Life, don't turn you back on it

Life, its full of darkness and danger,
and sometimes you don't want to know the end,
because how could the end be happy,
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened,
but in the end, it is only a passing thing.
The shadow, and even darkness must pass.
A new day will come,
and when the sun shine, it will shine out the clearer.

We have lots of chances of turning back, only that we didn;t.
We kept going, bcause we have hope to hold on to.

Autobiography of a Blog

What exactly is a blog?

If I were to be a blog, what kind of words will be filled up in me? This question, though simple, is hard to answer. There are just too many possibilities to what might happen.

Simply writing down what one can expect in a blog is not the solution to the query. Rather, I choose to tackle it by saying what my impression of a blog might be, written in the form of an autobiography of one.

So, here goes...

I am a blog. Based online... similar to an online diary, or perhaps a journal. You might even want to call me a scrap book, one of which you could scribble your thoughts of the day on me, or venting your frustrations, or simply blabber nonsense.

I shall be a friend, someone who listens to what you have to say. Someone who can be here for you as and when you need me to (unless the host is down), and help you organise your thoughts when you pen them down. I can't give you advice, neither can I correct your spelling mistakes or even politically incorrect answers, but I am able to allow you to read your thoughts as though you are part of the outside world. I present your ideas back to you in a written form, one of which you can re-understand and comprehend, and gain new insights into what you thought you might have totally grasped.

Enable the comments section of me, and I'd have opened a new section to allow other members of the world to chip in what they have to say, or advice to offer. Simply put, I shall be the channel, a connection between the most inner you, and the others from all over the world. I bridge the gap between reality, and virtual reality. You materialise your feelings into words, and the souls lingering in virtual reality (which we've all known as the internet) offer help, hoping to make your reality a better place to be.

However, I am not just an entity which goes one-way. I might have opened you to others, and that may be all that seems to you. But no. Others who have shown that interest in your thoughts and activities will benefit from your experience as well. It's all about sharing. And it's a great way to share, and I am glad to be that fundamental connection.

In a way, I am personal. Because I am only accessible by you. On the other hand, I am public, being accessible by anyone else. But it's more personal than public (in my own opinion) because knowledge by beings who belong to the virtual reality is still virtual anyway. The internet has taken the many important aspects of personal touch out of it, so much so that people tends to feel more open online than in person. And hence my ability to gain access to the deepest thoughts of you.

I do wish that you'd share your emotions, for I hope to help you understand yourself better. And for people who care for you to understand you more, too.

But, a blog shall still be a blog. I still need you to realise my potential, just as I will help you realise yours.

~Xianlong

My aims, My hopes, My pride, My thoughts

Yes, I know its Tuesday, 3 days past Flaggellah. However, somehow, the swelling pride, not at the success of the event, but rather the response and the committment of the people still dwells.

One of the main aims of this event is to bring ICSS closer together. I am sure each and every one of us know more faces, and know each other better. UK Bound, Sojourn, countless events we organised throughout the year could bring people together. To me, Flaggellah ironed in all these bonds.

At the start, we had doubts about the do-ability of the event, and we had been through many brainstorming sessions before we put it to action. Yes guys, we did have our doubts, but we managed to convince ourselves that you guys can do it, and we will pull through together.

And you did, we did~

Flaggellah 2004

Flaggellah... sweet success~

Yoz~ was sleeping like a log the bulk of the day, so didn't have the chance to blog the BIG event on Saturday. But here it goes~

Flaggellah: An ICSS Guiness Record Breaking Event.

In short, we are to produce 16,750 pieces of agar agar and piece together, a mosaic of the Singapore Flag on Imperial College Grounds.

The cooking and all started at 7am. By 8am, we were in full swing. Everyone doing their part for the flag. ~Kaileng

The process went like this:
- the 'kitchen people' mix in the agar powder, water and ingredients into the huge boilers
- a line of people come in with trayfuls of empty tupperware, which are then filled with the liquid agar
- they place the tupperware boxes onto tables
- the 'cold water' people pour in cold water to make it set faster
- when the agar sets, the 'transport people' load them onto trays... load the trays onto carts... and bring them outside to the steps of the Queen's Lawn
- the 'tray people' carry the trays and dumps the tupperware onto the tables that support the agar flag on the Lawn
- the 'agar flippers' flip the agar out of the tupperware and place them onto the flag
- the tupperware boxes get brought back into the dining hall and the whole cycle repeats ~Jacquelin

It felt like foot drill, arms drill, parade rehearsal. Numerous mindless repetitions and monotonous sequences. but just as parade rehearsals lead to proud moments of commissioning, the repeated action (of moving agar-agar from the tables to the trays and then onto the trolleys which were to be brought out to the queen�s lawn) was all worth it when we completed it in about 10 hours. ~Weichuen

We've managed to create our national flag using 16000 blocks of agar on the Queen's Lawn @ IC after 10 hours of manual labour. It was so cool looking at the national flag from the top of the queen's tower, with the crescent and the five stars standing out in a sea of red and white. ~Naiyan

Yup, these were the extracts by my precious freshers, my reason for the success of the major event. All my committee did was to guide them and coordinate with the union and the alumni. They did the planning and execution, and more. Its a success, and a success solely credited to the "ICSS Freshers of 2003/04". Well done people, I am really bursting with pride to be vice chairing you guys.

The one choice

I chose robotic...

Spoilt for choice

My new daily routine: wake up, go hospital, go school, go hospital, go hospital, go school, go home, cook porridge, work and sleep 4 hrs and wake up, ... yougetthegist...

So between being tired, exhausted, sick, anxious, depressed, goth, worried, forked up, torn up, I have no idea what to choose for my 'recent mood'. Am I spoilt for choice, or what?? (_-_")

As the day draws nigh

I really have no idea where all the time went to. It seems like ages before that we started our preparations for the major event... it seemed like ages before that we took over as committee members... it all seemed like the fun and joy might not end. But somehow, it is drawing to a close. Its a 5 day countdown to Flaggellah, and a month's countdown to AGM, and stepping down.

Ben have always said (last year) that he was real eager to step down after a year of service with the Singapore Society. Be it hard work, stressful periods or conflicts faced, I have to say that I, contradictoringly (is there such a term?) am quite reluctant to relinquish my duty. Am I power hungry? Perhaps not. Its just a crasy obsession I suppose, just as I am obsessed about my ECAs back in Hwachong.

I am digressing. Have started wondering how life might be after I stepped down and after the exams are over. Summer last year was filled with Exco meetings, UK bound preparations and Sojourn recces and tryouts. What about this summer? Ponders. What summer? *sigh*

Is this just a despondent lamenting due to boredom at this time, or am I really unsure?

Feeling the blues now...

Some things to ponder about~

The flaggellah dry run was conducted like 4 hours ago. First and foremost, thanks to all the people who turned up despite heavy work, bad weather, hall dinner, yadda yadda. As for those who didn't turn up 'cos they dun want too, boo to you! =PpP

Anyway things turned out quite well. At least we now know where to go to and when to do what. With the actual scenario being played for us to review, a few more potential dangers actually popped up, eg. wet floor in the kitchen etc... Time to sit down and start to troubleshoot!

Of course, how could I have forgotten, my Creative Extigy arrived! For those who are ignorant of what this is, its an external sound card to replace the one that died on me. It comes with a remote control, and it supports Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (and my speakers Are, 5.1 surround speakers), and now my room becomes a theatre! (thrilled!)

Anyone for a movie at my place? (grinz)

Lord, I pray for the
1. Smooth sailing of preparations for Flaggellah, and for
2. Naiyan, Christine to recover from their illness.

Great week ahead

Great week ahead, yup that's what I forsee. There's no lab this week (grinz) because of the project presentations, and I am not presenting. That leaves me to enjoy 6hrs worth of lab-free freedom.

Miw.com has updated me on my salary. Its a whooping S$ 2,000 + from this month onwards. Hope that solves some of the monetary concerns that I am facing. Meanwhile, I am still praying hard against the aggrevation of the exchange rate problem.

Tuesday would be the first trial run of the Flaggellah event. Going to try out the production and movement for the first time. I just hope that thing would turn out well. As for SPH side, there are still no news from them. I hope the pre publicity would be out soon, otherwise really very few people will be donating to our clause.

Fully functional

I think some of you would most probably be wondering what in the world am i doing online at this hour. Well, after some touching ups here and there, and adding back some of the minor stuff life emotional meter and tagboard, I could more or less declare that my new website is finally functional and ready to meet the world.

Sorry that it took me such a long time, as there were a lot of stuff to be added in. Decided finally to leave gallary to pbase to handle for me, since there is no way I am going to load 81Mb of photographs into my main website and let u guys out there wait for the page to load.

Anyway, updates... I haven't been doing much of my schoolwork, even though I dun have much time to spare for anything else. Have been mainly bogged down by working on the Guiness Record event and the project website.

Have also been giving a bit of thought to my Easter plans. 4 weeks to go travel and study for 12 papers. Its really a delicate balance that I have to strike. How how how? Easter, there are no plans as yet. Firstly, because there are no plans, (-_-"), and secondly, I am currently placing myself on a real tight budget. Either I work around that, or its a London based Easter vacation for me.

Thats about all the updates for now. Keep track of this space =)

New week, tough week.

Yup, its the start of Yet another week, and had a 9am to 6pm academic day, before rounding it off with a two and a half hour meeting.

Its really heartening to know that Flaggelah stuff are more or less falling into place, even though my schoolwork are mountaining around me. Website up, operation plans up, SPH contacted, blah blah...
Rite.. not much time to type much... just updating to let u guys know I still exist...