heard from some people that our class is doing quite well in the interclass soccer competition; and that we beat 3P yesterday. sorry i couldn't go down to support, still feeling drowsy after medicine taking in the morning. grats to them. seems that their incessant playing of soccer around class and during break has paid off somehow after all...

wonder what class we will be facing next. doesn't matter, since i'm sure we'll win anyway. hope we do win, since it will probably pacify Mr. Koh's burning desire for our class to achieve.

gosh, this is my shortest post yet!

Till next post...

i'm in a bit of a dilemma now. firstly, i try to be nice to people, but more often than not, the following situation arises:

[rant]

After helping him/her, i get no thanks, instead i get some form of abuse. usually verbal, saying that it's the wrong way to do it, i could have done it myself etc. to that i have this to say:

if you're so damn smart, then you would not have needed my help in the first place. i help out of goodwill, but if this goodwill doesn't reciprocate, what's the point? i find it quite a waste to help for nothing. i'm not expecting cash or prizes, but a simple "thanks" would suffice. if you can't even bring yourself to say that word, then i think you're an EQ failure. such situations usually cause people to think that they have been taken advantage of.

also, is it such a necessity to suan people? yes i know suaning is inevitable, but of course, balance it out with some form of kindness. do things that are pleasing to others. and for the record, using vulgarities on someone after him/her helping you does not constitute kindness. if your vocabulary is so limited to those words, then you're also an IQ failure. if you're really not ready to say thanks yet, at least shut your hole before shooting off again and acknowledge the act.

of course, some people are hard wired to be nasty to others. i cannot change that. however, they themselves can change that, although kicking the habit is quite hard. just try and it'll do wonders for you.

[/rant]

ah. that felt better. anyway, today was the track and field meet, and as usual, Hullett got completely owned by the other houses, especially Buckley and Bayley. must be that their runners have longer legs. also, i was struck down mysteriously by a fever, most probably spread to me by my little brother. Brandon also went down with a fever after his event. he was just sitting there with head in his hands. at first, we thought he was emoing there after getting third overall for 4x400 relay. lol (hope it's not my fault he got the fever.) rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and i went home at 11.30am to see a doctor. thanks to her prescription, i now have a total of 5 different pills to take one after another. hope i don't accidentally overdose...

getting blood test on Wednesday for a certain disease, and if the results come back negative, i have to go for another shot. this would be ok, except i have a phobia of being pierced or cut. i would rather they anaesthetise me first. this phobia of mine has some history...

it was five years ago. i went for a blood test to determine whether i have certain antibodies. so, i laid on the table, the doctor inserted the needle into my elbow, and after 5 plus minutes, said,

"sorry. i don't seem to be able to draw any blood here. please endure as i try again on a nearby spot."

*faint*

thankfully, he got it out the second time round. all this while, i was trying to ignore that sharp metal thing in my arm. and he was making it difficult for me by mumbling about some stuff about arteries and veins and how he should have used a larger needle...

glad that was over. however, every 5 years i'm due for another blood test. and whoop-the-doo, the next one i have is on wednesday. aargh!

piano exam for grade 6 is on friday, hope i pass... if not i'll have to endure another year of the same grade.

oh well, that's all i have to say for now. Till next post...

ah. it seems my puzzle addiction is acting up again. and being the nice person that i am, i have decided to share some puzzles with you readers. I sort of arranged them in order of difficulty.


hmm. this one's quite simple if you know how to cut it up properly. answer's a nice whole number.hmm. try to simplify the problem by thinking critically. (lol i know i'm no help at all.)

this one is simple maths. just need to watch out for some tricky wording.

coming up next are all " A said,"B's lying, while i'm not." Who is lying?" type of questions. hope you like them...

this one is crazy. even i haven't thought of it yet... a continuation of the question is: who should they let go?this last one will probably need you to bring out pencil and paper to solve. if you don't need any of those, you're really pro at puzzles.

these puzzles are probably for those who are better at logic and maths. i'll post some word games/whatever puzzles later.

oh well, that's all i guess; for now.

Till next post...

ahh. the day that we're all so hyped about is finally over. here's a quick recap of the day's acitivies.

report at 8.00 am? no it was more like 7.00 am for me, as being part of rimb, going for community day would most likely involve some kind of musical performance. and just nice, i was in the sec 3 ensemble with the rest of my batch mates, and we had arranged specially so that we could perform as a batch on that day. so, being perfectionists that we are, we had arranged to go report at 7.00am for:

-Unpacking of instruments
-Warming up
-Talking
-Changing of clothes
-Bringing instruments/whatever apparatus down to the hall for ceremony

8.30 am plus : board buses to the care centre (our VWO). played taiti and bridge on the bus. accidentally bid wrongly when experimenting how to. lost the game in the end. (for all you curious georges who want to know what i bid, it was 3 hearts. not too bad, unless you consider that my hand was full of clubs. )

anyway, we reached there soon enough, and we were soon having various activities with the old folk, involving morning exercise (which was quite ok), interaction with old folk with games, performance...

oh yes. interaction with old folk. we went together as the euphoniums' section, but out of the group that we had, one couldn't see, one couldn't understand english or chinese, and one couldn't talk. see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. quite sad for them actually. however, it was warming to see them look out for each other. for example, the one who could see would tell her half-blind friend what was going on, the one with hearing would translate what we said into cantonese for her illiterate friend, and the one wh couldn't talk well, um... stoned there. pfft.

performance was quite good, considering the hard effort that we put in and the short time we had to practise, it was quite good already. we were going to have some acts after our batch one, but due to time constraint, those had to be cancelled. whoops.

after all that, we had attendence taking back in the band room in sweet old RI, and kirk got squished during sec 3 batch picture. actually, we had meant to taupok him at the bottom of the pile during picture taking, but in the end, he got taupoked, AND was out of the picture; cause we all blocked him. lols...

went out for lunch with friends later at s11, had noodles and soup. also found out Si Kai is quite good at puzzles. good for him.

One last thing. whoever designed those shirts, please know that it makes us look like Raffles Jailbirds. thank you.

Till next post...

a few nights ago, went out for dinner with my family, my mother's friend's family, my cousin's family, and her taiwanese godmother and godfather at some seafood restaurant.

and when i say seafood, i MEAN seafood.

the whole menu is filled with stuff like fish, clams, shells, oyster, crabs, lobster, scallop, eel, abalone, sharksfin etc. no mention of meat anywhere else. the only side dish we had was rice.

and man, was it nice. the oysters are HUGE. like 3 times bigger than you would expect normally. however, the true size of the flesh is revealed when you crack open the shell, and all i can say is that it's normal.

which means that most of the oyster is probably shell, which we can't eat, yet we pay for in weight.

poof.

rest of the dinner went well, there were loads of laughs and talking for all. also, my cous got a free Wii from her uncle in taiwan. lucky her X(

anyway, so called holidays are here, but also here are the holiday hws. everyone should do a DoS attack on askandlearn. that way we have an excuse for not doing work. lols.

today was also one of the longest self volunteered extensions of band prac i ever had. it was until 8pm ++. whee. at least after that i had dinner with friends at KFC. quite nice actually.

grade 6 piano exam coming next friday, feeling nervous about it already. must practice pieces more!!1! even stole some time during band prac to play piece B2 (Moment musical in F minor). one of the shortest yet most challenging songs i have to play in my opinion, cause my left hand needs to jump around so much. combine that with exam pressure, and you have a mistake that's waiting to happen. hope for the best. =) after the test it's going to be mostly casual playing, and i can finally get the Marriage D'amour score (i hope) from my piano teacher.

on a side note, i'm going crazy over brainteasers. forgive me if i pop up and ask one suddenly when i see any of my friends around. i have a strange postulate that this erratic behavior is caused by stress.

back to the present, tomorrow is RI community day, and we're going to meet some old folks and interact with them. i'm going to play something, and there will be other performances as well. trying to convince lin jin to go perform magic on stage, but to no avail. hai, magicians...

On a happier note, the world can't end today, since it's already tomorrow in USA. [sarcasm] that's a great relief [/end sarcasm]


Till next post...

hmm. currently at cousin's house for sleepover, and saw one of her magazines with something i think is quite funny. so anyway, here it is:

Q: What does this road sign mean?
A: Drive abreast

Diaozzz. -_-

Q: To get to Ang Mo Kio from Orchard Rd, which expressway should you take?

A. CTE
B. PIE
C. BKE
D. ECP

A: The taxi.

what a stupiak.

And finally, just a little puzzle.

A perfectly normal and healthy student was going for her medical exam to become a certified doctor. thhe examiner gave her a femur (thigh bone) and asked her how many of those she had. she replied, "Five."

"Wrong. you have two femurs."

But the student was right. Why?

Ahaha. who knows the answer? tell me through cbox.

Till next post...

well, just got back from band camp, and here are some words to describe it:

Crazy
Fun
Motivational
Tiring
did i mention fun?

anyway, we started out with standard band stuff eg. sectionals, concert, practise with juniors etc. then we went on to not-so-standard stuff like: lunch, dinner, station games, sleeping, watching movies. i shall elaborate soon.

sectionals are pretty standard, with us playing assigned pieces among seniors (me), and then sparing some time to teach the junior sec 1s (ashley and samuel (we stole him from the trumpets)) their progress has been so-so, ashlee has learnt how to play a song, albeit simple, and samuel is still learning everything from scratch. and i have to teach him. wheee... anyway, when we go in for concert, the sec 1s go out for drills. they absolutely love doing drills.

concert is the typical tuning then mr. oura comes in to conduct affair. as usual, we euphos get lots of rest while the other sections eg. horns get screwed by oura's sarcastic comments. the new songs are quite peaceful and nice; this is true as the St. Florian Choral nearly put me to sleep. especially at the first part, where i have about 24 bars of rest. *snore*

meals were all provided for by aunty azzah, quite nice actually.

station games were largely random and sort of fun, but you realise after playing each one that there is some sort of lesson to learn from each one. for example, the chairs-and-rubber-bands game was about teamwork, and it would not be possible to win with soloing the entire thing. other games like the blowing-ping-pong-ball-around game showed the importance of having a good breath whenever doing something. or at least, during band.

then came the motivational speech. the sec 4 seniors took their turns to tell us about why we should be extra hardworking this year, especially our batch, since this year we're taking over and next year is SYF again. thinking back, they do have a point.

showering and sleep was long awaited, though as murphy's law dictates, something will go wrong. and something did. i'll tell you what.

first, after searching a while with Shang Shuen in the Raja Block for a empty shower cubicle in the toilet, we finally found two, i went in one, locked the door, drenched myself with water, and to my horror,

realised i left my towel back in the room.

poooooooooof.

fortunately, the pe shirt that i changed out of was pretty absorbent (compared to the dry fit crap the sec 1s are wearing), and i managed to dry myself to a large extent. i was lucky not to catch a cold.

next, we went back together. we parted ways, and i went back to managing my room mates. i tried to play card games with them, but as luck would have it, none/not enough of them could play taiti/bridge/hearts etc. (shock! horror!) anyway, card games are not allowed as usual, so i gave up trying to persuade them to learn, and we ended up playing other stuff like Truth or Dare (i got truthed.) until it was time to sleep.

oh yes, sleep.

i decided from previous experience that a sleeping bag would be unnecessary, and that tables would be rather comfortable. i was right, and wrong. tables are rather ok to sleep on (i also used my dry towel as a makeshift blanket/pillow) but not if there is a 24 deg. air-con blowing constantly at you, plus the fans are turned on to full. the first 3 hours were ok for me, but halfway through the night, i was frozen awake. really. for the rest of the night until about 4am, i was pacing around the room trying to tire myself out, while my room mates were all curled up inside their sleeping bags zzz-ing away. just then, i had a brainwave.

sometimes during REALLY BORING sectional days where all you did was play the same song for 4 hours, it would be common to see me head slumped over my music stand. why? rest , of ocurse. so i learned from experience, and placed my head in that position, towel over head and arms to prevent frostbite. and then, just after a few minutes,

bliss...

until 7.00am, where our friendly band major Gerald popped in to extricate me from Dreamland. oh well...

the rest of day was quite normal, until they decided to watch some dumb movie about a boy who wants to dance ballet. oh please, how predictable.

broke camp at 3.30 plus, and went for extremely early dinner at around 4.30pm at McDonalds, and then had dessert at Swensens. just then, it started to rain again. before this, if not for austin's mother fetching us to j8, i guess we would be much wetter. thnx austin's mum.

after all that had to rush over to cousin's house for some stuff. nearly missed the stop on 156. woke up just in time to press the bell. phew.

sry if my writing seems abit uncoherent, since i'm writing this at about 2.30am. can't write any more, if not my eyeballs will fall out due to tire.

Till next post...

hai.

i'm losing my mind.

i do all (fine most) of my work that i need to hand up tomorrow, and then i pack my bag nicely for the next day. i then sit at my table, admiring the emptiness, which is a stark contrast to the paper strewn scene i saw earlier.

i try to relax, wind down, chill etc. but i keep thinking i have something to do. oh goodness. poof.

hope this condition goes away, as i'll finally be able to sleep early for once.

finally, alvin still hasn't linked my blog. so antisocial...

Till next post...

well, it's the end of the week, and it's the start of the school "holidays". sort of, since i have, 2 days taken by band, 2 days taken by some personal things, and the rest is probably going to be busy cause of work.

anyhoo, the bio paper came back, and i got 33/40! 4.0 by one mark! anyway, the highest was 37, and it was achieved by mr. suanner, who is again sitting next to me. we went through the answers, and the question i lost most marks on was the sickle cell anaemia stuff. must get higher next time.

arriving next was the english cct script. i got B+/A although the exact mark is not known (teacher says it's not important). anyway, quite pleased with the results, although as some random dead guy once said, there's always room for improvement.

and jack's quite good at puzzles. who knew? still awaiting his answer to this question i asked him :

" What word in English has the letters "lica" in this order together in the word itself? There are 3 possible answers : silica (although it's more of a proper noun), implicate (and other forms) and the last one, which is?"

anyone knows the answer?

one last thing. i get how 2.4 km, shuttle run, and to some extent pull ups can help gauge how much you can perform next time as a soldier, but i have a question with standing broad jump.
imagine the scenario, you're running from enemy fire in a war. there is a big ditch in front of you. who in the right mind would run up to the ditch, stop, position both feet in a straight line, swing his arms for a while, and then jump? common sense probably dictates that you just bridge the gap in a single bound. and i predict that by the time you stop and get ready, you would have been pushed in by your fellow comrades rushing behind you as well. anyway, those are my thoughts.

And what the heck is a Crystal Maiden?

Till next post...

sorry if random widgets start appearing in my blog. i'm just testing (i'm new to this remember)

and sorry for the random music. if you don't like it, don't play it. simple as that.

well. after going through the horrors of taking the tests, the results have returned. yes. the numbers that determine the amount of time you are allowed to use the computer during the holidays are returned together with the papers that we worked hard on to earn them.

enough crapping, the maths test was quite satisfactory for me, although there should have been more. time, that is.

the bio test result is still a big mystery, and my reputation as bio rep is still at stake. whee. and whether i do good or bad, i'll get suaned by a certain someone behind me anyway. haizz... must learn to be a Daoist.

anyway, looking forward to 1 week "holiday", and then back to school after that. then the daily cycle of school, home, school, home, school, home etc. starts again. wash, rinse, repeat.

tomorrow is the geog trip to labrador, and we're probably going there to look at some rocks. fascinating. prove me wrong tomorrow.

and looking at the next 5 day weather forecast, all i can say is those without umbrellas will suffer, unless you think walking around in a wet uniform is a fun and enriching experience.

on a final note, i should listen to people more carefully despite my primary-1-time diagnosed hearing problem. this will save people the energy to repeat themselves, and me some embarrassing experiences. for example,

"what dialect are you?"
"*reply*"
"what? one side hokkien, other side grandmother?"
"no, *clears things up*"

oops...

Till next post...

since this topic is EXTREMELY prevalent in our class (and probably other classes as well), i just felt i had to write something about it. so, here it is.

"The Art of Suanning and how to Deal with it"

ok. i'm not going to pretend to be some expert on it, so here's my few cents worth. i take no responsibility for injury or death caused by use of this advice.

1. Suanning

Q:What is suanning?

Suanning is the action of either using (1)verbal language or (2)physical actions to cause the intended receipient or any one who sees or hears it to feel inferior or unpleasant.

Examples of : (1) Can you be more EARNEST??!? (directed at me)
Wah, first time i couldn't see Java. (directed at Java)

(2) Someone outperforms you during PE lesson (eg. plays a particular sport better)/NAPFA test/during Track and Field meet/whatever and after seeing you lose out, comes and rubs it in your face.

of course, being the smart people that we are, we have learnt to combine both for greater effect. this list is by no means exhaustive.

Q: I just got suaned and i'm not happy. What shall i do about it?

well, in my opinion, there are two things to do. 1. dao the person. 2. suan back. 3. take some physical action.

1. Daoing is put simply, IGNORING completely the particular person who has suaned you. this is not as easy as it looks, as some people just love to bear grudges (cannot dao). and if you say something to them, they keep it in them until they find the perfect chance to exact revenge. so, if you are naturally quiet, daoing is the way to go for you. however, this does not mean you can't do the next thing, which is...

2. Suaning back. this is a large topic, so forgive me if i become too verbose on it.

Q:How to suan back?

A: well, depends what kind of suan hit you in the first place, if it's type 1, you can easily counter it with a quip of your own (and from experience, a good comeback can leave your opponent speechless). i shall tell you how to later. if it's type 2, however, i must say it is VERY hard to suan back a type 2. reason: actions speak 100 times louder than words. it is not possible to erase what just happened to you with a mere sentence . simple as that. the best advice i can give you is to outperform him on another battlefield: the classroom. scoring higher than a person in a test is a simple yet effective way to suan him.

Anyway, i shall move on. effective countersuaning needs you to know a few things:

1. what are the persons' weak points? is there anything he ashamed of? afraid of? know that person well.
2. sarcasm, irony, quick-wittedness, quips, hidden meanings... all these are weapons to add to your arsenal when suaning.
3. know the context of the suan. is it right to apply this suan here?

Warning: An uneffective suan can make you look stupid. such is the double-edgedness of suaning. also, do not suan a person in front of his "friends" as they will all attack you as well. more than one person at once is too much to handle in my opinion, unless you are extremely confident of yourself.

suaning takes practise, or it can come to you naturally. some side effects will include making you look really thick skinned or just plain insensitive.

Q: i just suaned that person back and he used some four letter words on me. what should i do?

well, use of vulgarities is good news for you. it shows you have reduced your opponents choices of comebacks until he is forced to use that word. you can now comment on his childishness of using those words. or you could keep quiet. depends on your mood.

finally. a suan fight can escalate into a real fight. if you are caught in one of those, immediately report it to a teacher.

on a final note, this was written as a JOKE. please do not take me seriously, although if you want to, i can't help it. we shouldn't be suaning each other at all actually. hope this brought some smiles to everyone's face.

oh dear. now i'm going to get suaned in school for writing this. nooo....

Till next post...