"What we hope to do in ease, we must learn first to do in diligence"
-Samuel Johnson


"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune but great minds rise above it." -Washington Irving

About Me
Name: Ng Gim Thia
School: The Chinese High School
Consortium/Council: Aphelion
Date of Birth: 24th February 1990
Horoscope: Pisces
Chinese Zodiac Sign: Horse
EP3 (or CCA): Chinese Orchestra

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Sunday, November 14, 2004

Reflection for 2004 (part 2)

Hello, everyone. This is Part 2 of my reflection for 2004. In part 1, I had written my reflection on whether I had been successful in life this year. Here, I would like to carry on to the next part of my reflection: friends and teachers.
In terms of friendship, my life had revolved around my friends from 2D as well as CO. Many of my friends in class were those from 1A 2003, like Alvin Aw, Jian Ting, Chong Chen, Wei Lun, Yuan Chang, Kai Yao..., yet I had made some more friends like Alvin Kuk, Zhi Yi, Zheng Xiang, Hun Sheng, etc. These numerous friends had helped me weathered through this stormy 2004 and I really cherish their friendship. With so much hardship this year, I would not have been able to survive without them. Looking back at our shared experiences, I would really like to thank those who had lent me a helping hand in times of turbulent and difficulty. Here, even though I would not write about every single member of 2D like what Alvin Kuk did in his blog, I would like to adopt a similar approach and reflect upon a few friends whom have made the greatest impact on my life this year.

Alvin Aw
Nicknamed "Big-head Garoupa", I have to admit that this fish is indeed "big-headed" and brainy (meant to be a compliment), being outstanding in almost all subjects, including Chinese, English, Maths, Science, Geography and Literature, which are the subjects that he had managed to be the top few in class, with Maths and Geography being his "tian1 xia4". One particular point about him is his ability to balance extremely well between subjects that are literary in nature and subjects that are scientific in nature, unlike most people, who tend to be "slanted" to one side. Of course, being such a brillant person, he is thus good in Chinese Chess as well as numerous computer games. A really helpful and peaceful person.

Alvin Kuk
A good friend and fellow councillor who is pro in IH and English, thus a very peotic person. He is also very artistic, being an active AEP member. Even though we were in different classes last year, it had been my pleasure in knowing him as such a good friend. However, I admit that I had done several things that I feel were very dui4 bu4 qi3 ta1. Sorry! And by the way, all the best for his upcoming book!

Chong Chen
Indeed a friend who has helped me a lot this year. I had knwn him since last year, and since, I had known him to be and admirable friend who is reliable. Recalling the times in 1A, he was the class Geography Rep, who seems to be "bullied" by Mr Liaw a little. However, he was extremely jin4 ze2, helping the class a lot Geography class, unlike me (being year's Geography Rep).

Jian Ting
A very funny dragonfly who had helped me a lot in Maths this year. Even though many people tend to think that he is lame, he is actually a very reliable and forgiving person who definitely is fun-loving. Hope to be in the same class as him next year!

Kai Yao
The most deserving recipient of the "Friends of Singa Award". Kai Yao is definitely one of the most helpful person on earth, being willing to lend a helping hand no matter what happens even if he hsa to sacrifice a huge amount of time and energy. He is an extremely kind person who even helps Aphelion council in clearing up stuff after many events even though he is not a councillor. He is also a computer expert who had imparted a lot of computer knowledge to me in the past two years. Remembering the past, he had helped me a lot on the day before the semi-finals as well as the day before the finals of Project's Day, where he had stayed up late from 10.00p.m to 5.30a.m in the morning just to help me complete my work! For all that he had done for me as well as the class, or even Aphelion Council, I truly appreciate his tremendous help. Even though it is not possible to be in the same class as him next year, I sincerely wish him the best in year 2005.

Of course, there were others whom I did not have much chance to interact with, but I would like to wish them the best all the same. Together, we make up Class 2D, with an unbeaten record 23 1.00s and talents in all aspects, unrivaled, unparalleled and unsurpassed by any other Sec 2 class. Thus, I can say that it had been an honour to be part of this class.
Now, I will go on to the teachers that had taught me this year. Overall, all the teachers were really very good in their teaching whom I respects.

Ms Vivien Sim
Our form teacher. Even though she is not a very popular teacher in 2D, I feel that she still good teacher who had imparted her history knowledge to us. Being my mentor for MRP, I would like to thank her for her help and support for these part few gruelling months in the course of the MRP. Without her, I and Zhi Yi would not have been able to acheive what we had for our MRP.

Mdm Chiu Chen Choo (Chiu lao shi)
Chiu lao shi is indeed a very good Chinese teacher who had imparted a lot of precious knowledge on chun1 lian2, deng1 mi2, tian1 gan1 di4 zhi1, etc. I definitely respects her a lot. One memorable experience was when she called me to her table and told me that once she exempts me from exams, she would like me to practise on making my handwriting better, with the same going for Yuan Chang. But is my handwriting really too slanted?

Mrs Lily Chai
Being our English teacher, she is well known for the tremendous amount of notes and worksheets she prints for us. The amount is truly shocking, since it took two whole ring fiels to fit in all her worksheets. However, she is quite a nice English who occasionally flares up.

Mrs Teo Chin Chew
The best LSS teacher on Earth. I would definitely miss her teaching once I go on to Sec 3. if not for her, my Science would never be able to obntain A1 and exemption. I am eternally grateful for her superb way of teaching that is unmatched and supreme to any Science teacher in the world. Throughout her decades of teaching, she has really didicated her life to teaching.

Mrs Teng-Chia Fui Ling
A dedicated Maths teacher who had helped me tremendously in Maths. Given that my Maths is one of the lousiest in class this year, I am grateful for her help. Even though her method is a little unsuitable for me, she is indeed a nice teacher.

Ms Yap Hui Boon
A new Georaphy teacher in Chinese High, I think she had endured quite a lot of hardship since she entered CHS, given the complex system in CHS as well as the implemenatation of IP. Nevertheless, she is a good geography teacher and I would like to thank her for giving me the chance to be her Geography rep.

Mrs Cheryl Wong
Mrs Wong is qute a nice Literature teacher. Remembering the war poems, Animal Farm, Emily of Emerald Hill, Calling of Kindred, she had taught us quite a lot on the differnt literary styles.

So the above was the second part of my reflection for 2004. Perhaps the reflection on every single teacher was unneccessary and I may have been a little carried away in this part 2 reflection, nevetheless, this is the complete end-of-year reflection. Currently, my last challenge of the year is the Erhu Grade 6 and 7 Exams, which is just about 3 weeks away. Wish me good luck! Bye!


posted by Gimmicker at 11:02 PM

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Sunday, October 31, 2004

Reflection for 2004 (part 1)

Hello, everyone. Finally, Term 4 has finally came to end, marking the end of normal school days of 2004. Looking back at all that had happened in the year, I have so much to say. It seems like all has been a dream. Every single test and exam, every single member of Class 2D, all that has happened in Chinese Orchestra and Aphelion Council, all the stress and hard work of MRP, Project's Day, the everyday challenges of school life under IP... all this had been an integral part of my life this year. This had been a intense year of turmoil and hardship, yet it has also been a year filled with laughter and happiness. Summing it up, I feel that "da4 feng1 da4 lang4" would be suitable in describing the year 2004.

Initially, I had planned to write a summary of this year only at the more "exact" end of the year, somewhere during mid-december, after my Erhu Grade 6 and 7 Exams. However, somehow, I feel that this is the time to pour out all my thoughts and feelings on this year. This blog has served as an online journal or diary that has served to record my most sincere feelings throughout 2004, and will continue to do so. Now, I would like to record down my reflections in a systematic order. Firstly, I will do an analysis of how successful this year had been.

The goals that I had set last year for 2004:
  1. To get an MSG of 1.00
  2. To get into the finals for Project's Day

The above had been my goals for this year. Have I achieved them? To a large extent, my answer is yes. For the end-of-year results, I had managed to achieve my dream of 1.00 along with 23 members of the class (23 out of 36 1.00s in a class is a truly remarkable record--23 people got 1st for 1.00, 7 people got 24th for 1.17, 4 pple got 31st for 1.33 and 2 pple got 35th for 1.8, so the class average MSG is 1.114). However. have I truly done it? Or have I managed to achieve that only with the help of ACE points? Actually, my estimation is that if my marks had been considered under the old system, I would have most likely gotten only an MSG of about 1.7. Actually, deep down, I know that my results have deteriorated, maybe even plunged this year, especially for History and Maths. Besides, I knew that for Geography, I had not put in enough effort, in other words, I did not study hard enough of Geography. So do I really have what it takes to get 1.00?

Finals for Project's Day. Indeed, I have achieved that. However, despite getting into the finals for Project's Day, my score was a B, and not an A, as the usual case of a "finals" project. So can I consider my project successful? Besides, I admit that I was forced into doing this project with Nicholas this year. I knew that my interest is not in fishes, yet I was indecisive enough. Worse still, I had lian2 lei3 Alvin Aw, Chong Chen and Jian Ting. Would things be different if I had made a firm decision in Term 1? Was my choice correct?

Besides the goals that I had made, there are still other aspects that I had to consider. Was I succesful in council and CO? Despite putting in much effort for Aphelion Council, it seems that what I have done is still not enough. As for the CO elections this year, I had also made a mistake of not preparing well for my speech. However, can I be considered successful if I had made so many blunders this year?

Of course, there are indeed areas that I have done relatively well in this year. For MRP, even though eventually, mine could not compare to Yuan Chang's, I think that my research paper was still fairly well done. However, I must note that this was also done with the help of my partner, Zhi Yi, so for this, I must really thank him.

So the above was my reflection on how successful I had been in life this year. Late liao, so I will have to continue my reflection of 2004 in the next blog entry. Bye.



posted by Gimmicker at 11:35 PM

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Thursday, October 28, 2004

Hello, everyone. It has been quite a long time since I blogged. Sorry lar... too lazy to blog often liao. Sorry...

Actually, I have lots of things to talk about since much has happened since the last time I blogged. Firstly, I have gotten back my Maths Exam paper: 62/80 (77.5%) The results were quite okay, even though I would not consider it satisfactory. Initially, I thought that about 10 marks would be deducted, but in fact, it was 18 marks. Haiz, I'm really quite bai4 lei4 lor... how could I get such low marks even though the paper was not too difficult? But the good thing is that in overall, my Maths results should be A1 (78.675%, which rounds up to 79%). The calculations are as below:

Term tests [30%]: 19.8% + ACE [15%]: 155 with additional 5 marks + OP [10%]: 4% +Exam [45%]: 34.875% = 78.675%

However, this is just based on my calculations. If my calculations are wrong, I may not be able to get A1 for Maths...

Next, on Erhu matters, the most recent news is that I have finally managed to buy the last available Grade 9 Erhu (as my teacher called it). This new Erhu's quality is definitely superior as compared to my old one. It is made of red sandalwood (紫檀木) , and cost $1270. Actually, I had "snatched" it away from a nanyang erhu member who was also eyeing this particular erhu. According to my other teacher, this erhu would have been taken by her if I had ordered it one day later. *Phew* As this is really the very last Erhu of its batch, plus the new customs regulations in China limiting the number of Chinese musical instruments to be taken out of China at one time, I may have to wait till next year before I can obtain it if I had missed this rare chance.

Now, let me carry on to the more recent news, including Games Day, Graduation Night, HAT interview, EOYA, etc.


20th October (Wednesday) -Annual Cross-country
This was an unfortunate day for me. The whole school was supposed to go down to MacRitchie Reservior for the annual 4.8 km cross-country run. At first, the run went quite smoothly and I ran with Jian Ting and Alvin Kuk. However, when I was about 100m away from the "opening" of the forest trail leading to the path beside the road, I tripped over some big rocks on the ground and fell - right in front of the "St. John station", where three or four St. John's guys where stationed. This resulted in two big wounds on my left arm and left knee. Of course I was treated to first aid by the St. John's people. But surprisingly, they seem to be a little inexperienced in their work. Even though they were indeed commendable for their care and concern, I think that their actual "skills" have erm... room for improvement. (Sorry to any St. John guys out there... I don't mean to criticize...) Later, a teacher (forgot who liao) and two of the St. John guys took a bus back to the main waiting area. Since I did not bring my wallet while running, one of the St. John guy paid for my bus fare. Then, they escorted me to the ambulance hired by the school. The paramedics there then helped to further cleanse the wound.

After the whole episode, I went to Alvin Aw's house to play, even though I was not the one playing most of the time. Aw demostrated how to play many different games there, the "Teo CC style" (he explained the whole concept in depth and precision), so even though I did not play much, the whole expereince was quite enjoyable. We also watched the Jap Animation series "Prince of Tennis". It was quite exciting, so I asked him to copy for me. I went home at about 6 plus.

21th October (Thursday) -Unlucky
Thursday proved to be an extremely unlucky day for me. The first thing I heard from Alvin Kuk was that there is council appraisal (3.00p.m) and also the Hwa Chong Award for the Talented (HAT) interview (2.00p.m) on that day. After which, Chiu lao shi also informed that the talk (2.00p.m) by Singaporan's famous writer, song composer, etc, Mr Liang Wen Fu (is the actual name Leong Boon Hock?) was also on the same day. I badly wanted to goi for the talk, since I had always respected him, but since there was a clash in timing between the talk and the interview, I decided to approach Mrs Kee to see if the time for the interview could be postphoned to a later date or time. So I got scolded and niaoed badly by Mrs Kee for this. So I was already very bu4 shuang3 by that time. Then I decided to look for Chiu lao shi, who also niao me. Eventually, the decision was to go for the interview and not for the talk.

Besides this, there were some minor problems, like the need to look for people to compete in Games Day on Friday as well as a survey by Ms Chan Shu Hwee on the MRP that came at a wrong time. The only good thing that happened to me was the screening of a movie in Com Rm 5, "The Day After Tomorrow". Mainly, it revolved around the idea of how global warming can lead to a new ice age and the destruction of mankind. The whole phenomenon occured in the Northern Hemisphere but the movie actually focused on America. The most "shocking" part was the idea of anything freezing instantly. Overall, thsi movie was very intresting. The funny thing was that it was raining heavily when we were watching the movie, and the air-con in the room was extremely cold, making phenomenon in the movie seem to be real.

22th October (Friday) -Games Day
Friday was quite an enjoyable day. It was marked as Games Day by the PE Department, so there were no lessons on that day. There were four different competitions: Table-tennis, Soccer, Street Soccer and Basketball. Each consortium had to send representatives for each competition (for tow levels, Sec 2 and 3). For non-competitors (or the general student population), we were given a choice to play Squash or learn golf. Since there were too many people at the squash courts, Kai Yao and I decided to learn golf. So we went to the "putting green" behind the tennis courts. We learnt the different golf techniques there. It was quite a fun experience.

After which, both of us proceeded to the squash courts, wehere we met Hun Sheng and Zheng Xiang playing chapteh. So we joined in and taught Kai Yao hoiw to kick. So we played for about an hour before assembling at the basketball court for debriefing.

23th October (Saturday) -Graduation Night
On Saturday, I went to school for the Sec 4 Graduatiuon Night after my haircut. There was no CO practice due to the implementation of the five-day week. I was late for the ceremony by 15min cos Kai Yao told me that it would start at 4.00p.m, but in fact, it was 3.15p.m. So I was happily taking my time to go to school. I called Yuan Chang at 3.10p.m just before I went out to confirm the time, and it was only then that I realized the actual time. So I took a taxi to rush to school. Haiz... never expected to be late, I even though that I would arrive early by 5min... But then I cannot blame Kai Yao, since it was Jian ting who told him that.

Anyway, the ceremony was ok lah, but somehow it did not seem as sian as last year's. Alvin Kuk brought his "talking dictionary" to play word games. The dictionary seemed a bit old, but was nevertheless interactive. As ususal, the Sec 4 seniors were all dressed in black and white, with the Chinese High tie. The whole ceremony was grand, but the speeches by the ex-students were a bit irrelevant. The good thing about this year's ceremony was that we did not have to stack uyp the chairs before we leave. Here, I would like to wish all the Sec 4s all the best in their 'O' Levels.

26th October (Tuesday) -STRIKE!
Tuesday was the second day of the End-of-Year Activities (EOYA). However, the unfortunate thing was that I was sick that day, with cough, vomiting and fever. But I still trudged on and went to school. However, by the time I got to the Admin block, I was already seriously ill and unable to breathe or walk at all. But miraculously, I managed to talk part in the whole day's activities, including the movie screening at the Drama Centre as well as bowling.

After watching the movie, we took the bus to Jurong Bowl. (is the place correct?). However, thoughout the bus ride, I was feeling extremly nauseuous, so Chong Chen helped me to approach Ms Sim, who was sitting at the front of the bus with Mr Paul Ho. I followed Ms Sim's instructions to sit at the front to make me feel better.

At the bowling alley, I felt slightly better and decided to take part in the bowling. However, since I was sick, I decided not to put my name in a slot as I thought that I would not be able to bowl. So my initial plan was to ask Chong Chen, Alvin Aw, Alvin Kuk, Jian Ting, Huang Pei and Wei Lun for a few shots to try. Eventually, I ended up obtaining the few shots from Alvin Aw, Alvin Kuk and Jian Ting. But I never expected my first few shots to be so good. I helped Jian ting to get 21 points with four shots: 9, 8, 0 and 4. However, my best shot was when I used the first shot of one of Alvin Aw's frames to obtain a strike. This was definitely unexpected since I had never striked before. Furthermore, I was sick that day, which adds to the difficulty of hitting the pins. So I was quite shocked by it. However, my shots were quite inconsistant. Since all three shots that I took from Alvin Kuk went into the "drain". So this proved that my bowling skills are still not very good and needs improvement.

After the first round, I decided to continue for another round. However, my performance for the second round was terrible. The accumulated points shown on the screen were something like
8, 15, 18, 25, 25, 25, ... 32. So as you can see, for three consecutive shots, I did not manage to hit down a single pin. The highest of the game was Alvin Kuk, who got more than 50 points. actually, I could have been able to catch up with Alvin, who also got 25 at the forth frame of the game, but I missed the chance.

After the bowling session, the whole of 2D went back to school for a Servey conducted by MOE. The questions were about the school, so 90% of my answers were "politicallly correct" answers. After the survey, I went home to rest and see a doctor.

27th and 28th October (Wednesday and Thursday) -Rest
Since I was quite ill, I did not go to school these two days.

So basically, that's all for this entry. Sorry that this entry is a bit too long. Bye!



posted by Gimmicker at 2:14 PM

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Thursday, October 14, 2004

Yay!!!!!! The exams are finally over. Even though I only have to work on Maths and the Oral Defence with exemption from the other subjects, my workload for the past few days was still quite taxing, given that my Maths is so poor... Hereby, I would like to thank Alvin Aw, Alvin Kuk, Chong Chen, Yuan Chang, Jian Ting and Zhi Yi for helping me with Maths in the days before the Maths Exam.

As for yesterday Oral Defence, it was relatively ok. My classroom was 1M, and I and Zhi Yi were the first to present, thus I had quite a lot of time after that. However, I kind of screwed up a bit cos the opponents don't seem to understand me since I talked too fast. So i did not present well at all lar. Haiz... Never mind lor... can't do anything now...

Today was the last day of the option for the Sec 3 Special Programmes. Eventually, I chose the Language Elective Programme + Science and Maths Research Programmes after 14 hours of gruelling decision-making. I made this decision after intensive analysis of statistics, weighing of the possible consequences of choosing BSP or LEP and discussion with people for 3 days. In fact, after the OD, I was in the library trying to reach a decision till 4.30p.m. Eventually, I made this decision at 1.30a.m (or you can say today morning) after discussing and quarrelling with my mother. come to think of it, why did I take so much time to decide? I think I'm the only one who would use so much time to choose. Haiz... never thought this would drain so much of my energy. People may feel that using so much time and energy is silly, but then I think its quite worthwhile. Just hope that my choice is correct.

I went to Jian Ting's house today, after going to school for the briefing on the open house tomorrow. The briefing was a bit of a waste of time, since I don't think it made things any clearer. Anyway, I reached JT's house at about 3.30p.m. The two Alvins and chong chen were already there, playing RA2. So I tried one game lar, but still don't know how to play. Then we left his house at about 5.45p.m. Even though nothing much was accomplished there, it was quite enjoyable.

Basically, that's all for today. Somehow, I don't feel like blogging much today, so thsi entry bis relatively short. Bye!


posted by Gimmicker at 1:37 PM

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Wednesday, September 22, 2004

DIE LIAO!!! I'm really dead. I have just came back from the National University of Singapore Cultural Centre where I attended the talk on the NUS Grade 6 Erhu Examinations. This talk was by my Erhu teacher (since the Grade Exams scores books for Erhu were also written by him). I never expected it to be so hard, the difficulty involved is really terribly scary. Initially, I had thought that it is just a little more difficult than the Grade 7 one by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and China Central Conservatory of Music. However, it seems that the NUS one is really numerous times more difficult than the CCM one. And I'm really running out of time, since both exams are just two months away! Aargh, I will be contented if I'm just able to get a pass for the NUS one, I won't dare to think of getting Merit or Distinction. Even though I have no regrets on taking two exams, i don't think it is advisable to try this again next year. Talking about next year, it will definitely be an even more stressing year than this year, which already drained me of my energy. With the different special programmes, sperate sciences, A and E Maths, the usual MRP and Project's Day, plus harder Erhu pieces, as well as the SYF Central Judging for Chinese Orchestras, 2005 will be an extremely tiring year ahead. Now I'm not sure whether I should take triple sciences. Haiz. As for Zhi Guang's instrumental grade exams (who is taking NUS Zhongruan Grade 8 according to Ben Toh), it will be chicken feet for him since he is so pro. I'm confident that he will get Distinction. Jia you!

Ok, enough of Erhu matters, I will focus on that after the End-of-Year Examinations. I have just gotten back the MRP Content and Procedural Knowledge. The marks are satisfactory, nevertheless, I have to prepare intensively for the Oral Defence. Currently, my main concern for the Exams are Maths and Science, especially Maths. I really must pia a lot to get A1. As for Science, mainly the most important thing is to refresh my memory on what had been taught in Term 1, 2 and 3, as well as to improve specific details on the method of answering the questions.

I feel so tired today... Can't really revise anything now... Actually, I doubt that I can post another entry in the near future. Maybe I will try to find some time after the exams, after which i HAVE to focus all my energy on the Erhu Grade exams. Sorry... Bye for now. I wish everyone all the beest in the upcoming school exams. Bye!


posted by Gimmicker at 8:09 PM

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Saturday, September 04, 2004

Hi all. Finally, after gruelling months of anxiety, Term 3 has finally ended. For past years, I would have looked forward to Term 3 since it is supposed to be a "golden period" for studying as much of the knowledge is already in the head. However, never did I expect Term 3 of this year to turn out like that... haiz, depressing... but I'm quite fine already, thanks to support from my friends, Jian Ting, Chong Chen, Kai Qing, Zhi Guang, Kai Yao, Yuan Chang and many more, whom I cannot remember at this moment. Even Ms Sim gave me support and encouragement on Friday (due to my disgraceful History marks) and said that she would support me and fight for it if I wanted to go to the Humanities class next year. So hereby, I would like to say a big "Thank you" to all.

Anyway, it has just been announced that starting from next year, we would have a choice in what "stream" we would like to go. In the four classes of Aphelion, one would be a Humanities class, one a Biculture class, another a Maths and Sciences class and the last a "Special Talents" class. For me, I would definitely go for the Biculture class. In this class, the emphasize would be on the integration of Chinese and western cultures, with a major emphasise on Chinese Culture. The attractions would be two 3-month trip to China as well as a 2-week trip to a western country. Since I have always had tremendous intrest in Chinese culture, plus the fact that my two languages are my better subjects, this would be a suitable choice for me.

As for today, I took the Maths re-test. The re-test started at 9.00a.m and ended at 10.00a.m. The test was ok, except for the last question, which I took quite some time to solve. if nothing goes wrong (like mistakes in calculation), I should be able to obtain A1, perhaps close to full marks. Actually, during my revision for the re-test, I realized that actually I was able to get A1 for the actual test, but somehow, my mind went blank on that day. Sad... but as I have said before, my only wish for Term 3 is to be able to get an A1 in the Maths re-test. So I should be grateful that there was no major problems encountered during the re-test. But no matter what, I must work harder next term. Even though an MSG of 1.00 is nearly impossible, since I have to get close to full marks for Maths in the final year examinations (which is almost impossible) to get A1 for Maths, I will aim for 1.33, which was my MSG for Term 2. But alas, its still quite difficult...

So after the Maths re-test, I went back to MPH. At that time, Sin Hwee, our CO Chairman, was still addressing the whole CO on MAF. For your information, MAF stands for Mid-Autumn Festival, but in CO context, we celebrate it annually with a girls school's CO, usually, Nanyang, St. Nicholas, or RGS somewhere ner the actual MAF period (But this year's is early). This year, we are inviting St. Nicholas for this celebration. MAF is quite fun, but I did not get to enjoy it fully last year since I left early for something else (the event lasts the whole day). Anyway, after the briefing by Sin Hwee, we cleaned up the MPH for this event. After which, me, Ben, Chen Yang, Yao Hui, Lim Yi, and Randy went to buy a teddy bear and a cake to celebrate a late teacher's Day for our Erhu teacher, Zhang lao shi. So we bought a huge teddy bear for $30 from Bukit Timah Plaza and went KAP to eat, where we also bought the cake. Eventually, we went back to school and celebrated for Zhang lao shi. The cake was quite nice, but somehow, I seem to have eaten it before somewhere. It was a miracle that the cake was not smashed, as Lim Yi hit the box numerous times on the way back to CHS. So after this, I went home. But I regreted not practising Erhu went I got home. Instead I slept all the way till 7.30p.m, wasting lots of precious time. Haiz. And tomorrow I have Erhu lessons at 4.00p.m...

So basically that's all for today. Bye!



posted by Gimmicker at 10:43 PM

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Saturday, August 28, 2004

Hello. I think after today, I may not have much time to blog again. Even though the September holidays are coming, I would most likely be spending a lot of time on revising Maths and practising Erhu. Anyway, today was a really extremely enjoyable day. If seems that this is one of the only few happy days this year (or perhaps the only one this term). So let me talk about what happened to day before I go on to other stuff.

Today I woke up surprisingly at 12.45p.m, which is unbelievably late, maybe due to all my weariness these past few days. Actually, there was no dazu practice today since today was the grand finals for Project's Day 2004. I had arranged with Yuan Chang to buy Teacher's Day gifts on behalf of the whole class somewhere during noon, as he had to compete in the Project's Day. (Sadly, he did not win) The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the fine weather today, which helped in creating a good atmosphere. Then I met Yuan Chang at West Mall to buy the gifts. (Never knew that there were so many gift shops around in West Mall. Very shi bai leh.) The gifts we bought for each teacher were all less than $5. In fact all were $3.90 with the exception of one, which was $4.90. Many of these were photo frames that we intend to put a class photo into. We bought a nicer gift for Ms Yap, our Geography teacher since it was her first year in The Chinese High to provide some encouragement for her. Yuan Chang bought a computer game in a shop (that i did not know the existence of) and we left.

After which, both of us went to my house to do some designing effort for the presents. Later, we went to play badminton near my block. This reminded me of the times in primary school when many people in our class would gather together after exams to play badminton. Then we played street soccer with some primary school kids. (Huh? When on was the street soccer court built?) So anyway, I had a good time with all this activities. Haiz, I never knew that exercising can help to release stress and relieve fatigue. I really should exercise more, I'm really not fit. So on the whole, today's joy was simple, yet fruitful and fulfiling for the body and soul. But this also proves that I do not know how to relax myself and allow stress and fatigue to build up in my body.

Next, I will touch on the Sec 2 Annual Camp that was held a few days ago, from the 23-25 of August, at CDANS Adventure Centre (Bukit Batok) and Chinese Gardens. I was in Group 12, and thus spent the first day of the camp at CDANS, which just a few streets away from my house. So hre is what happened...

Day 1
I went to school at the normal time, but somehow there was a traffic jam due to a car accident further down Dunearn Rd, so the bus I was in could only inched on bit by bit for 30min. Mind you, 30min. So I in the bus feeling very pissed off. Of course, I was late for school, along with I think about 100-150 people. Luckily our vice-principal and discipline master were kind enough to let us of without taking down our names, but warned us sternly. Later, I found out that Kai Yao was also late. Why did this have to happen? I'm really sad and was brooding over it for some time, even when I was in the bus to CDANS. I really must make an effort to come early next time in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Ok, so enough of that unfortunate incident. When we arrived at CDANS, we had a welcome speech, followed by pitching of our tent, which I shared with Zheng Xiang and Nicholas Loh on the first day. We were introduced to our trainer, Siti. Before starting on the activities, we had to design a group flag, group cheers and a group name. Eventually, we decided on the name, "Triumph" for the group. The first activities were the high-rope elements. I tried one of them, called Jacob's Ladder. We had to climb up to a height of two or three metres and walk across to the other end. Surprisingly, i was not really scared and I managed to complete it with the help of the belayer. Then, we had the low-rope elements. At that time, we managed to complete many of the activities extremely quick, with one of them only taking 2+min. However, I got injured during one the activity. After dinner, we were blindfolded and taken on a walk around the campsite. Group 11 were scolded by Ms Sim for drawing on a table during the designing of the flag. She was really mad with not only group 11 but all the groups. However, Alvin Kuk, who was in Group 11 late claimed that it was not their fault. After this, the instructors taught us many fun camp songs like the banana song, etc. Later, we went back to our tents to sleep. In the tent, Nicholas Loh treated me and Zheng Xiang resins to eat before sleep. So basically, that is what happened on the first day.

Day 2
On the next day, we set off for Chinese Gardens on foot. The trek there was killing lor, the trip was 6-7km and took about 3h. Our bags were so heavy and the hot sun drained us of our energy. But the stupid thing was that instead of entering from the entrance facing the MRT, we trudged on all the way round the back to the back of Japanese Gardens and entered from there. The reason given was that the management of Chinese Gardens forbid us to enter from that entrance. This turned out to be killing since this was the worst part of the journey.

When we arrived at the campsite, we gathered for instructions and had outdoor cooking, which served as our lunch. The food turned out disastrous but edible. Next, there was this amazing race, where we had to complete many tasks, including dragonboating, kayaking, first aid, backwoodman's cooking, strings and lashes (building a raft), etc. Previously, before the race, each of us had to attend a short lesson on either one of the activities mentioned above, and i went for first aid. During the race, the most memorable activity was the building of the raft. Even though I could not help much in the building of the raft due to lack of knowledge in ropes and lashes, I was one of the four who went into the water sitting on the raft to test whether it would float. We named it Titanic, but it proved otherwise and floated well. When the four of us were on the raft, we had to row some distance into water to further prove the raft's buoyancy. Eventually, i came out soaking wet, but it proved to be fun.

After all this, we were supposed to have a campfire, but it was cancelled due to the heavy rain. So instead, we have to hide in our tents. When the rain stopped, it was already time to sleep, so we slept in the tents...

Day 3
Day 3 was mainly packing up. After the morning exercise, we helped to un-pitch the tents and clean up the whole place. However, when it was time to set off back to school, it began pouring again. But this time the rain was so heavy that it blurred our vision. When we got onto the bus, everyone was soaked to the skin. So I chatted with Jian Ting and Alvin Kuk on the bus. When we finally arrived at The Chinese High, it was still raining. But it was very comforting to be back at CHS. After prize presentation and debriefing, we were dismissed.

So that is roughly what happened during the 3-day camp. It was quite a fun and memorable one. That's all for now, and perhaps quite some time since I think I should be quite busy again. Bye!


posted by Gimmicker at 8:58 PM

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