Total Defense Day 10:26 PM

Today is Total Defense Day, meaning, in the case of this year, that anyone in a UYO has to appear in school in full uniform. For once, I bothered to do all the starching and other random stuffs. Andrew will have comments to say, I predict. So let me explain why. Back at ACS Primary, Total Defense Day was a pretty important event in the school calendar, so I was very shocked to find it accorded no attention at ACS Independent. But I still think its important anyway, so that's why I did all that stuff.

I've misplaced my beret, which I find extremely annoying. We were given the option to come with our cap instead, but anyway I called Zhi En and asked if I could borrow the one from the room. So I waited outside the room for him to come with the key. 

Lee Zheng came first and he had the key. We talked for a while about stuff. Turns out he was demoing Hazmat gear during the Total Defense presentation. He was going Sentosa with his class for IB orientation later. Lucky guy. I was going to have Chinese common test. I wish we had more time to talk a little more. I wish we had spent more time together since we first met. :( Damn regret.

The beret did not have a cap badge, so nevermind I was going to use a cap instead. Then I had to go and rush off to find Mr Alex Ng to get my SGT epaulettes along with some other people. He was, as predicted, fashionably late. 

Total Defense presentations were pretty short. Just a couple of videos. And an NCDCC presentation about Hazmat. Take that NCC! We did something for Total Defense Day :) Sadly Daniel did the slides and speaking. Awful. Couldn't he have the creativity to at least create his own cover slide. And why, of everything to use the awful Powerpoint? I hate that program, I hate that word, and I hate the company and people who created it. Sorry PC people. 

Chinese common test was okay, I think I will pass but not do well. Couldn't remember the blasted kuan shu word, so lost one mark for not writing shu.

Rest of the day was boring, except for Chemistry and Chinese. This is what Ivy Goh wears:

The Ivy Goh Spring/Summer Collection

"White"

Labcoat top + IKEA HEDDA RUTA curtains, SGD 39.99 for 2

"Old"

Large teabag + Umbrella fabric

Her ting xie was once again postponed when someone rubbed it off the board. Oh yea, and she doesn't tell you when she wants you to give out books. She just puts in near you and walks away.

Chemistry had lots of cool experiments. Precipitates and solubility in alkaline solutions. The colors were mesmerizing.

Panel discussion after-school means that I miss NCDCC. I was actually looking forward to this one, because we were supposed to be teaching year 2s. The panel discussion was boring and the presentations plain ugly. I did ask one question:

"Speaker's corner has been written off as a failure in many publications. Why do you think this is so? What do you think holds people back from using it? Or is the idea fundamentally flawed?"

It didn't get answered. The panelists skipped it even after the moderator approved it. Later Mr Ang said that the minute he heard it he knew they couldn't answer it. Lolz :) Then I asked why did they skip it. And he said "because they are panelists." Lolz :)

I didn't attend the reception cuz they were so many people and I wanted to, for once, go for NCDCC. Then I found five things.

1. I am teaching year 1s not 2s. Meaning including Eth and Steven.

2. I missed IPP test. Meaning I have to arrange a makeup time.

3. I am not in the March SNCO course. Disappointment. Hope hope hope etc. that I am in the June one.

4. The Lee Zheng, Daniel, David, and Zhi En were not around. Meaning year 3s were in charge.

5. Some Year 2s were laughing (and being really crude) when they were being pumped. So they were screwed real bad. They were forced to run round the IB block. Which I find mean. And a few of then ended up doing a lot a lot of push ups. And worse still someone went and spilt year 2s up and punished half, and left the other half alone. Which both achieves nothing and makes innocent people in the former half feel unfairly ostracized. Come on, what happened to the All for One and One for All?

Later one, I knocked all of them down for a few of them still being really really in your face rude. And at the end of the whole thing, Mr Lawrence Yong told JonTang that we were too hard on the year 2s. Actually I feel sorry for them, that just because of one or two people, other innocent people get into a hell lot of trouble for no reason. I think that disregarding the All for One rule was the worst thing that was done today though. I'm not gonna point fingers here, but I think that the year 3s need a post-mortem meeting.

I feel really sorry for the year 2s, regret knocking them down, and guilty that I wasn't there to watch out for the year 2s, not least my year 2 friends. 

Hoping 10:08 PM

I found a couple of inspiring quotes:

"If you're a scientist, its time to ask yourself if you're making a difference where you are. And whether you'd like to make a bigger one."
--Atomic Weapons Establishment UK

This one from a iPhone wallpaper:

Learn from yesterday

Live for today

Hope for tomorrow

Anyway today I went for the Biotechnology Fair 2009 briefing. Which was apparently at the Science Centre. Wanted to walk around after the presentations, but it was pretty late so I went home. 

Oh yes, remember the charity bazaar? Jon Tang told me before hand that I will buy all the paintings for 200++ if they aren't sold. At the end of the actual bazaar, he sent me an SMS saying that they were unsold, and that he told Ms Fiona Ho that I will buy them. So I called and said that was a joke in very bad taste. I pretended to cry on the phone. And yesterday he told me that he recorded it and he wants to use it as his ringtone. And that he wants to freely distribute it. See? Jon Tang bully me. The niceness is a devious facade I tell you. Jon Tang, I thought you were my friend...

Chemistry was really cool. Lots of interesting reactions. I was villianized for knowing most of the reactions. Lolz. :)

I hope I can get into SNCO course. An NCDCC course I actually want to go for. :) And tomorrow have physics exam. Wish me luck :)

I Wish I Cannot Feel 9:48 PM

Today was unusual. I am now participating for Life Sciences Symposium energy competition, running an exhibition booth and sending in an entry for Biotechnology Fair 2009. I'm not saying that's bad, because I love science, but things tend to get a little messy when too many things happen at the same time.

Something happened, and now I am also in NCDCC 2 Star Kayaking course. Andrew came during recess, and said Alex Ng did the choosing. I'll leave that at that. When he told me I just freaked. So I went and talked to Joel Toi, and that made me feel a little better :) 

Andrew thinks that that course is something that should be looked forward to. And I said (a little bluntly) that I would like to go with Joel instead. I think he's upset. I'm sorry :)

I did say yes, because I didn't think that Mr Alex Ng / Dr Tan was going to take no for an answer. When every did they? :) I regret saying yes, even though I didn't really have a choice. I realize I spend a lot of time thinking about the things I've done and looking back, knowing that I will never be able to change what has happened. I wish I could be the type of person, ruthlessly efficient, who can just forget everything that went by, and just look dead ahead and build a better future without turning back... Sometimes, I find that the ability to feel is an evolutionary flaw. Sometimes I wish that I couldn't feel.

There are millions of things which I want to forget and never look back at again, but I find I can't. Sometimes its people I miss the most because its painful to think of them.

Sometimes I wish that I was cooler. Sometimes I wonder why I try to be somebody I'm not.

Talking Makes Me Happy :) 9:46 PM

Hmm, I have not written stuff for a while. That's because I was busy with the Moot Parliament proposal presentation. Now that it's done, only to find that the actual presentation is far far away, let's go over what has happened for the past few days.

Apparently my karate grading is next week. Oh dear. As usual, I hope I dun phail. I need to be more positive.

Monday was chemistry test, which I did not study for, contrary to what Jon Tang will tell you. The test was easy, except for the lack of enough time. The section B questions are just b**ch. So much to writing to do. So I left out one point for the last question on fractional distillation. I hate it when I know I can't top a test when I could have. I never forgive myself. :(

On the way home, I met Joel Toi at the bus stop. And we were going the same way all the way home, MRT etc. :) So we talked all the way, which was a really nice thing. :) I realize that everytime I feel emo, I always feel better after talking to people (about anything).

Anyway, at the bus stop, everyone was rushing for the first 74 that came along. The aircon was not working. Since it was so crowded, I decided to wait. Immediately after the bus left, another 74 arrived, with a working aircon. Epic phail for the kia su people who rushed.

Alex Ng called on the train ride home to ask Joel whether he wanna go for two star kayaking. Andrew was going too.

We talked all the way home :)

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Life's Not So Bad After All 11:43 PM

I wonder how I should look at the Core Maths test today. It was easy. Except for one question. 1b. The horrible square roots and subjects of formulas. I have decided that I hate squares and roots. The one test in the whole year where I actually had a chance to score 100 and I screwed it up.

White space had Chinese lesson. Andrew tried to run away. Terrible. Then he changed into uniform during Chinese. So enthu. Whoops, I'm not supposed to use that word right? XD

NCDCC went pretty okay. Okay leaning towarda well. :) Oh, did I mention that Ms Anna Lim loves to drag out the word NCDCC. I tell you she loves to do it, she gets a kick out of it.

Today was Hazmat, meaning memorizing 130++ powerpoint slides. 9 classes of hazardous materials, properties and emergency procedure, then chemical agents. It started pretty late because we misplaced Mr Alex Ng.

Hazmat was a lot better than it would normally have been because Lee Zheng was teaching :). I think that alone made the 130++ slides a thousand times less painful. When we were almost at the end he said "Oh, we're almost done, good job Lee Zheng". :)

Test was immediadely after. Lee Zheng was like "The test is very difficult" one moment and the next "The test is very easy". He gave us hints during the powerpoint and tried to do the paper later also, mentally. That was nice of him, and encouraging.

Apparently next Friday is total defense day, meaning the whole school day in full uniform. Absurd. Andrew asked whether we were going to do anything stupid. Lee Zheng was like "No, Daniel will" XD

As I was walking to the roundabout, Jonathan Tang got me into this argument about whether I mug for exams. For the record I do not. Whatever Jon Tang tells you he is bluffing. Don't listen to him. :) Anyway, as I was loudly stating that I do not study for chemistry, Ms Ong Wei Ling was apparently behind me. Whoops! She said hi, and we chatted for a short while. She asked how I was, which was really thoughtful :)

I slept in the car and came home to lots of Kueh Pai Tee for me :) yeah! Kaka made the filling that afternoon.

After dinner Jason Chee called to ask if I wanted iWork and iLife since he got them. I already had them, but I think it was extremely thoughtful of Jason to ask. :) Thanks a million for being so thoughtful!

Someone gave mummy a Nokia E71. It looks fabulous, is wonderously thin and came with a nice case. Mum gave it to Ethan.

Its nice to know so many people care, and I'm happy today. I think I need to be more content with life. And look on the nicer side of things more. And I wish I spent a million times more time with all the people who make my life worth living.

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Life is Weird 11:06 PM

Okay, firstly, if you are reading this now, which you probably will do soon, I'm sorry Joel Toi for what I said/wrote earlier on. I was being insensitive and careless. The text has been removed. I'm sorry.

But what do you mean that lots of people read what goes on here? Who does? Just curious...

Advanced Math was cool today. I was totally fascinated by a process known as synthetic division. It is fantastically elegant, sleek and blazing fast. Go look it up. You'll be amazed by what you find.

POD was free period. Yay. :)

People were amazed I took notes for IHS instead of sleeping. Mindmap.

Chinese was funny. We counted the number of arbitrary noises such as "huh" that Ms Ivy Goh makes per minute for each minute of the 60 min lesson. They were categorized into different sounds, and the on-going activity in that minute was noted. I will then plot a graph of minute one to sixty with the on-going activity in colored sections. Thus I intend to find the correlation of amount arbitrary noises to activity or period in time. Recorded the whole lesson using my phone just in case I need to recount. It was between the pages of a Chinese book under the table  :) heheheh.....

It was under the table because Andrew suggested that if I left in on the tabletop Ms Goh might pick it up and try to use it... Lolz

After school, things got weird. Went for the NCDCC meeting on admin positions. I'm in the Events team. Like WTF?! What's that supposed to mean? I think it is seriously messed up. Lee Zheng didn't come, so there wasn't much of a meeting anyway. Why did you arrange us like this Lee Zheng??

Oh yeah, the iPhone beats a netbook for checking email. In the second demonstration already. First one was at Dragonfly at St. James.

I'm doing the same Life Sciences Symposium topic as Daniel Lim did, for the second time in a row. Oh my... In fact I'm working together with him on the same project this time. Of all the people it could have been. Why?? Why?? Why?? Daniel tried to hide his shock. My first thought was why couldn't it be Lee Zheng instead...

During the Life Sciences Scymposium I heard another episode of the Dheepa drama.

Computer hangs.

Student: "Madam, my computer hung"

Dheepa (in irritated tone): "So wait a while!"

Student (after waiting): "Madam, its still hung"

Dheepa (in irritated tone): "I told you to wait a while right?!"

Ethan is now in NCDCC. So is Steven.

Life is random. Shake to shuffle.

African Yams 10:30 PM

Today went pretty okay, I guess. Ms Ivy Goh made about 115 abitrary noises (huh) during a 80 min lesson. We counted.

There was an evil diagnostic test during core maths. It was about year 2 stuff, algebraic manipulation, like factorization and simplification. I hate the test cuz it made me feel stupid.
Mr Kenneth Ong thinks that the test was laughably easy. I told him it was not. He didn't believe me and said I was trying to scare him. I think he's in for a shock when he marks the papers.

After school went for the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve ranger thingy. Apparently the whole thing when the class comes along too involves the removal of African Yam from the reserve. 

Wonder why....

I missed the whole presentation because of the CCA exhibition where I was at the NCDCC booth. Refer to earlier posts about the enthu people. Whoops! I said that word again.

The yams as you can see are huge...

We did a rather unscientific dissection. The inside is white and has a sort of turnip, potato consistency and appears to have a rather large amount of juice.

Oh yeah, on the way there in the bus, me and Andrew had a debate about enthuness. Which got nowhere. Again.

My mum's gonna go Sweden in April. I can't come becuz of school. Sucks right? At least I'm gonna go Okinawa in June.

It's snowing over one foot of snow at my aunts place in England, in the heaviest snowfall in 18 years. Everyone is snowed under, and the place looks almost magical. Kids are sledging down the road outside my aunts house because cars can't drive. The road I used to walk down so often as kid. People are mucking around in the park down the road. The park I used to play at as a kid.

I don't want to grow up.

I wish I was there. Again I'm not. Because of school.

I shall soon be writing my 25 Things FaceBook note. As I read other people's notes, I realize that I wish I had more time together with the people I care about.

Tomorrow is the Bose common test. I hoe I dun phail. I'm afraid.

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