam period. Typical.

AAAAARRGGGGHH!!!!! $%^&*$%^&*!!!DAMMIT!!!!!!

I've been copying a 4 gig file from my desktop to a laptop over the very slow wireless connection. Why? The 4 gig file is a DVD image, which is used to burn a DVD. The laptop can burn DVD. Desktop cannot. But I digress. So, I've been transferring the file for 2 whole hours already. The progress bar is almost 100% already. AND WHAT THE HELL DO I DO? I disabled the wireless on my desktop accidentally! All the almost 4 gigs of data transfered gone! All gone! No I have to wait another 2 hours all over again!

AAAAARRGGGGHH!!!!! $%^&*$%^&*!!! DAMMIT!!!!!!

Me and my stupid mouse. I remember I wanted to click on another icon in the taskbar, but I clicked on the wireless icon by mistake. The menu popped up, and I absent-mindedly clicked on 'disable'. It took only a second for it to sink in. When I realised what was gonna happen, I could do nothing to stop the cancellation of the file transfer.

AAAAARRGGGGHH!!!!! $%^&*$%^&*!!! DAMMIT!!!!!!

Well, "there's a silver lining to every cloud". I guess with the extra two hours I have to wait, I can study somemore Physics. LOL.

What am I saying?! I can still study physics regardless of whether I have to wait two hours for the copying or not. Wth. Wtf. Technology hurts. Wireless- double edged sword. It's very useful, but it just takes a moment of carelessness (or absent-mindedness) for it to make you damned pissed.

AAAAARRGGGGHH!!!!! $%^&*$%^&*!!! DAMMIT!!!!!!


EDIT @ 8.39pm: AARGGH! IT HAPPENED AGAIN! Transfer failed! Again! This time something happened to modem.... dunno what. That's it. I'm not gonna try it again today. Some other day...

Today was an ok day at school. Chinese test was 40 zao ju from Sec1-Sec2. Managed to do all. But getting it all right is another thing. Anyway, I was hoping to get my Geog test back. I felt quite good after doing it. Didn't happen. Mr Chng slacked. We 'discussed' a worksheet instead. I don't think anyone really paid much attention. No more tests or exams for Geog! Who cares about sustainable development?!

So, in preparation for my Physics revision today, I photocopied someone's Sec 3 notes. But when I got back home today, I realised I still have all my Sec 3 physics stuff. Aargh. So I wasted $1.15 on the photocopying, and half an hour waiting in line for my turn at the photocopier's and waiting for the thick set of notes to be photocopied. Ah well.

But, it's so far so good. I'm sticking to my schedule quite well. Not too bad for someone who never followed a schedule before. That's if you don't count the school timetable. Is that a schedule? Anyway, resvising Physics means I have to do the TYS, 'cos that's the only way I can practise, unless I do the past year papers, which I'm leaving for the final overall revision practise. The Physics TYS SUCKS. Not the questions, actually, but the answer key. A lot of the answers for the MCQ are wrong. Ok, maybe 4 or 5 out of almost 100 questions isn't too bad, but this is a TYS, usually used by students to prepare for O Levels!!! One mistake shouldn't even be tolerated! Talk about quality control... wonder who's the publisher.... ...ok, checked the back of the book. "Web Publications" sucks. Lol, they've actually got a website. Let's see... http://www.goodbooks.com.sg. LOL. They need a change of website address. It should be www.badbooks.com.sg instead. Aargh.

Hm... wasted a bit of time on this post. Better get back to electromagnetic waves. Then on to Log and Exponential functions. I love studying. (sarcasm)

I've been wanting to play piano a lot lately. It happens every year around this time. I start feeling like playing the piano a lot. It's probably 'cos the exams are nearing, so I feel like doing other stuff to get away from studying. Well, at least playing the piano relieves stress. Been playing "Yesterday" a lot. Partly 'cos I like the song, though mainly 'cos I'm gonna be playing it on a grand piano in December. Aargh.

So... starting tomorrow, I'm gonna begin my studying schedule. First topic? Optics. Physics. Hello lenses...

So, 11 days left. To the end-of-year exams. And I still haven't started my "official" revision. I've just been reading notes. Mostly chem. I afraid to start on Physics and Maths, 'cos I don't wanna find out I dunno a lot of things.

But I guess I have to start now. They gave us a schedule to fill up, to plan for revision. Making a schedule now. I've never made a schedule before. Hopefully this works out...

Edit:The Schedule's done now. It's a little tight... but I think I should be able to manage. There're actually only 4 subjects. Maths, Chem, Physics, and Chinese. No english, haha- HOw to study English?

Aargh... I'm most worried about Physics... I've almost forgotten most of the concepts...

I think my eyesight is deteriorating. Vision getting a little blurry. Maybe it's 'cos I didn't sleep enough last night. Dunno...

I wanna keep my perfect eyesight!

There's just nothing to talk about today.

Well... maybe one or two things...

Chinese test today. Sec 1 and Sec 2 stuff. I only memorised the zaoju. And guess what? This particular test only tested tianzi. Aargh. Luckily I could remember most of 'em.

I was hoping to get the Geog test back today. Didn't happen. Mr Chng didn't wasn't around today. Ended up doing some stupid worksheet with Ms Koe as relief teacher (lol- head of consortium as relief). There're no more geog tests, man. I don't think anyone would pay much attention to the remaining geog lessons... Same for IH Core, when the test is over next Thursday...

Cough not getting worse, but not getting better either. It's one of those dry coughs. No throat pain... But my chest hurts from all the coughing. Time for another lozenges...

Did I say my cough was getting better? I guess I was wrong. Coughed like mad today. Still coughing a lot. Aargh. I better get well soon, exams coming.

EDIT @ 10.53pm
Trying to memorise zao ju for tomorrow's test on Sec 1 Sec 2 stuff. Can't stop coughing. Very irritating. Blasted cough...

Now my throat feels sore. Not pain, just sore. Sigh...

Forgot to mention something yesterday. Geog test was yesterday. I think I'm getting better at tackling the humans tests. Not just at memorising the content, but also that I can write faster without stopping as much as before. And I can manage my test time better. So I actually finished the Geog test yesterday with time to spare. Ok, maybe a second or two is not exactly 'time to spare'... and I sort of wanted to write a little more for one of the questions.
Ah, what the heck. No more geog tests anymore. That was my last geog test of my entire Secondary school life. And I'll probably not be doing Geog in JC. Probably...

So, recap on today. Nothing much happened. Except during the last period. English. We were going through the AQ(aka SR, or stimulus response- sort of like an analysis of an article) question we doing. Mine got picked as the example (thank you , thank you...). So, after going through, Ms Loh asked the class to help her grade my work ('cos it wasn't not graded yet). The final marks weren't really important (18/20 - new personal best. Hope i get that for the EOYs). After my classmates gave me my marks, and Ms Loh wrote it on my paper. Someone shouted, "BOND!". Aargh. Dammit. I though they wouldn't wanna bond me again. Luckily, this time I didn't hang around in class after school. I just packed my bag quickly and left the class.

Note: we sometimes bond people who got highest for a test or something..

Speaking of the last geog test... I'll probably be doing a lot of "lasts" these few days. Just did the last English Compre, gonna be doing the last Chinese compo pretty soon... And my last humans test is next Thursday(IH core). Feeling sentimental...haha.

Aargh. I'm so stupid. I knew they'd try to bond me today after school. I was already packing my bag before the last lesson ended, planning to make a run for the door after school ended. But after the lesson ended, I didn't leave. I stayed behind for awhile, 'cos I thought they didn't wanna bond me anymore. ("they", btw, refers to most of my class) So I stayed back for awhile, looking at Song Jun doing his maths.

Aargh. I still didn't feel like something was amiss when Yong Keong, one of the most avid bonders, came up to me. I thought he was also watching Song Jun doing his maths. According to Lok Fung, if I turned around, I'd have gotten a shock. He said there were so many people crowding behind me, surrounding me from behind. Woah, haha.

Aargh. So as I was still watching Song Jun doing maths, Thomas suddenly grabbed me from behind. I definitely couldn't get out of that one, man. Body hug by a Judo-ka. He pulled me back, and I fell backwards. Then they all jumped onto me. I desperately tried to break free, but there were just too many of 'em. I kicked like mad, man... But they just kept trying to hold me down. I couldn't escape.

Aargh. Apparently, the new trend is to tickle, not to remove any article of clothing. Damn. Anyway, it's worse for them than for me- tickling only made me kick harder.

So when they got bored, I was finally released. Sigh... now I can't brag that I've never got bonded before. I really never thought I'd become a target...

Well, according to those who bonded me, I put up the greatest fight of those who got bonded, giving them even more trouble than the 100+kg Lok Fung. So there. I can put up a good fight when desperate. Haha.

New goal: don't get bonded again.

Edit: I think I need to clarify something: No, we are not gay, we are not horny, and we are not perverts. As the name of the activity suggests, it brings the class closer together, physically (lol) and psychologically. Bonding is just a form of class-bonding, for want of a better word... It's quite rampant in my school, bonding. I guess it's a passing trend, haha, though it's been "passing by" for a long time already.

So I got my Chemistry test paper back today. Like I said, I wasn't expecting anything. Mr Lim thought it was a good idea to put our test papers in our Australian Science competition question paper together with our certs. A bit lame, but at least that gave me a chance to slowly reveal my marks on the test paper. I got distinction for the ASC, by the way. "Top 97 percentile in your country." I suppose that's good, butt he ASC never meant anything anyway. Only ACE.

I wanted to slowly shift the cover of the question paper away from the page with my marks, but I couldn't wait. I just opened it. And there it was- Thirty Three and a Half. Upon 45. I quickly used my calculator. 74.4%. Aargh. It was just 0.6% (or 0.25 marks!!!) short of an A1, but I was already very relieved. I didn't fail. I didn't get a C or a B. Phew.

Although I was pretty pleased that I finally didn't do that badly, I slowly started to regret that I didn't get A1. But what made it worse was that looking through the paper, I realised that I practically threw my A1 grade away for this test. I made 3 very stupid mistakes, and that meant 3.5 marks gone. Here're the mistakes.

Mistake 1: There was a two mark question asking you to give a name of a gaseous hydrocarbon, and the formula of it. I put ethane and C2H6. But I got it wrong. I was wondering why my answer was marked as wrong when I realised- I actually put the name in the blank for the formula and I put the formula in the blank for the name! Aargh!!! 2 marks gone, just like that. Sigh...

Mistake 2: There was a question where I was required to write out the two equations for the propogation steps of free radical substitution of an alkane. I wrote the two correct equations, but I put the second one above the first one. Minus 0.5 marks. Sigh...

Mistake 3: There was a question asking us to 'write' out the full structural formula of some compound with a Nitrogen atom. I remember feeling very proud of myself after the test, because I remembered to draw the triple bond between Nitrogen and Carbon, something which many forgot, 'cos the question showed the compound as containing CN , without the bond. So I did draw the triple bond, but guess what? I actually added an extra H to the carbon atom. What the heck! I didn't check my answers properly. Another mark gone...

There were one or two other careless mistakes, but no point mentioning them here- I think I've made my point. I threw my A1 away.

Well, at least this time my MCQ didn't fare as badly. 8/10. I should've gotten 10/10, but 8's definitely an improvement over 3.

Oh well, I'm still very glad that my Chem's not going downhill. First A1, then B4, then C5, but now it's A2. I've finally broken out of the vicious cycle. Next target- 80+ for the Chem exam!!!

Wah... I thought the bonding craze died down in my class already. But today, they bonded Shu Peng and Song Jun. I was standing around watching. Just after Song Jun got bonded, they were looking for a third target. I never would have thought it'd be me.

Damn Song Jun- he pointed me out. I thought, "Oh, shit," and tried to escape. But it was too late. I was already being held down by many of my classmates. Dunno why, but I shouted "WAIT, wait!!!" And they actually stopped for a moment. I tried to get away, but then they started grabbing hold of me again. Haha, according to Lok Fung, normally people shout "Wait" so that they can remove their handphone and specs before getting bonded. I just tried to get away. LOL.

Anyway, I know a lot of people just give in, and get bonded willingly, but no, I'm not gonna be bonded man. I struggled like mad, hitting someone in the face in the process. It was tough- there were so many people holding on to me. But I managed to escape. Phew.

After that, I couldn't go back to class. They were all waiting for me. I couldn't go home- my bag was still in class. So I walked around for around half and hour before most of my classmates left already, and even then I only dared to venture near the classroom, 'cos the hard-core bonders were definitely still around.

So a little while more passed, and I finally went into the classroom to get my bag. Yong Keong and Yan Long were still inside. They looked bored already, so I figured they wouldn't try anything. Just when I was at the door, they suddenly rushed towards me. What the heck. But I was out of the door already, and I ran all the way to the stairs without looking back, and finally I escaped.

So I didn't get bonded. Phew. I hope they don't try and bond me tomorrow. Aaaahhhhh...

Note: for the majority of people who don't know what bonding is, think of it as someone being 'stripped' (usually only the shirt, though there was once... ahem...) by others, usually a group of people. Of course, the person being bonded is the unwilling party. And bonding usually occurs on the bond-ee's birthday. I never thought they'd wanna bond me. For one, my birthday is during the end of year exams, and there are easier and 'more fun' targets in class.
I used to say, "It's all in the name of fun lah...". But that was when I was the observer(i only watched, i never took part in the bonding), not the one being targeted. Now I can only say- bonding is harmful to people psychologically. DON'T do it. Haha.

Getting Chemistry test paper back tomorrow. I don't wanna get it back. I'm scared to see another lousy grade on my Chem test paper. I don't wanna expect anything, then get shocked by a fail a lousy grade.

It wasn't always like this. I remember the past 3 tests, I was very excited to be getting my Chem test paper back. The first test, I got 75. Then the second test, I was kind of expecting A1, but I got B4 instead. When it came to the third test, my hopes weren't too high, but I remember telling myself, that I can't go wrong twice, then slowly I believed that I wouldn't get such a lousy mark again. Then I saw the mark- C5.

Sigh... Now not only am I totally not expecting anything for Chem, I'm afraid to see the marks tomorrow. If I get a lousy mark, or worse still, if I fail (touch wood!), that's it man. I'm dead. My chem will be screwed. I think I did ok... but that's what I thought for the past two tests, and look what I got...(above)

Please, let me finally get A1........

On a more positive note... cough getting better.

Hey. The moon is very round. And very bright too. They weren't lying. Getting mesmerised staring at it....

I'm feeling sleepy...........

Yeah! Just discovered that my school FTP is back on again. That means I can upload stuff. Uploaded a song. Look at the right, above the menu -->

Now I don't have to post lyrics of songs I like- I can upload the song! It can't be downloaded, though ;) I put the song into a flash file. It's a simple Play/ Stop thingy. Didn't make it today. I salvaged it from my phlog. It was once on my phlog, with "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal, but then the school server went down. And then I switched to zalx.net, but it went down too. (LOL, stupid techmonix). I thought I'd never be able to use that flash thingy again. Now I can!

Enjoy :)
Currently playing: "White Shadows" by Coldplay "In My Place" by Coldplay
[EDIT @Sept 19. I'm so fickle minded.]
(the first Coldplay song I memorised. one of my favourites)
A great song by Coldplay
note: takes a while to load

hm... wonder if I'm infringing on copyrights.... ah, what the heck. What can they get by suing me?

Today is 中秋节. Whee. Mooncakes. Yum. Left one only, though... but my brother probably doesn't want it. Heh heh...
camera not with me, so pic taken by my lousy phone camera
My sore throat has morphed into a slight cough. Aargh.

Felt sleepy the whole day. Dunno why, I slept quite a lot...

Anyway, whole day at home again. Developed a sore throat. Luckily it's after my piano exams, where I had to sing. Phew. But a sore throat's still not good... aargh.

I dunno what's my problem with phone calls recently. Today it just happened again (see a previous post). This time an unknown handphone number called my home phone. I answered, but there was no one answering on the other end. So I hanged up, and called that number back. A quiet voiced answered. I said, "Hello? Who called this number?", and all I got was a quiet murmur. What the heck. So I just hanged up without saying anything.

hm... come to think of it, it may have been a prank call by one of my friends. Or one of my brother's friends. His friends have prank called us before. If they dare call back again...

Got the exam schedule today.

Date Paper(s)
Week 1
6 Oct MRP Oral Defence
7 Oct English P1 English P2
Week 2
10 Oct Physics P1 Physics P2
11 Oct Biology not taking bio
12 Oct Chemistry P1 Chemistry P2
13 Oct Maths P1
14 Oct Higher Chinese P1
Week 3
17 Oct slack day
18 Oct Maths P2
19 Oct Higher Chinese P2

I don't get it. Every year, I know my birthday will clash with the exam period, but WHY does it have to be Chinese??? I remember my PSLE Chinese was on my birthday too. WTH. Anyway's it paper 1 this time round...

What am I saying? "Anyway"??? ANY exam shouldn't be on my birthday.... let alone Chinese! Aargh!!!! Resigned to my fate, until I stop schooling...

Something very funny happened yesterday. At around 10pm, I realised I got a missed call at around 8pm. The number was unfamilliar, so I called it. Most probably it's a classmate calling my handphone with his home phone, I thought. So when the person answered at the other end (a low male voice), I was expecting him to recognise me and start talking. But all I heard was

Person:"Hello?"
silence

then the rest of the conversation went something like this.
Me: "Urm, did someone call me at this number?"
Person: "Huh? What number"
Me:"967xxxxx" (privacy, haha)
Person:"Er, who is this?"
Me: "Zhe Xi"
Person: "Jersey?"
Me: "Zhe. Xi."
Person: "Is this some advertising thing?"
Me(getting pissed): "No! Someone called me at 8plus. I saw I got a missed call, so I called back lah!"
Person (voice in background): "Anyone called Jersey?"
Person: "No one called you."
Me (damn pissed): "Hey, someone definitely called me at this number. I'm just calling back!"
Person: "But no one called you leh."
Me: "... nvm, bye."

I was thinking, what the heck, someone called me, then when I call back, no one acknowledges the phone call. Then, a few minutes later, I got a call from the same number again. This time, it was one of my classmates. So I guessed that person I was talking to was his dad. I asked him. Guessed correctly. LOL.
Haha, I was really pissed at that guy, my classmate's dad. Dunno, if you can gather from the above, but I was on the verge of shouting at him. Haha, sorry Kai Keat. Anyway, I'll probably never see your father.

Just had my piano exam. A little dazed now... lemme try and recount...

Ok, I was practicing like mad for 1 hour plus before I left home for the exam venue. I dunno if it helped...

Went there a little early. The exam was scheduled at 11.41am. I reached at 11.05am. It wasn't that long a wait. I sat on one of the chairs there trying to keep my mind clear. There were 3 other candidates before me. Two girls and one boy. The boy was Grade 3, and the older girl was Grade 5. Good. I was hoping that no one before me would be Grade 6. Otherwise there's a chance he or she might outshine me. Anyway, I didn't manage to see the grade number on the exam pieces book the younger girl was holding, but I'm guessing she's taking a low grade.

Anyway, the examiner this time was a woman. Ita Herbert. I read her profile, which was pasted on the wall. She plays piano and violin. The examiners always damn pro one... Well, I'm not sexist or anything, but I've never had a female examiner. When I was visualising the exam conditions back at home, I always thought of an old british guy. Guess I got 2/3 correct. The examiner was an old british lady. btw, I think the photo on her profile should be changed, man. She looks a lot older in person than in her photo.

Ok, on to the exam. The exams were running a little behind schedule, so mine began at almost 12pm, instead of the scheduled time of 11.41am.

So, here's what she asked me to play for scales:

Similar motion: E Major, Ab major, C# minor harmonic, B minor melodic (if I remember correctly)

Contrary motion: hm... can't really remember... did she even ask me to play? lol, I think it was A Major

Thirds in staccato: Right hand C Major

Staccato: C Major, I think. It might've been Eb Major. Not too sure. but definitely right hand

Arpeggios(forgive the possible spelling error): aargh, my memory is failing me. it was one of the flats in major, then I think G Major. There might've been another one, not sure

Diminished broken chords: Starting from D#

Well, I think my scales were quite ok. I didn't suddenly stop for a split second like I did last year, but I did miss a few notes here and there. Luckily, I didn't miss any notes for the staccato

Next, I played the exam pieces. I think I did quite ok. The first piece was ok, I missed a few notes, but I didn't stop. I continued playing. The second was not very good. I didn't miss notes, but I made a very obvious and ugly mistake. There's one part in the melody with a high note, to be played by my left hand. I sort of hesitated when I got to that part, then I pressed the wrong key. Aargh. It was a loud and very out of the tune note. But I managed to continue playing without missing a beat. The third piece. I think I didn't pull it off. It's supposed to be my best piece of the three. Some of my dotted rhythms became straight quavers. Aargh. At least I didn't falter when playing the running right hand triplets at the end.

Then next was sight-reading. I'm typically not very good at sight-reading. When the examiner passed me the sight-reading book and pointed out the one I was supposed to do, I was a 'lil overwhelmed by the fact that the piece nearly filled one page. haha, I usually do half page pieces. Anyway, it had a lot of running semiquavers, flowing from the left hand to the right hand. In Bb Major. One flat only- very lucky. I played it ok, I think though I played a few notes at the end wrongly, and I think my dynamics (loud, soft, etc.) were not that good.

Finally, it was the Aural component of the exam. I usually do quite well in this section. The singing parts were ok. I faltered at one of the bars during the sight-singing, but I managed to keep my cool and continue singing. Then came the indentifying the cadence part. Easy. Imperfect cadence, in minor key. The last part of the Aural section was a little weird. Analysis of a piece. She asked me to look out for two things only. I was a little shocked- two only? Style and Period. Aargh. I was hoping I wouldn't be asked to describe the style. I'm not that good at that. So she played the piece. I was panicking a bit. Couldn't decide which period. So I said 19th Century. I regretted that immediately, even before I finished saying "century". Aargh. Maybe it was romantic period. Or classical. Or barouqe? 20th century? Sigh, I didn't really pay attention to the piece. I was a little distracted by the fact that the exam was almost over. So after saying "19th Century", I had to describe the style of the piece.
"Um, the piece had a wide range of dynamics, with a flowing accompaniment, and it was generally expressive." Aargh. Hope I was correct. But if I got the period wrong, the description of the style would be totally wrong too...

So the exam is finally over. I hope I pass. I don't feel as bad as I think after my Grade 5 exam last year. Last year I thought I might fail. This year I think I should pass. Last year I got merit. This year- distinction? Haha, I hope so, but it'll probably be merit. If I'm lucky.

At least now I don't need to keep practicing my exam pieces, which have been getting increasingly boring. I can play other stuff. Yeah!

Hm... this is one long post.

Oh, almost 1.30pm already. My classmates are probably still having their lessons, haha, and I'm here slacking at home.

Quote of the day: "Please lemme pass..."

... was ok. Lost 4 marks already, out of 45. Anyway, I calculated- if I get 75% for this test, I need 72% for my exams to get an overall A1 for Chem. Shouldn't be too hard. I just hope I get 75% for this test. I need the morale booster. Haven't calculated what I need to get for my other subjects in the exams- gotta do it soon.

Piano exam in less than 24 hours. I've never been this nervous before the exam. Aargh... I just don't wanna fail. If I fail, I'll be wasting one year of work, and almost $100 in exam fees. I never failed before, btw. I thought I might fail for my Grade 5 exam last year. Ended up with merit. LOL. But this is the first time I'm thinking I might fail even before I've even taken the exam. Aah... Cannot demoralise myself... Must think of positive stuff. Urm... ... ok, nvm, better just practise like mad.

Quote of the day (right after Chem test): "Huh, I thought SO2 is soot?"
LOL. Not me, btw. I'm not that dumb.(it's lokfung)

Studying (Organic) Chem for the past few hours. I could understand everything, except one thing- the $%^&* Markonikov's Rule. Spent a lot of time thinking it through. Mr Lim's powerpoint handouts are usually very comprehensive, but this one on why the Halogen of a Hydrogen Halide will combine with the Carbon with the most alkyl groups (during a reaction between and Alkene and a Hydrogen Halide) wasn't that good. I couldn't understand it at all.

Just when I was gonna give up and just hope that there won't be a question on that, I had a stroke of genius. Of course, it's indirectly thanks to the links on Mr Lim's Chem record book on the IVLE (online student workspace thingy). I say indirectly, 'cos those links inspired me to do my own Google searching. And I found just what I needed. So now I finally UNDERSTAND. Don't wanna elaborate the full details of what I understand, very troublesome.

When I suddenly understood, I had a tremendous rush of adrenaline, man. My personal message on MSN changed from "muggin" to "EUREKA!!!". Songbo! Felt really good about Chem for the first time in a long while. This is what I like about Chem, man. The sudden rush of excitement when I finally understand the concept after some hard thinking. YEah! I never get that for Physics, haha. It's just boring. At least the physics we learn in Sec. school is boring, Quantum physics is very exciting (reading a book on it- see an earlier post).

Shit, sounding like a nerd.

Now I just hope what I 'understand' is actually correct. It's seems quite logical to me. Anyway, maybe this is just the morale booster I need to get that A1 for Chem tomorrow.

Still feeling the adrenaline! Also a little afraid I'll forget what I just understood about that concept. Hm... maybe I'll put my explanation from a converstion I had with Yu Tse (chem pro) on MSN here...

take this as the eg: CH3-CH=CH2
ok, imagine the positive charge is somewhere between the 2nd C and the 3rd C.
we learn that 2 deg is more stable than 1 deg. This is 'cos the 2 deg C, which is the 2nd C, can disperse the positive charge over 2 other Cs, but the 1deg C can only disperse the positive charge to 1 other C.
So if the positive charge forms on the 2nd C, it's be more stable.
in other words, the positive charge can fall on either the 2nd or 3rd C. But it'll more likely fall on the 2nd C, 'cos that outcome is more stable.
(Note: '1deg' refers to a C atom with 1 alkyl group attached, so on so forth)

2 days more to the piano exam. Piano lessons today. I practiced before the lesson at home. Played quite well. But when I got to my teacher's house, I don't know what the hell was wrong with me. I played like SHIT. My first piece was totally screwed up. I stopped dunno how many times throughout all my 3 pieces. And I missed a hell lot of notes for the scales. Dammit. What's wrong with me? I only got 2 more days to fix whatever problem I've got. Aargh. And I can't practice anymore today. Chemistry test tomorrow. The whole of Organic Chemistry. I've got to make sure I get A1 for this test, or my overall chem marks will be screwed.

I don't wanna fail my piano exam...

Never been more nervous for piano exam. This is the first time my teacher wasn't around for my practice at the exam studio. And she won't be turning up for the actual exam. That's 'cos I rescheduled my exam. 'Cos of my Perth Camp. She would have been able to be present for my original exam date. As luck would have it, my teacher's going overseas for a holiday just on the day of rescheduled exam. I suppose I could handle the pressure on my own... I hope.

Oh, and I asked my form teacher if I could skip lessons on thursday, my exam date. The exam's at 11.41am, but I think it'll be a 'lil troublesome if I go to school then go home to change and get ready. Of course, I could take the exam in my school uniform- yeah right.(some sarcasm here) Anyway, I'll be missing only 4 lessons and assembly. Shouldn't be that big a deal.

Didn't practice today. Or should I say haven't practiced yet... Depends on whether I feel like practicing later. Aah... I don't wanna fail.

I think I'd better go practice...

I hear thunder. One of the particularly loud thunder strike followed with some static sounds coming from my comp. speakers... hm... I'd better go off now...

Chinese test was ok today. I forgot two tianzi, one ciyu, and one zaoju. Of course, that's ok only by my standards. My teacher would say that's very lousy. We're expected to get full marks. Well, I wasn't surprised that I forgot 3 words. I didn't prepare for the words. I only prepared zaoju I forgot was from the chengyu. I didn't prepare for the chengyu- I was hoping the I could remember the 250 chengyu from the previous test. Anyway the other sections were the usual, though the summary was a little harder than normal.

After the test, it was recess. After recess, it was double Chinese, what the heck. And he gave us ying yong wen to do. Aargh. If we did zuowen too, then we'd have done a whole mock exam today, if you don't count the fact that our 'mock' paper 2 excluded the Sec 4 syllabus.

I think I've got the dates for all the tests this term. Chemistry test this Wednesday, IH Core next Wed, then IH Geog next Thurs. This Wednesday's my chance for redemption for Chem. I hope I don't screw up again. It should be quite easy- organic chem. Mostly memory work. But that's what I always think- easy- and then I end up with C5. Aargh. I think too much into the MCQs...

Anyway, on to my main topic for this post. I had a weird encounter on 961 on the way back home from school today. Getting onto the bus, I found a seat and sat down. There was an old man occupying the seat beside me. He looked at me for a while. I thought maybe I'd bumped into him when I sat down. Then suddenly he started talking to me. In Chinese, of course. He asked me what school I was. I told him 华侨中学. He was a little surprised, 'cos I wasn't wearing the lower sec school uniform; I was wearing the college uniform. I guess maybe he didn't know about the merging of HCJC and CHS. Turns out he was an old boy of CHS. And so a lenghtly conversation started for the whole length of my trip home. 15 minutes of uneasiness for me, man. He talked about the syllabus change, what language we used in school, and a lot of other stuff. How I wish it wasn't me talking to him. My chinese sucks. I couldn't converse with him that well. Or maybe I was speaking too soft. Aargh... I hope he doesn't get a bad impression just because of one encounter with one student that doesn't accurately represent the school- me...
On more thing... that old man referred to Chinese as "普通话"，not "华语". Maybe he's PRC? Or did people in the past call chinese "普通话"? I thought that was only used in China...

I shouldn't be blogging, actually. I should go back to the remaining 50 zao ju I have to study/memorise. But what the heck. This'll be a quick post then.

Got a huge shock when I found out that there are 2 versions of the 250 cheng yu. The test tomorrow comprises the Sec1-3 syllabus and the 250 chengyu. Apparently there's a new version of the 250 cheng yu for the Sec 1-3. So there's some confusion of what to study for the test tomorrow. I'm gonna stick to my old chengyu. Anyway, they didn't give me the new list. What's more, the site mentions the new cheng yu list as for 2005 Sec 1-3. Maybe it's a new syllabus for them or something. I don't care. I'm not gonna redo the chengyu again. I haven't prepared for the chengyu anyway. I'm hoping my memory of the chengyu I studied for the last test the friday before is still intact. That's quite a huge gamble, but I really can't squeeze much more into my brain.

Aargh. 50 more zaoju. I stopped memorising entire sentences long ago. Started a new method. I read the zaoju a few times, to try and 'get a feel' of the sentence. It should work. I hope.

4 days to piano exam. I forgot to mention- my piano exam is at 11.41am. So I think I'll have to skip lessons that day.

Oops, this turned out to be quite a long post. Back to my zaoju...

[EDIT @ 6.02pm: Just realised it's Sept 11. I don't really care, actually. Anyway, back to my zaoju.]

One day left to the holidays. I haven't made full use of this holidays to prepare for the exams, both Piano and school. My Maths is really, really out of touch. I can't remember how to do a lot of things. Found that out while trying to do a specimen paper today. Aargh.

Piano exam in 5 days only! I still make some mistakes here and there for my exam pieces. Don't think I'll be able to play them perfectly during the exam. Come to think of it, I don't remember ever playing my exam pieces without a single mistake in my past 5 piano exams, except maybe Grade 1 or 2, which I have not much memory of. I remember playing like shit for my Grade 5 exam last year. I stopped halfway when playing D major. D. Major. Wth. I remember that moment. The examiner asked me to play D major, so I happily started playing. My fingers were playing already, but my mind was still stuck. Halfway through the scales, I suddenly thought, "er, what am I doing? oh, yah, playing D major scale." But it was too late. I suddenly stopped. Luckily I managed to recover in less than a second's time and continue playing. I also stopped a few time during the 3 exam pieces. Haha, but I managed a Merit, (127/150). 3 points away from distinction. That was very lucky. I got a good examiner.

But I can't always be that lucky. Who knows, the examiner I get this year may be some super-pissed off guy. lol. Anyway, I"m just hoping for a high pass. Maybe a merit. A distinction will be good, though. I never got distinction for the practical exams before. I also never failed before- hope this won't be a first. A first for failing, I meant. I don't mind the distinction ;)

Anyway, gotta stop blogging now. I hafta go to the exam studio today to practice on the piano. Unlike most other musical instruments, I can't carry my piano around, obviously. So piano exam candidates usually have to book a practice session to get a feel of the piano before the actual exam. And that's when those studios can make a killing. 30 bucks for one hour! What the hell. But I have no choice. I don't wanna get shocked by some piano with super weird keys and sound.

The week's about to end. That means the holiday's about to end too. Term Four beginning soon. It's typical, man. They put a test on the first day. Not just any test. Chinese test, testing yi shan until san xia. Aargh. According to Alvin's blog, that's 536 zao ju to memorise. Sigh...

Gotta stay motivated...

Anyway, finally started my 2-hour-piano-practice-a-day routine today. haha, I'm supposed to be practicing every day for my piano exam since maybe a month ago, but sometimes I just don't have the time. Others I'm just too lazy to practice. Mostly the latter though ;)
I practiced so much that I think a part of my left hand cramped up. I couldn't play dotted rhythms. What the heck. I hope it's really just because of the 'cramp'

Listened to FF9 and FF8 soundtrack while doing my work today. The nostalgia of playing FF9 hit me once I started listening to the soundtrack. It's a great game, FF9. FF8- well, let's just say I only played less than a tenth of it, haha.

MOTIVATION
6 days to piano exam.
a month to the exams

I know I can do it... just musn't slack...

Today wasn't as boring as yesterday. When I turned on my com today, and checked my usual sites, I realised from iLounge.com that Apple has released a new product. iPod nano. I was expecting that already, since I'm a regular at iLounge.com and they've speculated about it. I was a little excited by that, and spent quite a while looking at news about it. The more I looked at photos of it, the less weird it looked, and the more 'beautiful" it looked. Oh well, it still can't beat my good old 4G 20gb.

Then I also found out that Apple also finally released the 5th version of iTunes. I was pleasantly surprised to see the new user interface, or rather, the improved look of the user interface. Looks a lot better now, in my opinion.

I also managed to find mp3 downloads of live performances from the show RockstarINXS. RockstarINXS, for those who don't know, is sort of like a rock version of the Idol contests, where the winner will lead the band INXS. INXS's original lead singer, Michael Hutchence, died (suicide, i think) some time ago. I never heard of INXS before the show, but the show's good. I didn't have any favourite contestant until Marty Casey performed Wish You Were Here (originally by Pink Floyd) last week. I didn't hear the original before, but that performance ROCKED. It was just awesome. It was very very good. Then just yesterday, I saw his performance of an original song, "Trees". That was great too. So I decided to try and find mp3 downloads today. And suceeded. Yeah!

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have you found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

It's a masterpiece, man, this song.

Apple's done it again. iPod nano. I thought Apple was gonna come up with some iPod with video capabilities, but they came out with this. Anyway, the nano's replaced the mini. Haha, now your iPod's obsolete too, Alvin. But don't worry, it may be thinner than yours, and smaller, and has a colour screen, but your mini still has more battery life and a larger capacity.

It looks very fragile, though, the iPod nano. It's almost as if it would break very easily, being that it's so thin. Wonder who'd want it. Wonder who'd wanna buy it. I wouldn't. If I got an iPod now, I'd rather get the regular sized colour screen one. But that's just me.

Speaking of becoming obsolete, I wonder who bought an iPod mini at COMEX here in Singapore. Fools. The nano is coming. These computer 'fairs' are always meant for companies to dump their old stock at 'discounts' so that they can introduce new models. I've learnt that the hard way. With my digital camera. Immediately after The PC Show 2003, where I got my camera, Canon discountinued that particular model. And came up with better cameras at the same price/a cheaper price. I can only feel sorry for those who got iPod minis at COMEX.

Anyway, I'm still very happy with my 4G b/w 20gb :) . Unless the batt. spoils. hm... Nah. It won't spoil for another 1+ years, according to my calculations.

[EDIT at 9.11am]
Whee! iTunes 5 is out too. They made the interface sleeker.
OMG! I just noticed this! Wonder if it's true- Apple's finally put AAC VBR encoding support in iTunes!!!

but... can the iPod play it...?

Aargh, if it can, I've gotta re-encode almost 2000 songs!

Slept until 9 today. Actually I woke up at 7+, I think, but I fell asleep again. Didn't have to worry about getting up in time to prepare for school today. Anyway spent alot of time on the com today. I feel guilty. Gonna do my revision papers later.

Counted my Star Wars books today. I have at least 51 books. I'm sure there are still others around the house, but 51! I didn't know I had so many Star Wars books. And that's not even counting the 5 books I have on the movies. I haven't gotten the EpIII one. Anyway, that means that I've spent >$500 on Star Wars books! Woah. I always thought of myself as a mild Star Wars fan. I guess now I'm an 'intermediate' one, haha. If I wanna go to go to the next level, I've gotta start collecting those figurines and model sets. LOL, I'm not that crazy.

Anyway, I watched a show called House yesterday night. Very interesting. It's about this Dr House, who's a very stubborn but insightful doctor at some hospital. haha, I saw the advertisements for it, and wanted to watch it, 'cos it seemed very funny, but it's shown at 10pm on Tuesdays only, so I can only watch when there's no school the next day. But anyway, it turns out that this show wasn't a comedy:

It started out with this other doctor talking to two proud new parents about their newborn, cradling it he she the baby in his arms. The camera closeup-ed on the baby for quite a while. It looked very cute. like how other babies would look. I was thinking where the show was going when suddenly the baby went into fits, and some foamy substance was going out of its mouth. Urgh. It was very frightening. I mean, I've seen people going into fits before on TV, and that was quite disturbing, but a baby in fits? Cute one moment, than suddenly jerking like mad and with some foamy fluid coming out of its mouth? How'd you feel? Could you imagine the shock I got? I was expecting something funny, when suddenly this baby starting having seizures. WTH. For a while, I still believed it was a comedy, thinking that the show had some kind of sadistic humor. LOL. But after a while, I realised that it was not a comedy after all. Ah well.

It was still quite a good show. The story of that episode I watched was about a baby "epidemic" breaking out in the hospital. There was also a side 'story' in that episode, where Dr House was examining a woman with some problems loosing weight. His diagnosis went something like this,
"You've got a parasite. Yes, a parasite. It's simple to remove, but removal becomes illegal after 5 months. Women like to dress it up in cute little clothes.... "
(puts that scope thingy on the woman's stomach, image of baby shows up on screen)
"Look, it's got your eyes." LOL
He was referring to a baby, in case you didn't know. That was really funny. Dunno if I've captured the gist of it in that quote. Maybe it only sounds funny when you hear Dr House saying it, haha...
Too bad I can't watch anymore episodes- school reopens next week. I'm trying to download the whole season of House. Found the torrent file, but it's quite a big download- 7 gig. Maybe I should get the DVD instead. Pirated of course. There'll surely be a DVD set of House season 1 in the dvd shops in China. My dad can get it. That's what we did for the show Lost.

Speaking of Lost, I can't wait for the next season. Heard the second season starts mid sept. Hopefully the dvd set of it will come out in China soon.

I've been Fac. Sec. (Facilities Secretary) of my class for 4 years. For 1J, 2J, 3K, and this year 4K. The past 3 years, I was fired. Sacked. Relieved of my duty. Whatever you wanna call it. lol. My form teachers were never satisfied with the cleaniness of the class. So I became the scapegoat. 3 times. I remember last year, our form teacher was very frustrated with the cleaniness of the class, or lack of it, that she sacked me and decided to put us into groups with group leaders for each day's duty. Of course, we had to get a new Fac. Sec. The class 'sabo-ed' Nigel. He didn't do anything. I don't think the class cleaniness improved either, but our form teacher sort of didn't care anymore. That's quite unfair, eh? But every year I still volunteer, 'cos I wanna try and last the whole year. So far, I'm doing quite well this year. I think I have a personal best of lasting 8 months. Not bad. I should be able to last the whole year.

Some more insight into the role of the Fac. Sec. (facilities secretary): There are 6 members in the class management comittee, or CMC. The Chairman, Monitor, Secretary, Treasurer, Facilities Secretary and Welfare Secretary. Guess who does the most work? Yes, the Fac Sec. Why? 'Cos that's the only person the Form Teacher comes after every day. Because he's in charge of class cleaniness. (Although this year I have it easier, my form teacher likes to go after the monitor instead of me when the class is dirty, haha). When the school year begins, we have to vote for memebers of the CMC. So people like to sabo others to be the Fac Sec. It's different for my class. I sabo myself. LOL. Still can't believe I'm doing it for the 4th year. Maybe I like the challenge. I think I remember saying to myself in the start of this year that I wanted to be Fac Sec again 'cos I wanted to last for a whole year, and not get sacked, and I also wanted to give myself some responsibility. So far it's working out quite well. Preserverence. haha

Went to school for 5+ hours today. For Chemistry, then Physics. Chem was at 10.30am, but I reached late at 10.40am. I was doing the revision paper at home, then I suddenly realised it was 10+ already. Luckily I live near the school. Physics was supposed to be at 1pm, but then Mr Tieu came in at 12pm and said he was treating us to KFC. After he ordered, though, they (KFC) told us that we had to wait 1 and a half hours. So we decided to start the lesson earlier. Then midway, the delivery came. But Mr Tieu didn't let us touch the chicken yet, so we continued on for another half and hour or so, but I think most of us couldn't concentrate properly. The smell of the chicken was very strong in the class, haha.

I initially thought he didn't order enough for our class, 48 pieces of chicken for 30 of us (33 minus 2 who didn't come, and one who's vegetarian - Mr Tieu got him a vegetarian pizza). But in the end, all of us were very full, I think. At least my table was. We split into four groups for easy distribution of the chicken. There was a lot of coleslaw, whipped potato, and even popcorn chicken. I guess that helped with the lack of chicken. There was coke (it was pepsi actually, but I'm more used to saying coke) also, but it wasn't cold. And luckily, after we finished, the class wasn't as messy and dirty as I'd thought it would be, and Mr Tieu also made us arrange the tables back to the neat 5 columns after the lessons. Good, at least our form teacher won't come after me when school reopens. (I'm the class Facilities Secretary, btw. in charge of cleaniness. Dunno why I volunteered.) Hm... I actually typed quite a lot more here on being a Fac Sec, but I think I'll put it in the next post.

[EDIT @ Sept 8: I forgot to mention- we felt guilty that Mr Tieu was paying so much (estimated $200+), so we each coughed up $4.]

Anyway, after eating, lessons continued for a little while more before we called it a day. Finally. At 2.30pm

Piano lesson was quite normal. I wasn't that pleased with my playing of the exam pieces. Only 9 more days to exam! Gotta practice more. My teacher gave me a few piano scores. This was a first. She gave me scores of 'popular' songs, not classical pieces, and also two piano scores from the Harry Potter movie Prisoner of Azkabn Soundtrack. lol, didn't know such scores even existed. Harry Potter piano scores, I mean. didn't know people sold such scores as hard copies. I heard of online ones, but not in books. Wonder who'd buy them. Not me, I didn't buy them I got a photocopied version. Seems quite interesting... but I can't spend too much time on that now, gotta concentrate on the piano exam.

Finally a day I can stay at home and don't need to go out- Wednesday, which is tomorrow.

[Edited at 7.30pm]

This was almost a normal holiday. What's a normal holiday? I stay at home all day during normal holidays. But I had to go out today. Not just go out, I had to go to school. During a school holiday. 9am to 12 pm. Might as well call it a school day, not a school holiday. Anyway, felt quite tired after the one hour IH Core lesson, and 1 1/2 Chem lesson. Dunno why, I slept 8 hours +.

Started my first revision paper. Chemistry. 'cos we're going through it tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. That means I have to go back to school again. Another 1.5 hour Chem lesson, and after that a 1 hour Physics lesson. Then I still have piano. Haven't been practicing... Long day tomorrow.

Amost couldn't find the fix you single for download today. Managed to find a link for download on a forum website. Anyway, the two b-sides aren't that good, in my opinion. But that's only a first impression. I've gotta listen some more times. Been getting a 'lil bored of Coldplay recently. Nooo! I'd better go listen to some more of Coldplay.

The September School holidays were never really relaxed in the first place, with exams so near. To make it worse, I've gotta go back to school for lessons! Wth!

Monday: IH Core at 9am, Chemistry at 10.30am, and Physics at 1 pm.
Tuesday: Chemistry at 10.30am. Piano at 4.30pm (not really a school lesson... but it's still a holiday lesson)

Sigh... I hope that's all the extra lessons I have. I wanna stay at home and slack.

[EDIT: Well, there's something I can really look forward to on Monday- Coldplay's new single, Fix You, released on Monday! Of course, I have the song Fix You from X&Y already, but there are two b-sides on the cd single. And of course, it's sold in UK and US, not S'pore. They don't sell singles in S'pore, I think. Or at least I'm sure they don't sell singles of international artistes in mainstream shops. So, I'm gonna download it :D. Don't blame me, Coldplay, blame the local EMI branch here for not selling the single here.]

Hm... 3 posts today... I guess it's because I have more time during the hols. Or maybe today was just a very eventful day.

Whee! Only 40 minutes, and I've got another 3 visitors! One from UK, another from US, and the last one from France. All redirected from Blogger. I guess the "next blog" function directs people to the recently updated blogs, so since I've been publishing posts alot today, I keep getting the visitors. Today is really a good day for my blog.

To visitors of this blog: drop by my tagboard and make a post! Click on TAG-->
Thanks for visiting!

My dad wanted to go to COMEX again today, 'cos we missed out the Sony, Panasonic, Pentax and dunno what else camera booths. He was determined to find a "cheap" camera. But traffic was horrible. Super- Jam. And the carparks were all full. So we ended up not going. Then we went and bought ba gua, bao, and mangoes. Spent 2.5 hours outside just to buy that... Sigh...

Its a great day for my blog today! I got a spike in my number of visits! 7 unique visitors today! I went and checked the counter service, and statistics show that I got a visitor from Japan, Italy and US, besides my 'regular' S'pore visitors. Not bad, eh? The statistics also showed that the referral address, meaning the site they came to my blog from, were other blogs. Must have been that "Next blog" button in the top bar blogger puts at the top of every blog.

Haha, I can actually remove the bar with some fancy code I saw somewhere, but I guess I'll just leave it. Hopefully it'll help others get visitors like it's done for me. Anyway, another reason is that I'm afraid blogger will remove my blog upon seeing that I blocked the top blogger bar.

Note: My visitor counts are based on the number of visitors I get- the information being gleaned from cookies. NO, not the ones you can eat. And I DO NOT artificially inflate my counts, and my visits are not counted. So there. Just wanted to clarify this point. Not that anyone would say my counter is fake, since there's only 30 visits so far...

Saw this very inspiring poem on another blog. Can't name the blog. Anyway here it is:

The World Is Mine
Today upon a bus
I saw a girl with golden hair.
She seemed so gay, I envied her
and wished that I were half so fair.
I watched her as she rose to leave
and saw her hobble down the aisle;
She had one leg and wore a crutch;
but as she passed -- a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two legs and the world is mine.

Later on I bought some sweets.
The boy who sold them had such charm,
I thought I'd stop and talk awhile.
If I were late, 'twould be no harm.
And as we talked he said, "Thank you, sir.
You've really been so kind.
It's nice to talk to folks like you
because you see, I'm blind."
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two eyes and the world is mine.

Later walking down the street,
I met a boy with eyes so blue;
But he stood and watched the others play --
it seemed he knew not what to do.
I paused, and then I said,
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
But he looked straight ahead without a word,
and then I knew, he couldn't hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two ears and the world is mine.

Two legs to take me where I go;
two eyes to see the sunset's glow;
Two ears to hear all that I should know.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I'm blest indeed -- this world is mine.

-Author Unknown

I guess I'm supposed to feel blessed and very fortunate after reading it. I don't, actually. Having a pair of working eyes, two legs, and a pair of working ears doesn't mean I'm any more fortunate than those people. Don't wanna elaborate. Aargh, now I've gone and put myself in a gloomy mood...


SOUL MEETS BODY by Death Cab For Cutie - This song rocks, man! I just discovered Death Cab For Cutie recently. This song is really great. As usual, I can't make out the lyrics by myself... Have to check some lyrics website. I can at least make out "Soul meets body" in the lyrics when listening, though.

Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie (weird band name, eh?)

I want to live where soul meets body
And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel, feel what its like to be new

Cause in my head there’s a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they’re far more suited than here

I cannot guess what we'll discover
Between the dirt with our palms cut like shovels
But I know our filthy hand can wash one another’s
And not one speck will remain

I do believe it’s true
That there are holes left in both of our shoes
If the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body

I do believe it’s true
That there are holes left in both of our shoes
If the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Hm... actually, there's no point posting the lyrics here. It's the melody and the instruments I like... lol.

Went to COMEX today. Spent 3 hours there. My father wanted to get a digital camera. A small one. "Your one too big, too bulky", he said. In the end, he didn't get any camera. All too expensive for him, haha. Got other things instead. 100 blank TDK CDs for $30. Ran out of blank discs at home. I know that's not the best deal I can get for 100 cds, but I don't wanna end up with 100 unusable discs. Also got an IBM notebook at a very good deal for my Aunt. 512 DDR2 ram, 1.73 ghz, 60gig, Centrino... etc. For $2299.

Went for my Dental Appointment today. Remember my toothache 2 weeks ago? I described it to my dentist, and he said, after checking my teeth (and saying that I brushed fairly well), he said the problem might have been due to wisdom teeth. So he suggested I take an X-ray. On the spot. So I took it. Felt weird. I never took an x-ray before. I know x-rays are harmless, but they're still radiation, y'know. Anyway, I just felt weird after it. A little sleepy. So after a while, the film was developed. Turns out I got 4 wisdom teeth coming out quite soon. The 2 lower ones were facing the wrong way, and so my dentist recommended I get it 'plucked out'. Aargh. I thought I'd never have to spend so much on my teeth, after choosing not to do braces... Anyway, my dentist referred me to a specialist. Gonna consult him soon.

Oh yah, another thing- my dentist told me that with the extraction process, there's a 0.03% chance that I might loose feeling, but not loose control of some parts of my jaw. Including my skin. Woah. When I heard that, I though, "please tell me I don't have to do this..." I'm not a scaredy-cat or anything, but I was thinking- it's really frightening to loose sensation in a part of your face, and maybe your tongue, right? Sigh... Let's hope I fall in the 99.97%.

I dunno if it's psychological or not, but after that trip to the dentist and finding out about my wisdom teeth, the back of my jaw hurts very slightly now. lol

[EDIT] "Why now?! Why do all FOUR of my wisdom teeth decide to come out when I'm still so young?! Why now?! I'm too young to die!!!!!" LOL. Well, I supposed they call them wisdom teeth for a reason ;)

Contrary to what I thought, Ortus Night was great! Some parts, at least. The performances were generally quite entertaining. I was looking forward to the band performance, with my classmate, Thomas on the bass. It was qutie good, just that the drummer was very lousy! He looked distant as he hit the drums. And he hit the drums like he had no energy or something. Ruined the whole song. Sorry Ivan, you're just not good at the drums.

There was this performance by 3K, parody-ing Project Superstar and various advertisments. They made Tan Wei Lian, the blind champion of the competition, look very funny! Too bad the impersonator wore sunglasses. It would have been funnier with him making the funny eye gestures, apart from simling weirdly. Yes, I have something against Wei Lian. It's ok to applaud a good blind singer, but I just felt the girl sang better than him. Her name was Kelly, I think.

Anyway, Ortus Night started with some Ice Breakers, which was an activity which literally required participants to break ice, to get to the frozen cherries and eat them. Our class won, 'cos we got a tub which had already melted. LOL. The hosts didn't even know. So Michael, our "representative", just chucked the cherries into his mouth. He even spat some out onto the stage, much to our delight, and showed the hosts his empty mouth. LOL. I think the half eaten cherries stayed on the stage to whole time. Unobservant hosts.

Speaking of hosts, those two were very lame. It was on purpose, I think. Like after the lacklusture singing by some sec 3s, they said, "Wow, that really moved me to tears" sarcarstically. And after the lame magic show by some Sec 2, "Wow, what a magical performance!" LOL. They have a great future in hosting, I'd say.

The only thing I have to complain about Ortus Night was the time we were let off. Almost 11! When I got the bus stop, it was 11pm already, so I got really worried, 'cos I didn't know if the last 961 that day had passed already. Ended up waiting 30+ minutes for the bus to come. I was very tired when I got back. Slept at almost 12am. Woke up at 8+ today. Not bad... finally got my 8 hours of sleep. Haven't slept past 8 hours for a long time...

All because of stupid Ortus Night, I have to go back to school. Ortus Night is an End-Of-Term activity for our Ortus Consortium. Some singing and dunno what. To force us to go (it's sort of compulsory), our form teacher's keeping our Term Progress Report until after Ortus Night. Sigh... I was gonna go anyway, I just want my results earlier!

Chinese test today was ok by the way. By a stroke of luck, I knew all the zao ju which came out. All 20. Ok, maybe except one. But I was pretty lucky- I was only confident for 100+ of the 250 zao ju. Should be able to get quite high this time. I hope.

I haven't gotten my Core test paper back. The Core period was taken up by some MOE quality of education survey crap. They mostly asked some questions about the school and my 'school patriotism' etc. Anyway, I went to ask the teacher for my test marks. She said she could only say whether I'd passed or not. I passed. That doesn't sound good somehow...

Oops, late already...

It's the last day of Term 3 tomorrow, and we actually have a test! Chinese test on 250 chengyu. Never had a test on the last day of a Term before. I guess this is a first. Still not done memorising the zaoju. Everything's going ok now- the studying, I mean- but I'm worried what will happen when I go past 200 zao ju. Dunno if I can remember that many. I already have some problems with the past tests that had 100+ zao ju. Couldn't remember some during the test.

Anyway, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow. Besides the test, I'm getting my IH Core test paper back. The teacher said "I wouldn't want my paper back so fast if I were you" when our class asked her to return the papers earlier two weeks ago. That doesn't bode well. I'm hoping for a B3 at least. Is that too much?

After school, there's Ortus Nite, our annual Consortium 'concert/activity'. Wasting time. Then there's supposed to be an optional movie marathon of LOTR. until 11am the next day, I think. LOL. Wonder who'd wanna go. I'd rather borrow the dvd and watch in the comfort of my home, and not at some un-godly hour too. Anyway, I've already watched the marathon screening of LOTR before, two years back. That was fun. Ortus Nite is at 6+, I think, so I have to find something to do from 1.30 to 6pm before Ortus Night. Maybe I should go home... but it's a bit stupid to go home for hours then go back to school...

“百折不饶： 他意志坚定，百折不饶，终于克服了种种困难，取得了骄人的成绩。”
Lol. I sure hope this'll be true for me.

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RECENT POSTS

Dread.

Many regrets.

So it all ends today.

Enough.

Cantare

One last day.

Depression

GOLD WITH HONOURS. We did it.

We are Hwa Chong Choir.

Okay where did my motivation go.

links
So little links... ask me to link to you!
06S61
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Perth Camp PHOTOS!!!

No profile. Coming soon. After 31st Oct.
Oh. It's after 31st Oct already. Well, wait some more.




LOL. You know, those two sentences up there were written a year ago.
TWO 31st of Octobers have passed since. whee.

=)