T-4 hours to launch.

Alright, I'm leaving for the airport in perhaps 15 minutes' time, and the plane will be takeoff for Rome at 0100 tomorrow morning. Somehow I'm not excited, but rather, worried... Hmm.

Onward!

BlogBlogBlogBlogBlogBlogBlog...

Jiayu is back again, after a little while. Nothing much to talk about, save for SDD 2006. For those who don't know, SDD stands for Senior Dinner and Dance, which is equivalent to what is usually known as "Prom Night". Everybody's chance to dress up in suits and dresses and do all sorts of stuff to look good. Me = budget: $8 hair, $25 long sleeve shirt and black pants from Giant, the rest all borrowed, LOL! Whatever. Interesting experience it was, and in some forms, rather, disheartening too. At least nearly all of us look good. :)

Got hooked onto Rappelz too. It's this cool MMORPG (ok, maybe not so massively-multiplayer yet) that everyone should check out.

Got sick of watching Star Awards this year too, thought it was kind of boring. Although it was a refreshing change of location to St. James Power Station... wherever that is. Heh.

Hmm... oh, and I'll be leaving for Italy soon. I might come back and blog, but given me, you'll never know. :P

Dook!

One entire month, exactly. So many things have happened, I keep procrastinating. Why am I even blogging, man! I screwed up my A's, there's the free time which I've ben slacking every day, oh gosh...

Mr TeoOCIPblablablarandomMomMacauItalyrandomDARKCRUSADErandombla.

Soz. :D

Time Capsule

I just submitted a photo of myself during NUSIS (:D) to the Yahoo! Time Capsule Project earlier, although it missed being beamed out to space and all. I just thought it would be fun to do so. Now lets hope I'll remember it after what, 10 years? 20 years? Mmm... I feel... touched already, somehow. So beautiful... all of you should go and contribute too!

Some stats: Out of 95543 contributions thus far as of this post, 898 came from Singapore.

That's all for now? :)

Happy (Belated) Birthday To Me! :)

3 weeks since my last post. Gosh, how time flies! There's only 8 days left to the A levels, and by right, all preparations should have been in the final stages. But I'm still lost down here, stuck. I seriously don't know what is going on with me, what I am doing, and things like that. Then again, no point in talking about these... (there I go again)

We'll start off with Farewell Assembly, which was two Fridays ago. The performances and stuff put up were simply wonderful, I thought. Better than last year's for the seniors. Maybe it's because it's our turn now. Anyway, a lot of memories returned to me, like the fun I had slacking around, engaging in school activities, so on and so forth for the past two school years. I may have forgotten a lot of details, but I must say I've had a pretty good time in VJC. Later on, Mr Chow gathered the whole of S41 at the quadrangle area between the blocks and the concourse, and started asking if everyone had anything to say to the class. Everyone did say something, mostly about how S41 has become an important part of their lives, times spent, love the class, and so on. I chose not to comment, partly because I didn't have anything to say, and wel, perhaps my feelings are best left unexpressed, if I ever have any at all. The "Rocket Master" hence remains silent. There was Math Mock Paper 1 after that, but I shan't comment on that too, maybe except that I found the music from the groups rehearsing for Open House the next day invigorating, rather than distracting. Most of the class turned up at Suntec City later that evening to eat at Swensen's, and I was at the edge of the loooong table where communication was difficult. It's okay, though. Hehe. :) A few of us decided to head for the Sky Garden later in an attempt to entertain ourselves with the guitar and some songs, it was fun, but I guess a little boring still because we were just fiddling around with some songs. At that point in time I wished someone was around to sing Japanese songs with me. *sighs*

I did want to go down for Open House the next day but in the end I didn't go, due in part to my Mom's objections, and perhaps, I grew tired of the idea. Oh well, whatever.

Then it's been study, study and study, or attempts to do so. I got the news that it was Mrs Chan's last day what, last Friday? There was a farewell for her, which I didn't attend because I had Human Geography remedial. *sighs* It was revealed during Farewell Assembly that Mrs Chan is going to be transferred to the MOE Curriculum Development and Planning Section, Science Branch. Good luck to Mrs Chan in her new assignment! The new principal is a man called Mr Chan, the present Year Ones will get to know him next year. And I think he has a huge pair of shoes to fill... Which brings me to the realisation that every school I have gone to and graduated from, the principal either retires or is transferred the year I graduate. Mr Tan Yock Leng of Tao Nan, Mr Tan Thiam Hock of Dunman High, and now Mrs Chan Kah Gek of VJC! Strange. Some coincidence.

Got my Enlistment Notice as well, last Friday I think. Apparently I'm being called up to begin Basic Military Training on April 10th next year, which gives me three months of "holiday". Most likely I'll have to find a job during this time. After a little nosing around I found that a lot of my friends were going in in January... Ah well, maybe I'll get to make more friends this way, I don't know. : I gotta train up for something after the A's I guess, can't be a couch potato no longer!

(Short break... I'm losing the desire to blog and I want to make this a quick one, again. Aack.) Now from the news, regarding the recent case of the man who committed suicide by throwing himself in front of an incoming MRT train. This seems to be becoming a more popular way of er, committing suicide judging by the many other similar cases reported recently. While my heart and condolences go out to the family who has lost their father, one must note the power of the media, which publicised the financial plight of said family, which led, directly or indirectly, to massive offers of help. A little familar, with regards to a recent case?

I fear censure by any authority so I guess I might just stop talking about it here, that's as much I should say I think. No one should take offence! :)

There was something about this Australian? or Singaporean? (I think Singaporean?) pilot who was selling away the RSAF Hawker Hunter he bought many years back. Hell, I wish I had that baby! The Hawker Hunter is one of my favourite aircraft because of its clean lines. I don't know why, but something within that aircraft endears itself to me. I love the Hunter! *sighs again*

Caught Episode Two (Beginnings, Part II) of Power Rangers Space Patrol Delta last Sunday too. Looking at its corniness, and being reminded of how we used to like the Rangers as kids. Woohoo! :P

Also watched the Deathnote movie alone on Monday, the plot is good (as should be the case, even if adapted from manga/anime), if I feel like doing it I will post a review on the Battledawn. com forums, so stay tuned? :) A birthday treat for myself, perhaps?

Yesterday was my birthday, but I didn't feel happy or special or anything at all. In fact I was like, sian. Bored, melancholic perhaps. Thanks to my parents though, I "celebrated" it with lunch with two of my cousins, and dinner. Am I becoming devoid of feelings? I don't know, I really just didn't feel anything much yesterday...

Nonetheless, thanks to those who sent me birthday well-wishes! Especially Kai Dick. :)

EDIT at 2050: Schumacher retired with a wonderful fight from last place to fourth. Another great sportsman of our time. The haze is back and has been giving us problems like bad air, poor visibility and stuff, but seems to have cleared up a little in the recent days, with a massive downpour today from about 1700 to 2000. Although it was pretty interesting, in a way to see all the like, "foggy" air and all... Hmm... National Schools Colours Award. Hmm... kinda harboured a wish to get those ever before, but it doesn't matter now, does it? */random*

It's been hell...

Well, first things first. I managed to catch Jamie Yeo and Glenn Ong (aww, married couple! :) ) on Sunday eating at the Hong Kong Cafe near my house while on my way home from tuition. My mom always tells me to take the bus, but I prefer to walk, since I can watch people, and stargaze too! I have been vindicated. At first, I just thought I saw someone who looked like her. Then the more I thought about it, the more I felt that it was Jamie! So I went over on the opposite side to see who the male accompanying her was and Tally ho! It was Glenn. :) Hehe, so much for stargazing. I didn't approach them any further, since I had no reason to do so, plus there were a lot of other diners around so I didn't want to attract attention. With that, I quietly slipped away for home.

Monday was a little devastating, since I received my GP papers. Scored a grand total of 58, which probably puts me in the C5 or B4 grade. I wasn't too happy, perhaps because I had expected higher standards from myself, although the recent few times I felt as if I was losingmy edge. Maybe I am. My classmates and I, after comparing marks a little, came to the conclusion that our marker was strict... but still...

I also met Yan Zhao that day too, haven't seen him since last year. It was then that I knew that he had left for Australia to continue his studies. I instantly felt that he had changed, firstly because of the strong Australian accent that he must have picked up. (Sorry dude, for what I am about to write...) He's looking even beefier than before, and from what I gleaned during our conversation he seems to have tried smoking and well, weed. Quite different from the Yan Zhao I used to know, particularly his accent (I guess he was a bad boy back at primary school... hmm...). I thought of Reynard immediately, who is the polar opposite of Yan Zhao, since he practically remained the same. Must be the differing environments they're in.

I got hell from Mr Chow on Tuesday for my poor performance, finally admitting (in a limited way) that I was lazy. *sighs* I really don't know what to say or do here now, and perhaps, unwilling to reveal any more to prying eyes. Maybe I should keep a real diary... And on my way home, I went under the stairwell of the overhead bridge near my house to take pictures of Xana (that's the name right, Aneru?), so named by Beatrice, and nicknamed Camo by myself. But that's beside the point. Some Malay man picked me up for trying to hide under the stairwell to take upskirt pictures! He threatened to take me to the police. How stupid can that be? I mean, I showed him my pictures, I was in full view of him so I couldn't delete any offending pictures if I had taken them at all, the stairwell is dirty and full of soil and all, and, the worst place to get perverted pictures! Seriously, there's nothing great about that place. So much for "public spiritedness". I mumbled an apology and hurried home, not wanting to provoke further conflict. Heh.

As for today, I'm blogging this in school right now, after my lessons. Hehe. Kinda normal day for me, except that the heat has returned, and I am being breathed down my neck. Life goes on although I try to avoid my teachers now unlss I really have questions to ask, since I feel... bad. Aaargh.

Double Blows, Short Posts, Girls Bravo, What Am I Doing?

Woot. A F and a O... And I thought I could get CEO for my prelims. Okay, I'm screwed. Stop deceiving yourself, Jiayu. And... I still haven't started, wasted yet another day. Originally wanted to blog long but decided not to anymore, since it's like 0340 now...

I got hooked onto Girls Bravo. Miharu's the perfect goddess one can ever ask for! If only girls like her existed... heh!

Bah.

3000 hits! Thank you!

I must make a special post for this... (actually it's been 3006 hits already).

Firstly I'd like to thank all of you people for your support, the 85% who pass by my blog and don't look at it for even a second, from many countries. I remember Greece, Israel, Spain, and more.

And then my small group of friends who *do* look at my blog, thank you for contributing to the hit count.

And to myself, who might have single-handedly contributed about 30% of the hits too by my constant reloading of the page to see if my posts look good. :) HELL YEAH!

But then again, I didn't make this blog to expose myself to the world's eyes... or maybe I did, heh.

It's been about 1 year and 9 months now. Let me do a quick calculation: My blog has existed for 358 + 264 = 622 days. 3006 hits means that on average, I receive 4.832797 hits per day, to 7 significant figures, and assuming 1 year from 1st January to 31st December lasts exactly 365 days. :)

Ah... :D

The battle's over, but the war is still on!

Prelims is over... leaving me devastated in its path. I know now that I'm likely to fail for Math, and if luck should prevail, get an 'O' grade for Physics, and maybe pass for Geography. I take only 3 subjects, I am supposed to have a lot of time, but...

I must have have wasted it all.

I need to get myself off this habit, I know, but I... I can't do it right now. Why? Why the hell not? It's so conflicting... Soon I'll probably not have any courage or the guts to face anyone, or something like that because I have never ever sunk so low in my life before. The never-ending slide in grades, my forced discharge from the OCIP programme (something which I might remain very bitter about for a very very long time... *sighs*)

SO WHY THE HELL CAN'T YOU SLAP YORUSELF AND GET OUT OF THIS STUPOR, JIAYU?

I don't know...

Everything just comes by day, after day, after day... I have about a week to think and plan, and I'll likely waste it. But the final battle is just starting... And I guess... *sighs* Can't think of anything now to do or say or what. Hell, why am I making this post?

-_-

[The Random Herald has gone out of print, because I've lost all momentum to work on it. To think I had such great plans... always to falter at the last moment. Thanks for taking an interest in it, Jia Hao!]

Goner.

I think I'm going to screw up my prelims. Well done Jiayu, for slacking so much.

O_O

A Retirement, A Death... People To Be Rememebered.

Well, I won't talk about my life or what. Since there's nothing worth talking about. Hehe.

To start things off, we've had the retirement of Andre Agassi, who was defeated in his final match, braving a back (?) injury and the knowledge that he was going to retire. Now I am not a tennis fan, nor a sports fan in general, maybe I am too emotional or something (so-called, 感情泛滥）, but hey... he was famous during my lifetime. People just have to come and go huh?

Napoleon once said: "Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." (I think I had the same quote on one of my earlier posts, hehe.)

And, the second, the biggest shock I've recevied over the past few days. The death of Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter", the one whom many thought was immortal (even me, yes), the man who liked to say "Crikey!"... I remember watching his shows (though not a lot)... it's just so sudden. When I first saw the headline on Yahoo! News yesterday I thought it was a hoax. Then I decided to click on the headline and read it, and boy, I was just... stunned. No more of his face, his grin...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5313078.stm -> Indeed, indeed. We have lost a colourful television personality, a hole has been rendered in the world of animal conservation, at the same time, his death does send out a warning, mentioned in that article. Nature is just so unpredictable... And it's so ironic. He has survived, and lived through close encounters with far more aggressive, poisonous creatures on land, but met his end against a stingray, usually known to be docile. He must have been really close for that barb to deal him the fatal wound.

*sighs* Enough. And I should try to continue studying..

Typos, typos and typos. And more news reports!

Hmm... GP was kinda okay, I hope. Then after that, studies, and stuff. *sighs* I think I'm screwed. On 31st August, VJ had celebrations for Teachers' Day, which I decided to miss because I wanted the extra sack time. Yay! Looks like I missed some stuff... oh well. I got my notes from Daryl after that and headed back down to DHS, lamenting halfway that I forgot to bring my camera.

I did not go with anyone, since those that I asked (not a lot of people actually :P) didn't want to go. I met up with Kai Him, Benjamin Seng and Liow Wei Quan at DHS and we walked around school looking for teachers, but failing to find many. Added pressure from Mrs Ho, since I'm the only make student from 4E that is taking Geography in JC, and she was saying, "So how's Geography?...you represent what I teach..." *dies* I'm SO screwed! Anyway, the few of us left school and headed down to the hawker centre at Kampong Arang for lunch, where we caught up on old times, and chatted. Mmm...

After that we went home in the pouring rain, me catching sight of some flooded areas and vehicles splashing water like mad as they navigated through them.

And then there was the Air Force Open House Preview (for schools, and which was actually a full dress rehearsal in my opinion) on the 1st of September. I went down, having signed up before the holidays. So did John, Joel Tang and Matthias (sp?) and a whole bunch of other people, like Benjamin Chua (surprise! :P) and my juniors Hua Zhou and Cher Min. While on the shuttle to Paya Lebar Air Base, John and I overheard this other group of VJ students talking. Very interesting... of which I'll post an excerpt, spoken by one of the girls below:

"...And I told him not to curse. Then he cursed at me! So unmanly, that asshole!"

->see the irony? :D

Yeah anyway the show was pretty normal, the static displays I've pretty much seen before but still took tons of photos. Of special interest were:

1. The free trial set up by some company, allowing two people to play against each other on Ace Combat Zero (PS2) at a time. I lost to Joel only because I crashed and let him get a kill, I did kill him once...

2. The arming demos. I don't know if this is fast, but here are the statistics. I timed them from the moment the crew formed out of their formation, to the time they returned to it. For the F-16C Fighting Falcon, the 3 guys took about 4 minutes (didn't time properly) to load 4 AIM-9 Sidewinders and 600 rounds (I think) of M61A1 20mm Vulcan onto the plane, which already had, if I remember correctly, two AIM-120 AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) mounted on the wingtip stations. As for the AH-64D Longbow Apache which we caught too, the crew of 4 took 4 minutes 49.62 seconds to load 4 AGM-114L(?) Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 12 Hydra 70 (6 on each rocket pod) rockets onto the copter. The MC for that demo said the loadout was for some sort of quick return mission, meaning that the Longbow was to be fitted with a light load after returning from one mission, to sortie again at the best possible speed to the battlefront => at least, that's my interpretation.

3. The aerial display. Though it was hot and loud, nothing beats seeing and hearing the Falcons and Tigers spool up their engines just metres away from you, and when they taxi for takeoff, you can feel the vibrations deep inside you. Hell yeah! The aircraft then pulled some manoeuvres, but the best ones were those simulating a dive-bombing attack. Again, I missed a good photo opportunity with the two F-16s zooming right past me. Ah well... my 3.0x optical zoom camera ain't that good anyway. Then they showcased the Apache's agility, rising up from behind some trees like a cobra poised to strike, and integrating with the army, with the Apaches "coverinng" the area for Chinooks to deliver artillery pieces, Light Strike Vehicles, and two Super Pumas delivering infantrymen (Guards, methinks) via heli-rappelling.

-> This alone made up for the fact that I didn't get to sign up for the Fokker 50 ride... benjamin managed to get it, but I think the Fokker 50 isn't very interesting anyway. :P No offense to Fokker 50 crews though. And that's about it! The other days, up till today, were boring. :
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The RANDOM Herald 28th August 20XX

WAR!

Early this morning, the consul-general of the UPPV delivered a declaration of war to Jamalistan offices. Within minutes, UPPV jets crossed the border and began to systematically attack Jamalistan defences, marshalling yards, and military infrastructure. Premier Jamal has officially denounced this inhumane act of violence and unhonorable combat, calling upon the world community to take action to aid his beleaguered country. Troops have reported firefights on all fronts, the heaviest fighting coming from the Genarii Papyrus Valley.

The alert level has been raised to THREATCON 1.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The day of reckoning draws near... with reports coming from the front!

Not too much things of interest to me happening lately, with the exception of perhaps, the realisation that Israel's military isn't at all good at dealing with guerillas. As for myself, nothing really happening too. Only thing worth noting were Mr Josef's funny "last lecture" and "last tutorials" series of things. Especially his letter to our combined S41/S21 tutorial class. He claims he'll remember me as "Jiayu... the one who freaked me out during lectures... if you don't know, I always go into the lecture theatre 15 minutes early... there he is, at the back... then he'll say (deep voice) 'Mr Josef' (to laughter from everyone including me :P)" He's a funny yet effective teacher, methinks. Hehehehe. And then there's Ren Jinfeng, ex-DHS NPCC (I think), the stuff of legends from what I remember hearing... making it to the papers as a'shining example' of immigrants coming to Singapore, settlign down, gaining citizenship and such. (To quote today's Sunday Times a bit) I don't know, but I feel proud, despite the fact that he's nto even remotely linked to me. Hehe!

And now...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The RANDOM Herald 27th August 20XX

War likely, citizens advised to head to safer areas

In a turn for the worse, Jamalistan diplomats have been unable to reach any fruitful agreements with the United Preliminary Principalities of Vraetoria. All efforts to stop any escalation to armed conflict has been rebuffed by the UPPV, whose continued demands of 'the total subjugation to us, by your people, and the surrender of all land, assets...' were unacceptable to the Supreme Council of Jamalistan As industries are continually called up to gear up for war production, analysts here at The RANDOM Herald believe war is imminent at any moment, and advises all civilians to head for shelters, or safe areas.

All personnel of the following code words are to report to their designated locations under THREATCON 2: Pencil, Pen, Eraser, Correction Fluid, Foolscap, Ruler.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We apologise for our ever shortening articles as we begin to provide coverage of the war, with many of our writers being called up for duty, to defend our country. We will continue printing for as long as possible, and will deliver the news, whatever it takes. Fear not, citizens!
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Please do not take offense, if I have incurred any... this is purely meant for fun. :)

I'm sad.

Don't really know why but I'm pretty depressed now (it's not that bad as it was just about half an hour ago, maybe I get over things easily?). I wasn't really looking forward to today anyway, since it's just 'yet another day'. Some talk in the morning by the chairman of EDB (Economic Development Board), which I slept-and-woke-up-and-slept-again after the first half of his talk. My apologies...

Two period of Math, three periods of Physics, and thus ended the schoolday. Then I went along with a few of my classmates (Ling Jie, Li Seng, Samuel, Michelle, Joyce, Shaun, Daryl, Xin Yi, Celine, Jessica, Xiu Yu and myself -> is that all? Heh) to do up this photo album for Mr Chow for Teachers' Day. I realised a couple of things while sitting up there in one of the treehouses:

1. I am conspicuously absent in A LOT of class photos, or outings and the like. Did I not want to go? Or did circumstances prevent me from going? Or was I using that as an excuse? Hmm... Didn't take a lot of photos with single or small groups of people too. Anti-social me... haha. Sometimes I think I mix around with people from outside my class more.

2. My message for Mr Chow, done on a small piece of construction paper, was like, the shortest, most untidy (cancellations!), and ugliest since I didn't do any decorations, something which I'm not exactly good at. "It's the thought that counts" is too cliché an excuse already. *sighs*

So somehow, I was just gloomy. And then there's the studying for the prelims and the A' Levels... I think I'm a goner.

Signing off now, it sure took me long enough to do this.

Edit at 1718: My Mom tells me today is the end of the 7th Month, after this year's dual occurrence of it. But yay! No more ghosts to deal with? Heh.

Random Musings

hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/20060817/wl_hotzone_lebanon07/blogs8692
-> An article I totally agree with, I think. And now the UN dilly-dallies with the peacekeeping force thingy... *sigh*

Our Prime Minister's National Day Rally this year seems full of hope for the future. Oh, and he mentioned Shyam, my senior! That funny guy... hmm. Among other stuff...

Bleh, dying already. Signing off.

Ahhh...

I fell sick a couple of days ago and ended up with a sore throat, which turned into a flu of some sorts and made me miss school for a bit. I'm still coughing now, with loads and loads of phlegm, it's so irritating.

Anyway, a little late here, but I'm glad that a ceasefire has been reached in Lebanon. Will it last? I certainly hope so. Looking at what's transpired thus far, I think Hizbollah has achieved a greater victory over Israel. Their rocket firing capabilities do not seem to have diminished during the course of the 34-day war, and they inflicted casualties, and bogged down Israel's vastly superior (numerically, and technologically) military, which once trounced Arab armies. It's like what the Americans experienced in Iraq...

On the other hand, Israel failed to gain much ground, and now has to hand over the areas to the UN and Lebanese peacekeepers. But it has shown that it would go to arms to remove such an opponent, and, perhaps, they did hit Hizbollah hard enough to reduce its capabiities a little. The threat will always be around, but hopefully with the UN peacekeepers around Hizbollah won't try to do much to Israel, which would indirect achieve what Israel set out to do: Neutralise the threat of Hizbollah, at least along south Lebanon, I think... Olmert's approval rating seems to have fallen, and the unity during that short war seems to be disntegrating. But they are accustomed to war, I've read about entire families who have served in the army before, and know what it's like. They are a resilient people, as are the Lebanese.

So perhaps both sides scored a measure of victory of some sorts. The biggest losers, I guess, are the civilians. *sighs* They have to live with everything, and bear the pain of the loss of their loved ones, their assets, in the ensuing crossfire. Hizbollah fighters are now turning their efforts to rebuilding, a move which would definitely gain them more support. Their refusal to disarm, perhaps... I don't know. Could be good, or bad...

That was my quick, short reflections on the entire thing. I may have missed out a point or two because I was too lazy to think harder, and also forgot some of my points, but here I bear no offense to anyone.

*************************************************************

Yesterday, after entering the side gate to home, from school, I saw that stray (female) cat hanging around (Maybe I should name her...). Since I had some time, I went to play with her. :) Mmm... she's an affectionate one. (If she could turn into a girl, LOL! :) ). Then I heard some girls gushing, like "ohmygodlookatthecatit'ssocute!!!111!!1". It was... I don't know. I felt good. :) I turned around to see two girls from the nearby CHIJ (Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus?) Katong Convent on the overhead bridge near my house, looking across at the cat and me. Whee! Hehe. At that distance, I couldn't tell if they were good-looking... (see? I'm a bastard pervert :P) Haha!

*************************************************************

And, check this out! According to Wikipedia's news (at this link) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_redefinition_of_planet, 3 more planets have been added to the solar system with the release of the new (read: draft) definition of a planet! Their names thus far are Charon (a double planet with Pluto -> ??), Ceres and 2003UB313 (nicknamed Xena -> anyone can teach me how to type subscript?). But this doesn't end here, for when the final definiton comes out, we might even have like, 53 planets! Hmm...

I've always believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life, be they other humans (possible?), or alien lifeforms out there. Could they be doing the same thing, searching for us... or even, watching us? When will we make contact?

Food for thought, eh? Signing off. :)

Note to self: I got to know Aneru (Beatrice Chia Qian Ru, my godsister of sorts, heh!) :D in October 2004 (I think) after posting my email on her blog because I was... impressed. From then on, we became fast friends. Such an interesting way to know people huh? Online... Mmm. I fear I'd forget.

Additional Note at 2348: I was checking out my hit counter... very interesting! I've got even Israelis looking at my blog now. Another (procastinatory) note to self: I must update my blogs list... even Erjian has gotten me tagged. I wonder how he found my blog, heh. :) Signing off once again at 2357. Whee!

Many things to say, but all lost within the depths of the mind...

There were a lot of things on my mind recently that I want to blog about, but I've forgotten about most of them. Hmm... well, those that I can remember, I better talk about them now. Hehe.

First things first, about National Stadium. I think I'm gonna have to take some photos before they tear it down, I just realised I've been going there for 9 years now (4 in primary school [TNS], 4 in secondary school [DHS], and 1 in VJC) . Things will be different when they rebuild it Hmm...

And there were others... can't remember what.

Anyways, triple postings from Gunota:
1. R.I.P. Hirotaka Suzuoki
Few months ago, news about Hirotaka Suzuoki, voice actor of Bright Noa from Gundam, falling ill surfaced courtesy of his stage production site. Asahi.com confirms Hirotaka Suzuoki has passed away on Aug 6 due to lung cancer. He was 56 years old. Our condolences go to the Suzuoki's family and friends.

-> Hell... it's a loss. Though I didn't watch the older Gundam series at all, but... *sighs*.

2. Gundam Fall 2007?
Moonphase reports a new Gundam series is under consideration for Oct 2007 directed by Seiji Mizushima, director of Full Metal Alchemist. If true, it will occupy the Saturday 6pm slot on TBS. Currently Blood+ occupies this slot with Aykashi Ayashi taking over this Fall. This info is based on leaked internal source so take it with grain of salt.

-> Exciting!

3. There's this other post inside Gunota's, titled "Tsutaya x Newtype Best Anime 100", about a poll on some of the best anime some magazine readers have ever watched. The poll results were interesting, new stuff like SEED, DESTINY, and Haruhi ranking at the top, and classics like Hellsing, even the older Gundam series, ranking at the bottom! Unless my definition of good stuff is different from the people polled... hmm...

And that's as much as I can remember. :) Signing off now.

DISCLAIMER:

I hope I am not breaching any laws by posting these photos...

Another 3 Longbows flying past...
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F-16 on full afterburner, I missed it as it was flying over the top of my head, only could take this photo -> looks like some spy satellite photo lol.
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3 F-16C/D Fighting Falcons forming the first component of the air flypast, I couldn't get a good shot from where I was of the bomb-burst formation. To be specific, it is actually the F-16 C/D Block 52+ Fighting Falcon (not sure of exact type). Ah, the amateur photos I take...
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CH-47SD Chinook bearing the Singapore flag, escorted by two AH-64D Longbow Apaches on a flypast over the National Stadium, to the strains of the National Anthem. *salute*
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National Day! Happy 41st Singapore!

Damn, couldn't even post this on the 9th. It's 4am on the 10th now. Well, the day wasn't too happening until evening where my Mom brought me down to the Teo Ann Huay Kuan building at Geylang Lorong (?) 8, together with two of my cousins, some of my aunts and my grandmother. We joined about 60 other people crammed up on a balcony to watch the telecast as well as catch the fireworks and stuff from the building, which was close to the National Stadium. No one really knew each other so we were restricted to mixing around within our families... heh.

The parade was pretty nice, many refreshing things different from last year. Even the ceremonial parades were a tad different, with the SAR-21 being used for the first time, slightly different formations and all. This will be the last time NDP is held at the National Stadium before it is torn down, and I missed it. DAMN! But otherwise, watching the stuff from TV, one can better appreciate the formations because the cameras are located on the Super Puma orbiting the stadium, which we saw. (what if we shot it down? :P -> Okay, that was a joke!) The flyby was exhilarating, although I missed several good photo opportunities with the F-16s and the helicopters, especially the ones where the F-16s were just zooming over our head, so close to us, on full afterburner! I was too excited and had my thumb on the zoom button and was unable to take pictures. GRAWR. Ah well... Took some videos of the fireworks too... those were good stuff. The fireworks were really beautiful! You can imagine it: The patterns they carve into the night sky, the lingering bits that sometimes remain, the riot of colour... and the smoke. :)

Then the wind blew the cloud of smoke towards the building, and all of us got pelted with firework debris. A novel experience! I got one into my eye...

All in all, the parade rocked! This year's song (Is the title Believe?) by Kaira Gong Shijia was quite enchanting. She's a pretty girl. Dinner wasn't too bad too hehe. Although somehow I seem to be eating less nowadays. Hmm.

And the moon was big and round...
----------------------------------------------------------
Time for some patriotism:

I feel I am Singaporean because:
1. I was born here in Singapore, and have been living here for the past 18 years! :)
2. SINGAPORE ROCKS!
3. It's my home, and forever will be. I'm not a foodie, but I'm glad we can have such a variety of stuff under our roof.
4. The government has been running the country well, and we should be proud of them!
5. Our world-class facilities and whatnot, and our armed forces. :D
6. Among others... it's that *feel*...
7. I find myself taking sides (in my heart) when we become locked in inter-country disputes *ahem*.
8. Proud of our achievements? :D

What makes me Singaporean?
1. The ability to code-switch between Singlish and English. (siah lah, what you want to know? Don't kay poh lah, here nothing to see... -> okay, that was lame :P)
2. My IC states so.
3. I live here, so I'm Singaporean :D -> applies to myself ahahaha. :)
4. I have friends from every race, racial harmony. :) Food rocks too!
5. Other random stuffies... YAY! :D

The product of a crazy mind at 4am in the morning.

Signing off.

A good day turned lousy.

(This was supposed to be posted yesterday but I fell asleep... again)

8th of August, one day before National Day. Went to school for like, two hours' worth of celebration, most of which wasn't too interesting. I wanted to rush my GP essay there and then but gave up because I was distracted, and had a mental block (seems to be coming more often these days). Before that, was the very formal flag-raising ceremony which all schools have on the 8th. I happened to spot Jia Xu, who was representing the Scouts in the contingent, and went over to straighten up his uniform. Hehe... guess I couldn't help it, though I'm no longer (officially) in the Scouting world. But it looked better after that, although I thought his beret was too small and not seasoned enough, just like my own beret was. Heh.

Then Mr Jerry Teo read out the recollections and stuff. He looked totally different in his SCDF uniform. Hmm... I guess Mr Teo's sons all ended up in uniform. He must have influenced his sons well. :) The performances put up, as mentioned earlier, weren't too interesting save for some parts. No idea why, but I didn't feel as high as I should be when mass dance came along. *shrugs* I threw the GP essay aside (sorry Mr Lee! :P), and after the celebrations, changed and went down to help out (and spectate) at Physics Society's first-ever PET Bottle Rocket Competition. It was damned cool, to see all the rockets blasting away (landing on the rooftop above the canteen, too :) and our desperate attempts at retrieving them). Every rocket flew beautifully at least once, even the one without fins whatsoever. But Wen Xiang and Kang Hao's rocket was the eventual winner, flying a whooping 85 metres, and on their second launch, hit the water fountain outside the Performance Theatre. Awesome!

The only sad thing, was that Physics Society's own rocket, which we launched for fun, was lost. The wind (probably) sent it out of school, and it landed either on a tree or in the canal. Either way, we couldn't retrieve it... A loss of money because the nozzle and the streamlined aerodynamic cap cost pretty much (ripped off by that company! :S) Overall, it was a success! Then the juniors and us (myself, Junwen and Yong Chuan) together with Mr Chan went to Pizza Hut at Bedok Centre for the overdue farewell lunch. :) Hehe... It was still a good day.

I decided to meet up with Jonathan (Ong) to play some LAN games after that, we spent like 3 hours playing DotA, BF2, and CS 1.6 BF2's graphics were stunning, and it was fun playing around with the vehicles. But, to quote Jonathan: "Two people fighting a war is pretty stupid." We were just goofing off on BF2! CS was kinda stupid too, we just kept running to the marketplace at the centre of the map to kill each other. One exciting moment occurred when some unknown dude joined in our game. Jonathan switched sides (I was part of the Counter-Terrorists and he was Terrorist) and we played along. That guy was pretty good (better than us :) and we got killed several times, although it was the most fun when he went through the same path several times, and we met there and brought him down with combined shotgun/sub-machinegun fire. Those few kills rocked. Then, as we were hunting for him yet again, couldn't find him so to win that map I went to resuce the hostages. When we won, Jonathan checked the map, and found that he left. Ahh...

We sat around outside Katong Shopping Centre for a bit and chatted. I took out my handphone to find some message... and didn't put it back into my pocket. I left for home with Jon, and... when I reached home, after playing around with *that* stray cat... I realised to my horror that my handphone was missing! I rushed frantically back down to KSC but it was already lost. All attempts to contact my number failed. I called home using a public phone and told my Mom, and promptly got a scolding when I reached home a second time. In all, the entire fiasco lasted an hour or so. After finding out what to do from Samuel, I went to report the phone as lost to SingTel Mobile, and suspended my line. I told Dad too, and he got me another phone, docking my allowance for two weeks as well (maybe I shouldn't have told him, could have upgraded it myself :( ). So that day ended badly... and now I'm trying to rebuild my database of contacts (having never backed it up), I will lose some numbers permanently since I can't remember whose numbers I saved inside my old Nokia 3120. Oh well... I guess I'll have to ask for the numbers again.

Saw the newspaper article about the National Day memes. I think I'll do it tomorrow, after everything is over. :) Go SINGAPORE! Whee...

Nokia 2100: approx 3 years. Nokia 3120: approx 1 year.

When it's time to blog, it's time to blog.

Update from the last post: Cowboy Bebop has ended, and DigitalPanic finally finished subbing Zipang. And, well... life goes on, as usual. School, chasing never-ending tutorials, and trying to start revising for prelims and whatnot. People around me are starting already... DotA addiction goes on! Whee lol.

Current issue gripping the world by storm, and also mine, is the Israeli-Hizbollah conflict. Things have escalated pretty quickly, and both sides have been hurt. I've seen reports of close-quarters combat, hand-to-hand fighting, point-blank gunfire... coupled with reports of innocent civilians (and children!) killed by all manners of shells, rockets and missiles... War is scary. I have no other words to describe it. Even as Israel fights in a place where it isn't too welcome (perhaps on the surface, maybe some of the Lebanese deep down want to see Hizbollah crushed?), there's support for what their doing at home. Somehow, even UN posts were hit (mistakenly-aimed "precision" weapons?). I don't know. A guerilla war is the worst kind of war for the attacking forces, even if the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) are one of the most elite armed forces around the world. Militia versus crack troops? But... the civilians suffer the most. I had a lot of thoughts, and whatnot prior to this, but after reading several different views in the papers I think I'll keep silent. Confused, and perhaps I have to review my stand.

Now, on to another recent issue. Something about VJC skirts being a tad (maybe more) too short. Some member of the public complained in an email to our principal, together with photos, which went all to the way to the Minister of Education if I am not wrong. We are now cautioned to be careful of what we say, espeicially on our blogs, since the media does go around prying our blogs for newsworthy stuff. We'll see what The New Paper has to say, if anything, about our skirts. Hmph. We'll wait, with bated breath.

Speaking of blogging, John and Denys made it to the papers for their blog! But Sunday Plus! got their names and faces mixed up. For those who STILL don't know, John is the guy on the left, and Denys is the guy on the right. :) Hell yeah. My friends. YAY! Haha. Do all bloggers blog because they feel a subconscious narcisstic need to gain fame, to let others have a look into their lives, their faces? Maybe... I might have such a tedency too, but I think... well I first started this to try to keep a diary of sorts. And since I ALWAYS use the computer, why not? Maybe that's an excuse too...

Went out with my cousin Kiara (I'm not used to calling her that :P) to watch Pirates of the Carribean II: Dead Man's Chest at GV Plaza Singapura. We arrived at 1830, but the 1950 tickets were already sold out so we had to make do with the 2050 ones. I suggested going down to Cuppage Plaza to play DotA (:P), and being a bad teacher I think I got her lost. Aha. We rushed back later to catch the movie (my fault! :P), passing by some cleavage baring masseuses along the way (Eww.) We got directed to Cinema 3 (I remember that!) and when we went in, we found our seats occupied, but there were two in the middle! We were lucky... or so we thought. When the movie ended at 2230, 1 hour earlier than expected, I was shocked, but didn't think much about it. Only yesterday did I realise we went into the wrong cinema hall, screening the 1950 show, and ended up missing one hour of footage! Gosh... and for $9.50, and a crappy dinner. We were probably too rushed (although still early) to make any clear decisions. Hehe... my fault for suggesting we play DotA :P. Ah well... but it was still a nice movie. Johnny Depp's really good at acting as Jack Sparrow! Mmm.

Apart from that, I think I've got stuff I want to rant about. But I don't feel like doing it. I'm weird this way. I have this inspiration to blog, thinking things out, then I decide to procrastinate and leave it to another day. When I actually get down to doing so I do a darn sub-standard crappy job of posting it. Damn.

ahhhstudystudybermudatriangleignoretheserandomthoughtsgirlseyecandyomgrandom!

o_o Looking at the world through bleary eyes?

Many things have started, went through their due processes, and finished, with varying endings. Air Rifle. World Cup. Common Test 2. Cowboy Bebop (soon!) and everything in between. I did manage to catch half of the World Cup final between Italy and France, and (three days after it was over, I am commenting :P)... I don't really know who the better team was since I'm a complete soccer idiot. Anyway, there has been much hype about Zidane's headbutt. Spoofs of it on Youtube too, I heard.

Practically speaking, Zizou was pretty dumb to have done that at his final competitive match... ending it in disgrace. But what Materazzi said (terrorist, or insulting his family, or whatever) must have greatly pissed him off. It could be gamesmanship gone overboard, but I feel sorry for Zidane in a way too. And there's so much talk... *sighs*

Common Test 2? A "E" and a "F" grade so far, 'nuff said. I am SO dead.

Today's (i.e. Wed) episode of Cowboy Bebop was excellent, in my honest opinions. Character development of Faye, especially, with her origins and whatnot. So apparently she was from Singapore. No idea where she lived because her surroundings looked... normal. I can see it everywhere... although she must have been pretty rich because she lived in a BIG (and I mean, BIG) mansion and all that. It was... touching to see her rediscover her past (actually it's hard to describe my feelings on this matter). And why did she introduce herself as a 'ghost' to her classmate's grandchild? And then there was Ed and Ein, walking away to find Ed's father.

So Spike and Jet are left alon, and with two episodes to go, and Spike dying... aargh! I need to get this title too.

Like, there's nothing else to say now other than feel despair. *sighs*

Doom and Gloom: Day 1

Firstly, my heartfelt gratitude to Malcolm for his beautiful comment. Although in my mind, logistically speaking, it could be a drain on VJARC's resources if we were to continue training. *shrugs* I hate to plan things anyway.

Today there was no training, and probably won't be for like... I don't know. Just felt deprived and bored somewhat... so empty. When I went down to the range today, the seniors there were mostly napping on the sofas. Hehe. This will surely need some getting used to.

Oh, and I got back my Math papers, with a nice, big F grade. Woot. Need I say more?

My internet connection somehow died two hours ago but fortunately it's back on for now... Hopefully it won't die on me again.

Blearghx.

Awash with an overwhelming sense of lament and depression.

A couple of days have past since the last post. School started once again, and everyone got busy. This gives me distance, I hope, and may I not fall into that socially-unacceptable realm... Otherwise, I didn't get back any papers yet, nor do I want to. Yesterday was the 4th of July, America's Independence Day, a totally boring day spent in school. My classmates from Air Rifle decided not to appear at all, and so did a couple of our other classmates... Had to sit through some totally boring 70s documentary titled "Civilisation: A view by Kenneth Clark" or something like that, for our GP lesson. Mr Lee says he's knighted, with the title of Lord, which is pretty high.

Anyway, enough of random talk. Today was the 10th? National Inter-School Shooting Championships, 2006. We participated in it, and came back with less-than-stellar results. What I did today I can still remember...

I woke up at around 10 in the morning and rolled off my bed only at 1030. Had breakfast, skimmed through part of the papers, and went to switch on my computer to check out my Battlemaster account. I bathed only at 1130+, only after receiving an SMS from Benjamin to meet the team at Northpoint for lunch. After bathing, I packed up for the competition and left my house at around 1158. I reached the bus stop at 12 noon, and took bus service 55 to Eunos MRT Station, where I boarded a train to City Hall and switched over to the North-South line. I arrived at Yishun ar about 1305, then went to have lunch with Benjamin and the rest (who turned out to be Pei Fang, Min Ning and Jia Ying).

Once that was over, we walked the rest of the distance to Safra Yishun, arriving at about 1347. I didn't realise the situation would be so chaotic... team members from the various schools were all clumped up in areas along the corridor and whatnot outside the range. Some schools were lucky, they got the couch and chairs, while our usual spot right at the end of the corridor was taken, so we were squeezed somewhere outside this storage room once known as the "Anti-Doping Room (?)". Benjamin, Daniel and I changed into our battle gear, and warmed up, then suited up into our jackets, while receiving well-wishes from the other team members, the Year 1s, and Ong Jun Hong (HCI shooter in the national team, he was from the same primary school as I, that's why he recognised me. I did not recognise him at first, just found him familiar...)whom Mr Chow allowed to come down to help and support us. Then we went in, with me to my designated lane, 7. (Thanks Joshua and Deon who helped carry my stuff! :)

It was 1420. Preparation time started. My heart suddenly started beating wildly as I became nervous. It was the Nationals after all. I couldn't really calm myself down throughout the whole 10 minutes of dry-fire, although I thought my actions were correct. At 1430, we started. Fired off my first competition round at around 1432. It was a 8... I was screwed. The whole competition went on, with me shooting 8s, 9s and 10s. I thought I didn't do very well, because I screwed up a couple of shots. But coach Chea Rong didn't call me out or anything, so I went on. Finishing at around 1520, I handed my last set of 10 cards to one of the range officers, flipped up the chamber latch on my rifle, and stepped out of the lane. Coach instructed (reminded) me not to talk to the Rifle Girls so as not to affect their mood. I went out, stripped out of my suit, and talked to Daniel, Benjamin and some of the Pistol Guys along the way. I was very eager to play DotA, then we were told that computers were only available at 1610. Zhen Iang had the blessings from Mr Chow to play so we decided to do so.

We started playing, with Malcolm (our senior, he graduated from VJC a while back) watching (Malcolm complained that I didn't update my blog :P). I wasn't very alert today and got owned pretty much, plus I only knew how to use Razor (the Lightning Revenant) well. Caryn popped by, then later told us to move down to begin clearing things out at 1640. Then Miss Lee came in and shooed us away, and we had no choice but to do so. A half-hour wasted like that, that cost us $1 of gameplay each.

We moved everything onto the bus, and while some of the guys split up and headed for home straight from Safra, the rest of us (including the IP students who rushed down from school to help) bundled up onto the bus and headed back to VJC, (talking along the way) where we arrived at around... 1720. Moving everything back down, and then unpacking the weapons and the suits took us approximately an hour. I called up Jonathan for dinner, but he didn't pick up the phone. After drinking a can of Grape+ Aloe Vera and dilly-dallying around school, I left alone and took bus service 31 to Parkway Parade, where I hanged out around MPH until 1900 before eating dinner all alone at Yoshinoya. Beef with Vegetable Value Meal... I bought a scoop of chocolate ice-cream in a cone from Scoopz (?) and ate it while walking home from Parkway. Played and petted the two stray cats who live near my house before returning home reaching it at 2015. Then I watched a bit of TV, and turned on my computer, slacking, then bathing till about 2145, where I have been since then, blogging.

A wave of emptiness and depression just swept over me like that while on the bus trip back. We didn't perform too well this year, with the Pistol Guys maintaining national 4th, while the girls, and both rifle teams were around the 6th and 7th placings. The Air Rifle Male team, that is, Daniel, Benjamin and me, were 6th in the preliminary rounds, which would constitute our national ranking I imagine, only the top 4 teams enter the finals. We were the champions in the East Zone, however (only 4 JCs, and MJC lost out by 2 points only, so it isn't a great deal, nobody really cares about the zones at JC level i.e. the 'A' Division since there's like 13 JCs only) -> my take on the matter. So yes, our results were less than stellar.

The thought that there would no longer be training sessions, with me touching and oiling my beloved rifle one last time today, no more sweating it out in the suit at the unbearably hot VJ range, no more rolling back of targets, no more seeing of Safra Yishun again, no more of training and everything... the sights, the smells, the black cat that lives in the range's ventilation shaft, just no more... I, and perhaps everyone else, had built up (at least) a modicum of bonding with the rest of the team (everyone is good friends now, we've been through the thick and thin...)... Now everything has ended. We trained, started from our newbish days early last year, and over the course of one and a half years... all to end in one short hour. Life is short.

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."

-Napoleon Bonaparte

There wasn't glory today, but... oh well. It's just... fleeting. I wish I had taken more pictures with the rest of the team (maybe we should) so I could keep them and stuff... well, who asked me to be a lone wolf. *sighs* It's just so depressing and sad now. Just. Because. Everything. Is. Over.

I don't know. Perhaps I've had taken things for granted. Perhaps I am too sentimental... heck, I wouldn't even be here today if not for many things. Yin Cheng's quitting of the club made me realise, I guess, that there was only the 3 of us left. My skills had started to improve, with training, then... I peaked at NUSIS with close to 9.3, and now here, 9.067...

And there's school again tomorrow. How nice... got to work the depression out over time. I think these memories, especially the last month at Safra, would be good ones, and remain with me for a while (I fear my forgetfulness!). *sighs*

So many things...

This is me at the NUS Invitational Shoot... thanks to Jenny for taking the photo! :D
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Back to the Past/Present/Future/Whatever

Jamal is back, with no plans to fulfil his blogging promises. The entire June holidays, I either slacked, or slacked after training... Didn't study much at all. As a result, I screwed up all my Common Test 2 papers I believe. Maths is down, only divine intervention can save me now (it rhymes!).

Got hooked onto DotA (Defence of the Ancients, a Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne map-mod thingy) over the holidays, now I'm lusting for computer games. There's Command and Conquer 3: The Tiberium Wars (working title) coming out next year, but now I just want games. Roleplay, flight sims, space combat sims, anything! It's not good to be lusting after games now though. :(

Nationals is coming soon, and looking at how I've been doing over the past training sessions... I must say I'm worried. Very worried. After our Physics paper yesterday, we went down to train at Yishun Safra again. We lost about half an hour of time, because the bus came late, and since Esmond's competition (the IP students are competing in B' Division) was today, he had to train. So I basically went there to play one hour of DotA. :) It was a good game, first time in my life I scored 2 kills. Hehe! Reached home at 10+, and zonked out about 2 hours after Cowboy Bebop.

Well, I'm supposed to be down at Safra now watching the IP students and providing moral support but I can't get out of my house. My mother might probably let me go if I persuaded her hard enough, but she's already planned to cook, and it doesn't seem like I can get out of the house early. Oh well... I'll miss this, no choice. I've supported our teams many times in the past (not everytime, but yeah you get my drift :P)... Damn I feel guilty.

At least there isn't school today, I can take a breather. Mr Chow don't kill me!...

World Cup fever isn't affecting me much. :) And definitely not betting. Aha.

Erf... time for procrastinating again!

I want to blog, but just too lazy to bring myself to it. With training and all, looks like I need nto study for my Mid Years... damn! I HAVE TO... *sighs*

Anyway since the last post, yes, the Malaysia field trip was all fun and good. Valuable learning experience too. Maybe I'd blog it sometime later... Anyway yes. Then came the NUSIS (National University of Singapore Invitational Shoot), I again did pretty good (I guess, heh :) ) shooting 554... I must maintain the edge now.

Otherwise, nothing else I guess. Hmm.

*pressure*

Ending this short post now since I can't be bothered to do anything else. Grrr... Oh, and Sunabouzu ended. I must review that sometime!

"Command! Come in, Command! Security at Outer Perimeter Alpha Ten has been compromised!"

A post title with no link to the contents. Ah who cares :P. So, here to blog about... THE 'A' DIVISION SOCCER FINALS BETWEEN VJC AND MJC (Meridian Junior College) ON THE 25TH OF MAY! A highly emotional match, which resulted in our resounding victory over MJC with a score of 4-2 (sweet revenge for last year, if I might say :) )

Both sides were cheering fervently for their teams, and when MJC scored in the first half, a lot of us were very disappointed and sad. Being the giver-upper that I am, I thought that all was lost. Then came an equaliser in the 2nd half! Our spirits rose, and I was hoping we'd score one more, or win the penalty shoot-out unlike last year. Then they scored once again. But, after some minutes of fast-paced football, we broke through MJC's defence and delivered two goals within 4 minutes! Everyone was cheering like crazy then (gosh, even my eye-candy! :P) Don't really know who scored because I didn't pay attention to who did everything. Heard that it was Andy, Brandon, John Mark and er... someone else. (Sorry I can't remember! And if someone can correct me/provide me with the correct info, I'll be grateful)

And we were happy, because we knew there'd be a full day off the next day! After that, my classmates went to some place near Jalan Besar Stadium to eat. I didn't know that, and stayed back to help the student councillors clear up. Thanks to Daniel, my efforts were acknowledged with cheers and stuff. Hehe, whatever huh? :) I went back to school with them councillors observing the racket they made on the bus back. Very very interesting, I got wind of several scandals... aha! After this, my opinion of this new batch of councillors (the Year Ones) has changed quite some bit. Mmm. (okay guys, whatever I said before about you all and stuff, I guess I'll just take my words back and eat them! My heartfelt apologies)

Headed down to Parkway Parade's food court after all the packing was done. To date, this shall be known as the greatest Independent Society achievement ever: crashing a SC dinner :) Wheex! Not too bad, I got to know more of them, and we made small talk. I like theses stuffs.
I was still pretty high when I reached home, until... I discovered that I lost my Singapore Open towel! Concluding that I left it at the stadium, I contemplated taking a taxi back to look for it, but decided not to. That pissed me off and made me pretty sad. And that night's episode of Sunabouzu made it worse. See review below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sunabouzu (Desert Punk) Episode 20: Reverse and Convenience (Ura to Ben)
This episode starts off with Kanta waking up on a hospital bed all bandaged up. Junko comes in, dressed up as a nurse, but the semi-delirious Kanta thinks it isn't possible and theorises that he might be in heaven. He falls unconscious again, only to wake up later to see Taiko dressed in a cute schoolgirl outfit.

Realising that he is alive and kicking, he got down to getting information from Taiko. Taiko explains that Natsuko and the others have formed an anti-government organisation known as the Underground Handymen Union (UHU) to start a revolt against the government... right at their very doorstep. Kaidou Masaru then comes in and tries to persuade him to join, as does Natsuko. But he is unmoved, and cites his own (what can be considered, selfish -> he's a bastard anyway) reasons for not joining. Then he is shown the leader of the UHU. It is none other than the Life Game old man they met several episodes ago, _insertnamehere_! (:P I forgot).
They get down to discussion, and while Natsuko doubts he would join, Kanta is convined otherwise (I think he finallly decided to trust the old man seeing that he was DEAD SERIOUS in revolting against the government for a better future. I don't exactly understand why he joined up with them though). Anyway, Kanta agrees to work in concert with the UHU, and is later presented with upgraded equipment by none other than Seiji Tanigawa whom they met a couple of episodes earlier. Apparently due that brush Sunabouzu (Kanta) had with his company, the government was tracking Kanta down for elimination. Junko runs around with the perverted Kanta a bit, but this is of no importance.

Anyway, with their upgraded "SP" equipment, Kanta proclaims that Taiko has completed her training and has become a full fledged Handyman. He hands her his rocket-propelled grappling hook device, and directs her to join up to repel the attacks up front, while he proceeds to the rear because he felt that the main body of the attack would come that way. (Quote: "WE'LL show them how REAL Handymen fight!") Thus, the both of them separate, running in opposite directions (and with silly faces drawn on their helmets.

One of the government-operated androids is seen (Ayukawa), and he takes out a lot of the rebels. Masaru, then Natsuko engage in hand-to-hand combat with the android but are beaten badly... until Kosuna comes in with the rocket anchor and delivers a kick to the robot, who was preventing our rebel leaders from escaping via truck. She gets tangled up with Samesuke, but is freed by Natsuko. They manage to escape...

Meanwhile, Kanta is wading through a lot of dead bodies, having been proven right once again. He treads cautiously through the ruins, but is still ambushed by Samesuke (yet another uber-android)(or was it Ayukawa who killed him?), who drives its hand into his guts, impaling him. Kanta collapses to the ground, blood pooling around him. Back on the truck, Junko (?) asks Taiko where Kanta is. Natsuko remarks that he probably ran away, and receives a slap from Taiko who tells everyone angrily that Kanta went off to the rear to assist in repelling the main force assault. Taiko believes very much in her teacher, and for a moment, she heard his voice in the wind (or did it come from the helmet? Thinking that he needed help, Taiko jumps out of the truck to run back but was stopped by Masaru.

Then, a huge explosion rips apart the base, and a mushroom cloud arises from the ruins. Taiko screams...

-> Very emotional too, and the fastest lead character death I've seen in my lifetime. Sunabouzu, albeit a perverted, greedy and selfish person, was honourable in the last moments of his life... That was pretty darned sad.
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Didn't manage to do much after that and went to sleep.

The next day, Friday, we went to school to listen to Mrs Chan announce that we had a day off to celebrate! The entire school was happy, and helped along by VJC IComp's video of the goals and things like that. I did ask the SC Year Ones to keep a lookout for my towel... Mass dance, and Geography field trip briefing. I headed down to Jalan Besar, gettting off at the stop indicated by streetdirectory.com (I planned to stop earlier but failed to do so), and walked around, lost for a bit before finding the stadium.

After slipping through the locked gates (:P) I made my way to where I last saw the towel. It wasn't there. The admin office told me to look for the cleaner when I went down, and he sent me back to admin. I left my number with them hoping I'd find it (it's a good towel, plus I was attached to it). I later returned to DHS and walked around, meeting juniors and teachers along the way. Things have changed a lot, DHS has become more open and liberal now. I saw sling bags and even black school shoes, which were banned when I was a student there. Must be because Mr Kiw retired from his post as Discipline Master, and the principal change. I saw classes cheering for the classmates, and students (not student leaders like the Prefects) planning school events, which I don't remember ever happening during my 4 years there. Even Mr Kiw's English suddenly became very very good (Don't think he was that good in the first place)! So even he has changed. Some of the vendors (even the cleaner, one of them -> he wanted to treat me to lunch but I declined) still recognised me, and I ate in school.

There wasn't any Scouting activity to allow them to prepare for their Thailand trip. So I ended up going to Kampong Arang (the food centre) with Xing Zhi to enjoy some Iced Jelly and stuff. Gosh, I haven't had that in a real LONG time... We chatted, and parted later on. I think after this batch of DHS Sec 4s (two years younger than me) graduate, I won't be able to know or recognise anyone else, since Idon't know the juniors (who are 3 years younger than me) very well... and I don't even know the younger ones.

Mr Tan Tui Gee was still as funny as ever, he was actually "auctioning" off class ranking positions to people who had the marks! Funny. It's a good way to enourage students, I realised. His class was equally spontaneous and participative as well... Mmm Go Mr Tan! (While standing outside the classroom he thought I wanted to look for him, I told him not, but still I feel bad for interupting his "auction". :D He's a real funny guy anyway.

Then I went home, headed down to National Skin Centre for yet another checkup, and then got a haircut before finally returning home at 6pm. *sighs*

Then came Saturday, where I did a 9.17 average (total 550 :) for training for the first time in my life. Now if I can sustain that... Mmm. Now what else did I miss? I can't seem to remember, my memory is failing me.

Missing playing the games of old (text-based games can get boring) I decided to install some. I managed to get my friend's Red Alert Retaliation installed (I borrowed it years ago :P) but obviously it couldn't run on XP, and crashed. *sighs again*

And today, nothing much. But there was this music video which I saw half of on Channel 8, at around 2pm. It's J-pop definitely, but I cannot identify who they are! Gosh, the video was HOT! Excellent, sensual dance moves. :) Ohhhhh yeahhhh. :P Can someone identify that trio of sirens? :D

Update at 1430: I got it, it IS Koda Kumi with Soulhead! Song title is D.D.D. Sexy! Now if someone would pass to me that video...

Back home from tuition, packing stuff for geog trip now, whee! Going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for some studies. That should be all, see you guys next post!

And now, it's time for...

...Jamal to blog again. :)

At this point in time, I can't really think of anything to write about since last post. Lets see...

After the Dance Concert (Regale), I thought I only had the harmonica band's concert (Resonance VIII) to attend :P since my funds were running dry and all. And then I got psychoed to attend Chinese Society's Drama Night, otherwise known as 海城之夜. Both were good, Resonance VIII a very interesting fusion of harmonica with drums and guitars and synthesisers and double basses and whatnot. :) Their rendition of JJ Lin (林俊杰)'s 曹操 was very nice! Chinese Society's Drama Night had its interesting plays, especially the last one which was supposed to be the most meaningful (I kind of wasn't paying attention mostly, and didn't quite get the meaning of it, but yes, Samuel's friend [Kiwi?!?] explained it a bit, something about the two extremes of life, and our own value in society... profound, indeed. Oh, and some Physics Society seniors came back too, like Jian Guang and Yingying (OMG HOT :P)

I finally handed over my duties as Secretary of the Physics Society to the incoming Secretary (not that I did much :P)... but somehow... I don't know. Hmm? Perhaps, a sense of guilt because looking back, I don't see myself doing a lot of things. Heh. Heck. We had to postpone our PET Bottle Rocket Competition again because our pump managed to get itself jammed. That company cheated us! *sighs*

Otherwise, I guess things have been fine and dandy to a certain extent. Normal, usually. Nothing worth talking about. Games seasons in VJC are coming to an end, with many of our teams achieving a placing amongst the top 4. Just this week, our tennis girls' team was crowned champion, as were our hockey and soccer girls' team, being national champions. Ahhh... Soccer boys finals versus MJC (Meridian (sp?) Junior College) tomorrow!!! Hopefully we'll win.

Now, moving on...

Sunabouzu's looking greater than ever with it's thickening plot, while Cowoby Bebop does indeed show its flavour, which is real darned good, despite me waitching it 8 years after it was first released. And Zipang and Tsubasa Chronicle subs are out again, whee!

That's it for now... methinks. :P

Alright, late-night (or rather, early-morning) blogging again.

And... it's Jamal here again to bring you some new posts! Lets start off with the Inter-JC Tamil Debates (Sorsilamban 2006 -> sounded like Sor-chee-ram-ban when the Indian host said it...) which happened last Sunday. It was, well, unintelligible to me, but it was an eye-opener in many ways:

1. It being the Finals, it was broadcast on Vasantham Central, so we got a trip down to Mediacorp Studios. Interesting to see how things work... the cameras, lights, and everything. Clapping and cheering were allowed or stopped by the Mediacorp prompters

2. Tamil can spoken REALLY fast. Especially when the debaters ran out of time. Then they were like "....nanrimalakam...." (or something like that, I think it means 'thank you for listening' or something?). Nikhil spoke Malayalam and as such wasn't too proficient in Tamil so I couldn't get much in the way of translations, but the group of us (mostly supporters of Mohan :P) at the back had a good time poking fun at things, usually JJC. :P

3. JJC can cheer helluva loud, and they even have Tamil cheers! What the hell were we doing, shutting up like... it's so abnormal!

4. Racial harmony! The opening address was done in Tamil, then the female host said, "I have just been informed that we have non-Indian members in the audience, so I'll be doing the opening address in English as well. Please bear with me for a few minutes...", and she went on to repeat the same thing in English. Ahhh... after that it was rapid-fire Tamil again. :D

So in the end JJC won. Apparently they did better in the cross-examination section and, to quote the judges, "punched holes in the opponents' (VJC) defence". Thus, VJC ended up national 2nd, with Mohan getting Best Speaker. Ah well...

After that, I made my way back to Novena Square and had dinner along with Yiling, Althea, Imran and some guys from the Cricket team. They seem to be one fun bunch, from what I can observe. Heh.

Following the debates it was one week of school, I can't remember if there was anything interesting to blog about. How about finding a trail of leaves leading from the ground floor, up the stairs to my home, right outside the door? Okay nevermind. But it DID happen. Other than that, I don't there is much. Maybe except ribbing and getting ribbed by my friends about me going to support the Tamil debaters. Anyway, I need to brush up on my training and kill those random thoughts, Coach Chea Rong did say some of my cards were totally unacceptable (I know they were shitty myself... *sighs*)

Then came this long weekend which I squandered, hehe. :) International Dance Day (as observed and declared by UNESCO -> Check it out on Wikipedia :D) was on Saturday, when I told that to Stephanie, she was like "Really? You made my day!" Ahhh...

Found out that there's a 5th series of Digimon, Digimon Savers, that is being released! Not sure if I want to start on it officially, but on another note, Tsubasa Chronicle Season 2 has started. Also still deciding if I like the new songs. :) Speaking of Tsubasa Chronicle, just a couple minutes ago I was looking for the songs I don't have, and getting depressed over Makino Yui's "You Are My Love", an insert for Tsubasa Chronicle. It has this saaaaaad piano music, and lyrics... gosh, really depressing. The English version done by Kajiura Yuki (Aahhh, my goddess of anime tracks! -> She's involved in a lot of them, I've seen her name pop up many times) is just as depressing.

However, everything is fine and dandy after taking a few deep breaths. My mom's overseas in Hokkaido, so I'm left with Dad. Eating with him will certainly blow up my weight, something I don't want now because I'm perfectly fine at 100% (I think! :P) Lazy me won't exercise, so... yeah there you go.

Next up... Election fever! My parents have to vote because we're in Joo Chiat Constituency and some Workers' Party dude by the name of Tan Bin Seng has been sent to challenge the incumbent PAP (People's Action Party) MP (Member of Parliament) Chan Soo Sen. We got the PAP brochures a few days back, and my mom said that Chan Soo Sen even made a visit to my condominium. Too bad I missed seeing him (just for kicks :P). No idea what the WP candidate wants to do though.

Looking around, one can find posters or billboards advertising the different parties tied to lamposts. I found it quite interesting, somehow: it's like passing a lamppost with our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong raising his left arm in a wave, then seeing some poster of the opposition parties right below, and small lorries with PAP flags fluttering, carrying white-clad PAP members and loudhailers whizzing by here and there. It does seem like everyone is going all-out to win. But isn't that what one should do, especially in politics? *shrugs* I don't think I want to talk too much. Plus I never really liked politics :P But I'm happy this week is a short week... although I wished we didn't have school on Friday. But having half a day off is better than none right?

And lastly... I'm running some operation out there. It's rather dangerous to be doing so, and I hope to pull out of this game as soon as possible. Hopefully I won't get kidnapped on the way home... Once this entire "sting" concludes I'll post everything up. (Maybe I won't, heh.) But for now, secrecy!

This has been one really random post huh? I'm just flitting from one thought to another...

I see the blogs of other people, they're always so reflective and stuff. Maybe I should reflect too and not ramble, but... I don't know what to write about anyway. RANDOM!!!! :D

Blogger's Note: I hope the contents of this post doesn't warrant me any attention from the authorities. Really. :)

Whooohoo!

So, almost 2 weeks since my last post. Pretty much stuff and new things to talk about, so I'll try to put them down here as well as I can remember them. :)

I had my NS Medical Screening on the 10th, and it was a new experience indeed. I walked into the CMPB (Central ManPower Base) building, and after a quick phototake in the army dress-uniform top, I was whisked off to registration, and then to the urine tests. Kinda weird having to force myself to urinate into a small plastic bottle, then dip some indicator strip inside for a while and show it to the medical officers after that. After that was the finger pricking test where they prick your index finger to draw some blood out to test for the amount of haemoglobin. Although I knew my blood type (O), I was unable to produce proof so I had to take the blood test too.

Next up was a dental examination, and dental X-ray. I was wearing the VJC "Filmmakers" orientation T-shirt, and one (probably bored) medtech asked me if I was a "Filmmaker" and wondered if there was such a CCA. LOL. :D The dental X-ray was a whole new sensation. Standing there, biting on something (can't remember), then have the scanner revolve around your head...

After that, chest X-rays, where we had to go topless for a while, and then your standard eye tests... And ten, the hearing test. Basically you're supposed to enter a cabin and put on headphones, and the technician will send sound pulses through the earphone from the very low to the very high pitches, and you should raise your hand when you hear them. It's done very quickly, so my arms were like up, down, up, down, up, down... I passed that too.

The last few stations required us to go topless again, for this test which I think will diagnose if there are any irregularities in heartbeat (through devices with weird sucking cups while lying on a bed) and whatnot. Height and weight, pulse rate and so on were measured too, I think I had an abnormally high pulse because I was pretty nervous then (no idea why :P). However, right around this time, the computer system crashed so in that room a whole bunch of us topless guys sat there waiting. Some muscular, some not that in shape (like me :P) and so on. The Ah Bengs talked, the JC students SMSed, I tried to make small talk, failed, then SMSed... :P.

The final station was the checking of the *ahem* private parts. Horror stories about erm... certain... "arousing" measures, fantasies of sexy nurses and doctors were all untrue, all you had to do was (please do not read on if you don't feel like it, scroll down!) pull down your pants and underwear, cough and then everything's okay. My dad says your testicles (for lack of better word) will bounce or something, if it doesn't it indicates a bad kidney/bladder. I hereby disclaim all responsiblity for whatever happens, and I sincerely hope I haven't leaked out a national secret that might have compromised the security of our country.

All in all I took about 2 hours, (unlike horror stories of 9am start, 5pm leave CMPB) and was certified PES B (Physical Employability Scheme). Basically it qualifies me for everything except the Commandos (like hell I'd want to to join :P Sorry. :P). There wasn't enough time for the vocational tests done on a computer (It was only 1530, I was sure they had time, the clerk was sleeping!) so I had to return on the 17th...

Next event: Sports Day! On the 13th. It was boring at first, but in the end, fun as I took over mascot duties from Eugene leaving him free to do housecomm stuff. YAY! FUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUN! Plus people laughing and saying the suit was cute, yay! LOL. Mascot two years in a row yay woohoo! Didn't run the mascot race (Eugene did that), but I was running around, doing silly things, even winning the Caterpillar Race as part of Draco Team! (Basically mascot leads the line, everyone else is tied to each other by rope around their legs, I was running blind so Alan had to drag me -> I figured out how to stuff my specs in later though) Yaay... This was a fun-filled day! (Getting pushed around by Mr Chow wasn't fun :P I wished I had my "gaffi stick" with me to whack him with. Woo! Managed to rope in the Lynx (Ivan) and Aquila (Er Jian) to do mass dance, we first did it in the middle of Aquila, then up on the grandstand behind the mass dance leads (I tripped over Aquila's trophies though, still pretty blind. Hope I don't get hated for this :P). It was funny as we tried to do it in our full suits which weren't very mobile, but Mr Seet stopped it short to clear up. So no Friendship Dance; I had wanted to do that with Ivan for kicks. :P

Aaaaannnddd... Good Friday. Yes, I made good my promise to watch UltraViolet, sadly Jonathan couldn't make it, so did those whom I tried to call and invite last-minute. So I watched it alone. It's a little late now to talk about it, and I'm lazy, so a quick review: The story's so-so, mostly because it was cut to 88 minutes. You can check it out on Wikipedia! The action's good, but you must know what to look out for. The so-called "Gun-Kata 2.0" was superb! While Equilibrium's GunKata (see waaay early post last year on that, I'm quite sure I blogged it :P) was rather stiff and restricted, in UltraViolet it was fluid. So Milla Jovovich was basically dancing all over the place taking out tons of baddies, who have cool costumes! I want! Otherwise, I bought myself a Lunamaria file (REAL CUTE ARTWORK! :D) and some plastic sheet with Meyrin and Luna... the guy at the Cineleisure shop says its exclusive to Japan, so although I had no use for it I bought it. Blew like 20+ bucks in a few hours alone... gosh.

Sunday was normal, Monday I returned back to CMPB to take the vocational test on computer. Pretty dumb actually, it's basically an IQ test, tests you physics, patterns and stuff. (Okay I admit some took me a while to think :P). But there were so many questions, so little time. Usually less than a minute for each, so I didn't finish any section except one with patterns.

And then the week was boring. Finally managed to start training for AR again, but somehow the soles of my feet hurt. Coach says I don't have enough stamina, so more training for me... Darn. The Straits Times has been pretty evil these days, coming up with "news" on the reason behind Jonathan's suicide. Quite sad that they made it so obvious he was from VJ, and reopening wounds, although (please don't read on if you find this offensive) I would say, the reason is pretty... laughable. But oh well... screw the media... sensitive issue indeed. This has nothing to do with freedom of speech in my opinion, it's about judging whether it's right to post such news. Grr... Okay enough for now. Don't hate me, my friends!

Hmm, and then, today! (rather, yesterday i.e. Saturday...) Trained in the morning, then met up with Jin Yong and friends (Chu Kian, Joseph, Wei Xuan, Tan Wei Quan, Kai Him, Benjamin Seng, Min Khai, Ming Yong, Chia Wei -> hopefully I missed no one) to play soccer with Liu Yun who came back from Canada. Apparently there was a miscommunication, he thought it was Sunday so he didn't come, so the very purpose of why we met to play soccer evaporated almost immediately, but we still did, first at some void deck :P then on a semi muddy, sandy field with holes all over poked by soccer boots. Come to think of it, I think I was first notified it was today, that is, Sunday (it's 00:58 Sunday as I am writing this). Fun soccer we had. :D When we migrated to the field, however, some group of professional-looking guys ins occer gear approached us wanting to play. But in the end we played our own, and they their own game, then they got approached by a filming crew with boom mikes and all. :) Looked like some film or media studies students to me, but hmm.. oh well. :) They should film us too, the motley crew! :P Ahh... Whee... then the dance concert at night! Being lazy and stuff (yes, again!) to write in detail, I shall summarise this: It was money well spent, and feast for the eyes! Eye candy galore! Oooohhh.... One day, you shall all be mine! I shall have a harem of hot girls! *falls off chair in heady fantasy*... OUCH! Okay, back to reality...

Ciao for now! :)

PS: Sunabouzu rocks my socks! :D

"Boin na hitotsu... Boin na futatsu... Okii boin mou hitotsu..." :) YAY! (lazy romaji text from Sunabouzu's ED1 :), 'cos I'm lazy to use Japanese text. :P)

Pissed.

I'm pissed right now, and I'm in the midst of calming down. Hopefully my anger will dissipate as I punch the keys on my keyboard to bring this blog post out.

So apparently everything was my fault. It started off this morning with me telling my mother that I wanted to go catch a movie (Ice Age 2 -> gimme UltraViolet anytime) with my cousins tonight at 2040 (we had arranged this time because of my four-hour tution marathon), thanks guys, but sorry for wasting your efforts!). But no, she said, I had to study and whateverfuck. She had already bought the stuff to cook for dinner tonight and I would be making things difficult for her. Had I told her earlier (like, yesterday, which I forgot because I was SUPER-TIRED after reaching home), she would have less reasons for me not to go.

I know my I'm lagging way behind my Maths tutorials, but somehow I just... ARGH. It's MYFAULTMYFAULTMYFAULTMYFAULTMYFAULT. EVERY FUCKING THING IS MY FAULT, WHAT I HAVE BECOEM TODAY IS ALL MY FAULT. So I called up my cousins and told hem I couldn't make it. I tried to reason calmly with my mother, but by then, THANKS TO MYSELF, I had already become very angry and pissed. So on impulse, I just called them.

Then my mom started saying that she didn't need to, or wanted to cook after all. She found out, belatedly that 2040 was arranged basically thanks to me. AGAIN I'N A BURDEN TO OTHERS. So she called and said that I would go. But, by now, I was dead-set on not going so I SMSed and called them back. My mother doesn't know this at all, so I'll have 1 and a half hours wasted after tuition tonight. This was a consequence of my impulse, I will face it. BUT HECK. I WILL WATCH ULTRAVIOLET, ALONE OR NOT, ON GOOD FRIDAY.

I'm still pissed.

Science Quest (or rather, Science Quiz, beacuse it was set in a boring exam-paper format) on Friday. I was pretty high, no idea why, marking papers and stuff. Being ordered around by MedSoc didn't exactly sit well with me (No offense) but okay, nevermind, that's nothing. :) Second year marking papers, this year I think we had better results, because there were less negative scores (we had negative marking in the MCQ section). The worst score I knew of was -14, and the best, 61/90 from River Valley or something like that. River Valley High School was the overall winner. DHS fared better this time as compared to last year, they didn't win anything last year I remember, but had an Individual Merit and Individual Gold awarded this year. :)

Miss Elaine Low later reprimanded the group of us guys at the back who were talking throughout the prize presentation ceremony. *sighs* We shouldn't have, I guess. Sometimes I think I'm still a kid in most regards. But otherwise, all went well.

*************************************************************

Yesterday was the HomeTeamNS Shoot. First official competition of mine, excluding Singapore Open which I signed up for on a voluntary basis (although the scale of Signapore Open was bigger, since it was regional). Pitting myself against the other JC competitors, I hit a 533/600 giving a new personal best average of 8.883. :) Yay! My mind was blank before the competition, and I felt pretty focused at the start of my 60 shots. Maybe it was because I slept well. :) But, I lost focus as the shooting went on, and fell into the trap of letting the score get to my head. I held on for longer than usual, and had jerked-off stray shots as a result. Still, for the first time ever, I had a series that broke 90, my first series of 10 shots gave me 92. For my perfomance yesterday, I was ranked 10th out of a total of 27 shooters, just 2 positions shy of getting into the finals (but the score difference is wide... I didn't expect finals anyway) Yay! It's now time to move on hopefully to the next level.

I'd need to do my report on that. About the rest of the team's performances, apart from the girls, I think the rest of us had a less than stellar performance. :( From what I heard, the pistol guys fared worse than their usual scores (although Rhesa got into the finals, being ranked 6th among the pistol shooters; not too sure about how Jon fared). Daniel and Benjamin did worse than they actually should, leaving me the best shooter yesterady. Our combined scores of 533, 531 and 514 gave us a total of 1578, ranking us 5th out of the 9 schools that participated. I didn't care who won, but I knew Jurong JC beat us by gettings 2nd. As for the pistol girls, no comment (won't wanna talk about the PRC peeps, and no idea about Wen Li's scores since we left before results of the last detail were released)

Our rifle girls got ranked 2nd, and I believe all of them got into the finals. So good luck, and bring us some medals! :D It's 1205 now, they'll be shooting in 10 minutes' time. So good luck, girls and Rhesa!

I'd say I was pleased with my own performance although it could have been better. It's all in the head... Staying through all the other series was boring since I had nothing to do, but I made it! Made a new friend too, this Ken from Innova JC. Pretty friendly guy, and quite... cultured I think :D I'd say I myself am a crude person. Maybe I should curse less often. All in all, the shoot was a good experience for all!

Dined at Parkway Parade's food court later on, and headed off to (maternal) Grandmother's home after that. The adults talked, while we cousins spent our time glued to the TV, watching an episode of the stupidly titled "Chinese Paladin" (like, wtf?)(aka 仙山剑侠传 or something like that), and making fun of it, on Channel U.

I'm calmer now...

The fearsome Feinwerkbau Model 700 Alu (without compressed air cylinder)... sitting on stop of it's styrofoam delivery case. I'm not using it, but, oh gosh... *drool*
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Innocent till proven guilty, or guilty till proven innocent?

Lalala ladida... the post title comes from the underlying theme of Witch Hunter Robin. I've put off blogging for quite a few days again so now I have a whole buncha' stuff to talk about. My mind is going off in random directions as I try unsuccessfully to decide what to blog about, after coming home from watching VJ's first soccer match of the season against Millenia Institute (MI), which we won 2-1. And before that, getting my brains fried during Math Remedial sessions, which I still attend (even though I'm out of it) because I need the practice. :P Mmm, drumming is fun. :) Anyway, lets see...

Hmm, life has been normal. Just normal, since the last post. Normal indeed, not too much upsets and whatnot as far as I rememeber. Major event: Musicfest 2006! It was held in VJC's Performance Theatre last Friday, with the theme "Rouge" (Don't ask me why!) I balloted for tickets, did whatever I was asked to do to "increase my chances of getting tickets" but still - not tickets. Seriously, I'm pretty sceptical... but otherwise, yes I had no tickets. Failed to get any last-minute, so I had to launch Operation Spear Of Twilight. It was a resounding success as my small commando unit of 2 men managed to infiltrate the facility and gain access to the sensitive information. (Okay, so I lied to some of you. I'm really sorry! I hope you don't mind... I guess I didn't want to disappoint at that time, but the fact remains that I lied. I apologise profusely!) To sum it all up, I sneaked in with my friend. I won't reveal how, but overall I think this year's Musicfest in terms of audience response was good, but some of the performers weren't as good as last year's. My predictions for the winners of all categories failed to come true, except for the Bands category [all the bands were good! Go Rhesa, Liang Hong and that DHS Band (i.e. The Camel Band) ]

Anyway, Felicia Chin was our guest of honour, and by the gods, was she TALL... even without those killer heels that looked like they could be used to stab a person, I think she;s like 1.7m++, waay taller than me. I took a photo along with Kai Xiang and this other friend (forgot your name, sorry!) and I looked waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy shorrrrrrrrrrtttt... Damnit. She's cute too, woohooo! Lucky you, Alvin...

Saturday, as I went through blogs, I found Claudia's. She's an old classmate of mine from JCS, and apaprently she's in TJC Air Rifle. Her posts made me wonder: Why am I in Air Rifle? I know I'm a gun nut, but that doesn't feel like reason enough. I don't know. I'm quitting B-Class (Second Year) Japanese lessons at JCS mainly because I forgot a lot of stuff, and I want the time to go out with ARC people. I kind of feel bad for abandoning things before they conclude... in fact, this whole week (and even more) I doubt myself a lot. A whole, freakin' lot. Hmm, I think I'll continue after BMT or NS I suppose.

Campus SuperStar Finals were telecast on Sunday, and as we all know, Huang Zhiyang (Huang? Chee Yang) of HCI was crowned the Campus SuperStar. Not too much comments on that, I think all the finalists did good (A side note: If my sources are correct, apparently Evon?Yvonne? Chua is going for Temasek Seminar... *hinthint*)

Skip a few uneventful days... oh, and I got my $10 refund back from Mrs Wee! She rememebred after Ravi went to look for her, how nice. :) Yaaay. Went for a long overdue checkup at the Skin Centre too, got saddled with two more months of antibiotics at the request of my Dad. :( I shot a not-so-good 8.43 in the mini-competition in the afternoon, hopefully I'll do better at HomeTeamNS shoot this Saturday?

Hmm, Science Quest is tomorrow and I'm a marker for the papers again, *sighs*. Yes and Sports Day is coming soon! Hmm, I need to confirm if there's the mascot thing going on and get ready... Oh, and my overall common test grades were DDOB3. Sucky... especially Geography, where they rounded down my beautiful 44.5 marks. :( Grrraaaawwwllll. Did I also talk about myself feeling quite stupid and dumb these days? Erf... whatever. *shrugs*

This should be all for now, I can't rememeber if I had any other stuff to post. Ah, heck.

I feel the urge to blog!

Actually, with so many recent events, I've contemplated blogging a long time ago. But computer games always pull me away. :P I play, and play, and play... oh and study too (a bit :) Yay!)

Time flies... It's been so long since my last post. Many, many things have happened to me, and I must have had feelings I wanted to shout out on my blog then. But I never did, and now I have forgotten all about them. Oh well...

I should be promoted already, yes, and in the recent Common Test I scored double D's in Physics and Math... B4 for GP, with Geography remaining. Hopefully I pass that with my smokescreen. :) Otherwise, life has pretty much been a humdrum. The only things I can rememeber as I am typing this is my air rifle personal best average of 8.79/10. :) I must improve! With Yin Cheng quitting the club and Daniel unable to participate in this year's Nationals (thanks to red tape), the senior team is short of one guy, and I'm the weakest link. *sighs* We definitely have to improve.

I went for Asian Aerospace on my own, paid the full $21 after being cheated of $10 by VJC because I wasn't notified that the visit date had changed. I believe it wasn't my fault at all, although I haven't gone to seek refunds from Mrs Wee... Kinda lazy to. Aww damnit, why am I so lazy? I guess the $21 was worth it though. AA2006 is exhilrating! My favourite part was of course, the air show. Watching F-16s and F-15s twist and turn in the sky with engines roaring really got my adrenaline flowing. The stunts brought out by trainer aircraft such as the Pilatus PC-7 were good too. One drawback was that the unmanned drones were too small to be really seen clearly, but their reconnaisance capabilities are indeed shocking. Gotta thank the Israelis for that. :) Oh, and the new 555-seater Airbus A380 is pretty agile for an aircraft of its size. Got some nice videos of it, hopefully I will post them up (*procrastinates... :P*)

Double suicides of Jonathan Guo (DHS 2001-2004, VJC) and that other TPJC guy were pretty shocking... I don't know what to say... but.. hell... (I hope I don't offend anyone with this, please don't get angry or anything). May the powers that be bless us all...

Grr, now I forgot what was supposed to be in this paragraph. Anyway, yes floorball is fun, although as with most sports I don't have control and stuff. I'm one of those "clear ball and anyhow blast" kinda people, today one such blast hit Jia Ying on the face... (SORRY!!!!! *sheepish*). Then later, Mrs Chan (our prinicipal) stopped by in the hall to watch us play, and at that moment Mr Chow let loose a blast which hit Wen Zhe (AR teammate :) on her face! Gosh... talk about good timing. Pffftt. Got really sweaty and am now typing this with backaches, thigh aches and all kinds of aches. I am SO unfit...

Next on, a random paragraph about the Tammy NYP incident. :) I think she was really unlucky to have her handphone stolen by some girl who was jealous of her popularity (I think that's what I saw in the papers). Maybe now I'll see my hits rise (might be a bit too late) since now I have it in my blog :P Yay lol.

Staring at hotties in school, the Year One and Year Twos, is very eye-pleasing too. Whee! *sighs* I think I've just nursed over yet another crush. Gosh,... Jiayu, you sonuvabitch... Oh and cats are really fascinating. Only last Sunday, while I was walking hope from Math and GP tuition, I met up with these two dirty-grey furred cats along the way. :) They followed me all the way in, when the one with the short tail seemed to give up and focused it's interest on a tree nearby. The other cat, a more scrawny one with a loooong tail, contineud following me all the way home! And then, as I walked down the final stretch of road, with semi-detached houses on the left and terraced-house on the right, the dogs smelt my cat friend, and started barking and yapping. :) And this other grey-white cat stalked my friend and nearly attacked it! I should have taken videos of it... the way the 'hunter' stalked my cat friend was amazing... So... graceful.

And not once, but twice! After realising I was like the protector of my cat, the grey-white fellow only stalked her when I was not looking. It even took high ground, and trapped my dirty-grey furry friend in the drain. I chased it away a little, and allowed my friend to hop out, only to have the grey-white one stalk and attack again. But my feline friend was well prepared with a snarl and arched back. :) *Sighs* Such a intense display...

Finally the grey-white one gave up and scampered away. :)

And this marks the end of a random article.