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October 30th, 2005


02:23 am - An Unmitigated Disaster
JUST WTF DO ALL THE MAN UTD PLAYERS WHO STARTED THE MIDDLESBROUGH GAME THINK THEY WERE TRYING TO DO?!

You talk about being the one team that can catch Chelsea, yet you lose 4-1 to M'boro.

John O'Shea did kindly remind all United players not to be distracted by the looming arrival of Chelsea at Old Trafford, and that they must not take Boro lightly. But what was the freaking response? The worst football a Man Utd team has produced since losing 5-0 to Chelsea.

Thankfully for the lad, he did put in quite a good performance along with Rooney and Smith, but unfortunately, he was playing in a team lacking pace, stamina, aerial dominance, passion, desire, whatever.

And seriously, I think Man Utd should revert back to a 4-4-2 asap. Somehow, Ferguson just doesn't understand that United cannot play 4-3-3, and stubbornly fends off criticisms of that formation.

For once, I'm inviting criticisms of Man Utd. Everyone who has something to say about this appaling result can post a reply.
Current Mood: WTFWTFWTFWTF

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September 1st, 2005


04:50 pm - OBS ADRA Mongolia - Day 2 (20/8)
Day 2 )
Current Music: R Kelly - Step in the Name of Love

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August 29th, 2005


07:52 pm - OBS ADRA Mongolia - Day 1 (19/8)
Since Boon Gan has decided to post something about the Mongolia trip, I might as well.

Ever since Nancy Tay revealed the 10 destinations for Sec 4 Camp this year, I knew Mongolia was the one for me. I wanted something different, something that is able to offer a stark contrast to the hectic schooling life that we experience everyday. I wanted a taste of countryside life, expose myself to a different culture and make new friends. I wanted to stay away from civilisation, and completely immerse myself in relaxed, slightly laid-back and physically tough conditions, and I believed that this offered a chance of a lifetime to do so. Kanchanaburi did come close, I admit, but ultimately, the lure of Mongolia stemming from its distance from S'pore and its relative anonymity was too much for myself and the 24 others (plus Maumu of course).

We met at 10.30 pm on 18 Aug at Changi Airport Terminal 1 for our Air China flight (CA 976) at 12.30 pm to Beijing. Before this, Wayne fed me with unwelcome information that Air China has one of the highest crash rates, and I spent the next few hours praying for a safe trip. It did not turn out as bad as I thought; service was quite good and stuff. The thing I resent is that they served supper at 1 am, and being the glutton I am, I ate it all up and ended up not being able to sleep properly the remaining flight. Haiz.

I must say the view from our second Air China (CA 901) flight from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar was quite exhilarating. Landforms such as deep faults, valleys, mountains etc could easily be seen. Outer Mongolia was mostly desert, whereas greener plains and trees heralded the presence of Inner Mongolia. When we landed, I couldn't help but notice that there is an Air Mongolia. From what I saw, Air Mongolia has a total plane count of 3 or 4 consisting of 1 Boeing 747 (I believe) and other smaller planes, plus more rickety helicopters. Customs was much faster here than at Beijing, with the only hitch being that my customs officer took around 2 min processing Ryan's (who was in front of me) documents because she saw little resemblance between picture and face.

Our Mongolian instuctors, Unuruu and Chimgee, the director Luya and Ai Chin (who had arrived earlier) met us at the airport. Initially I thought we would have major problems communicating, which would have limited the productivity of this trip, but my fears were quickly dispelled when Chimgee and Luya started conversing with us in standard English. Unuruu was not as proficient, but I was impressed with his thirst to learn.

We proceeded in 3 vans (2 vans for us and 1 van for luggage) to the International Children's Centre. The Centre is something like an overseas school where participants from different countries like Korea, Japan etc. converge and mix around with each other. They seem able to mingle well and understand each other, which I find fascinating since it was not a purely Mongolian school. Different areas of the school compound were also allocated to architectures originating from different countries, which I believe would assist in assimilating the students into the school.

Our very first activity, the Spider Web, was carried out in the afternoon. It was like any normal obstacle course, and we had to get through without touching the ropes, which doubled up as the lines of the web. We were given 20 min, but we took a slightly longer time to complete it. After that, we had our first of many discussions, mainly about teamwork, communication etc.

The evening jog characteristic of an OBS camp was carried out at snail's pace, but even so, most of us were panting quite heavily because of the thinner air resulting from higher altitudes. Dinner was okay, considering the fact that I did not expect very high quality food. I noticed that the Mongolians, like ourselves, like western food.

Soccer game with students of the school after dinner. Most of it was played in the dark and in the biting cold. My movement and contribution to the Hwa Chong Team cause were compromised because my lungs were feeling very cold after I took a few deep breaths of the cold Mongolian night air. In the end, we lost 2-0 in a game lasting 2 halfs of 5 min each. De Pin and Vernon played very well in my opinion.

At night, we had another lengthy discussion about the day's activities and reached an agreement not to play cards in the camp. Three of us including myself were given reminders to pass messages to the rest of the team members because we were the only ones who heard about the change in meeting time. Aside from that, the day proceeded really well as I started to get to know my Team 1 teammates better. I could tell Tze Siong was the charismatic one, Vernon, Tse Siong, Ryan, Aaron and Kao the more outspoken ones, as well as the quiet ones.

The day concluded with Ryan and I irritating Maumu to the extent that he decided to go out and view the night sky. :P
Current Mood: [mood icon] happy
Current Music: Aerosmith - I don't Wanna Miss a Thing

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August 9th, 2005


01:56 pm
You scored as Sirius Black. You are a gifted wizard and very loyal to your allegiance. Whilst you have a big heart and care very much about those around you, you can be a little arrogant and reckless at times.

</td>

Severus Snape

70%

Ron Weasley

70%

Sirius Black

70%

Remus Lupin

70%

Lord Voldemort

70%

Harry Potter

65%

Ginny Weasley

65%

Draco Malfoy

65%

Hermione Granger

60%

Albus Dumbledore

40%

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com

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August 8th, 2005


12:05 am - Football!
For football fanatics only )
Current Mood: [mood icon] discontent

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July 24th, 2005


06:52 pm - Canoeing
Yes, yes, Canoeing did rather well again in this year's Nationals - B Div Gold and C Div Fourth. (We sort of 'disowned' the C Div because there was much talk about kicking the entire lot of them, haha)

But while most of my B Div teammates can sit back and gloat about their achievements ([info]tornarchon especially, with 10 or 11 medals/trophies and a forgettable broken Challenge of the Sea Masters trophy), I am left quite alone, I feel, to myself, pondering what could have been if I had made other choices than the ones I made.

You might have heard, I missed out on a gold, and frustratingly, continued my irritating streak of losing to every single HC boat together with me in a final. That is, with the exception of Yue Ling + Irving and even that was shrouded in controversy because the officials took a whole hour to sort that one out as we finished almost simultaneously. I look at myself and if you would permit me to say, gold-less, and then I look at people like Boon, Bernard, Hongyu and Nick with at least 3 golds apiece, and I wonder, "What went wrong?"

Note: This entry is written with all due respect to T paddlers, and one should not take offence at the following paragraphs.

I definitely do not doubt my own capabilities, much less my opponents'. However, I still do not see how I can achieve a first placing if I continue in a K event. Everywhere I turn to, I meet with an intimidating stumbling block. In K11k, there's Boon of course, not forgetting Jori, Bose, Jit Yew. In K1 500, I see Jeremy Choo, and to a lesser extent, Bernard and Weng Ngai. In K2s, we have John+Zi Qiang and Yan Bo+Jun Yi, and ok lah, Shaun+Ivan too. So to me, it is pretty much wth (mimics Russell Peter's stupid hand action).

And then we come to the Ts. The main dominant force in recent years in T1 has been Soo Zhi Kai, Niklas and that new BHSS guy, all of whom do not intimidate me as much as those K pple I have listed. In T2s, this feeling is even more pronounced for obvious reasons. Of course, we have to take into account that these people have improved from where I left off in Sec 2 and developed into much more promising T paddlers. I, for one, do not know how much Soo Zhi Kai has improved, but I can remember beating him with considerate ease during the T1 1K final back in Sec 2. But anyway, the point is, I put it across crudely, that I feel T events are more "winnable" than K events.

What prompted me to write this entry was the fact that most of the Sec 4 canoeists have gold medals while I have none, and personally, I stress, I feel I am more deserving than some to at least secure a win. Thus in the light of what has turned out the previous 4 years, I can only comfort myself by imagining a K medal (of any colour) would be more coveted than a T gold. In the case of Bernard winning 3 golds, I can only come up with the reason that he is facing lesser competition. (What can you say, if you have Boon, Jori, Jit Yew and was it Bose, all in 1 final?)

If some canoeists reading this may be beginning to take offence, I stress once again that I have utmost respect for T paddlers and mean to sow no discord whatsoever. However, I would like to hear some comments.

Once again, long live HC Canoeing. May the torch continue to burn aglow (sorry ryan and hongyu, can't help thinking of the old TNS school song) after we leave the high school section.
Current Mood: [mood icon] contemplative

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July 2nd, 2005


12:35 pm - Big Bad Brother
As the subject title probably hinted it all, I have just finished playing the role of the "Big Bad Brother". Let me reenact the scenes:

1. My youngest brother started playing the comp at around 9.30 am (not sure cos I was still asleep)
2. I told him I want to use the comp at 11.30 am
3. He ignored me
4. I reminded him at noon again that I want to use the comp, and at that time, my patience was running a bit short.
5. He questioned me (does he have the right to?) and I promptly tell him I'm gonna use it for MRP(and a bit of Archspace)
6. He refused to budge after repeated warnings. (He was playing MapleSea, and as I reasoned, Work comes first)
7. I wrestled him off the computer, changed his account type and deleted MapleSea.

Question is: Have I gone too far?
Current Mood: [mood icon] annoyed
Current Music: Keane - Somewhere Only We Know

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May 21st, 2005


07:25 pm - openhouse
I was bitched at today. And deservedly so. Because I failed to put up my poster, which Letchmi kindly reminded me that she told me to do it for this Open House thing one month ago, on time. I procrastinated, and tried to do the thing up VERY last minute, but it backfired. As Letchmi put it, I had tried to make my own decisions, which clashed with decisions made by others, and in the end, the thing screws up. And now, Ms Lim and Mrs Yong supposedly have "bad impressions" of me and I have become unreliable in their eyes.

I protested inside myself. Why was I picked to do it in the first place? Because Letchmi thinks I am responsible? In that case, I've let both she and myself down. Why did I not receive any help (or minimal help from yuxi and discounting David's prompt response to my request for photos) from my group "members"? Why do I have to do it all alone? Although I admit I left it to the last minute, I did start to panic at the start of the week and had tried to ask for help. But they refused, citing EP3 commitments, homework, and the fact that I was 'chosen' by Letchmi to do this.

This whole episode has made me rethink about the responsibilities that I shoulder, and that I must finish them on time. Because in the end, the end-product is all that matters. The amount of effort put in does not matter at all. All people care about is the result; they don't give half a damn how you do it, they just want you to do it. I have also resolved to finish my work on time and not leave them till the last minute. I also have to learn how to turn down requests and certain tasks and try not to take up too much responsibilities beyond by capacity.

On to happier things, CMC camp planning is going smoothly. I'm glad how things have progressed, and have enjoyed the little sessions with the rest of iCMG and Kevin Cheng at KAP. Really looking forward to a good turnout at the Camp.
Current Mood: [mood icon] distressed
Current Music: The Killers - Somebody Told Me

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May 10th, 2005


06:59 pm - Misc (erpz)
Time for an update at last. Not exactly been busy the past few days, but the post-test week mood has set in, and I've been getting really slacky; wasting time on the Net and stuff.

Canoeing trainings have been quite ok, except that there is this significant improvement in Shaun's performance. Normally I would have owned him if we took K1s irregardless of distance, but the reverse has been happening during all the long-d trainings. And as usual, Boon keeps owning...

Over the weekend, I've been reading all those newspaper articles (both Eng and Chi) on Xiaxue's blog winning whatever Asian blog award, which got me thinking about the different blogging styles that we exhibit. What is an entertaining/fascinating blog? How is a 'good' blog defined? Do you have to make controversial statements so that people will come and read your blog? Personally, I think what makes a blog entertaining is that it must include some insights and thoughts from the author, as well as some personal anecdotes, so that readers know how you think about certain stuff and what you would do in certain circumstances. Like for eg., Xiaxue persistently maintained that it's not a sin to put make-up (like duh!?). In other words, a blog IMO, shouldn't be like: Went for Nat's party today, went for pool today with nick etc. Who cares what you did? I mean, unless you ever went to a party or for pool for only a miserly once, there's no need to blog about those. Then again, the contents of a blog shouldn't be too complicated, which WAS the case in [info]cjqsg's LJ.

And on Saturday, Wai Peng decided to spin up one of his webs of lies and made me walk an extra 3-4 km. Basically, he was pissed that he didn't get to go Ryan Chan's house to play table tennis cos Calvin, Wei Li and I were there. So he bluffed to us that he was coming and then "got lost" somewhere, and I was led around the whole area 'searching' for him when he was still in the comforts of his own home. Totally pissed me off lah...
Current Mood: [mood icon] relaxed

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May 4th, 2005


10:41 pm - MBTI
Attempt at reviving blog... may be futile, but hey, why not give it a try?

Anyway, the main purpose of this entry is to store my MBTI results since I did not take the one initiated by the school.



Your #1 Match: ISTP




The Mechanic

You are calm and collected, even in the most difficult of situations.
A person of action and self-direction, you love being independent.
To outsiders you seem impulsive, surprising, and unpredictable.
You are good at understanding how all things work, except for people.

You would make an excellent pilot, forensic pathologist, or athlete.



Current Mood: [mood icon] accomplished

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November 15th, 2004


05:10 pm - Ophir Trip
The Ophir Trip for iCouncillors and CMC members from the 12th to 14th Nov certainly offered plenty of food for thought, mainly because of the controversial stuff Onghy said and the stuff regarding CHS IP from Mdm Tan.

I'll start with the climb first, cos that's SUPPOSED to be the highlight of the retreat. Wasn't at Kinabalu to make comparisons, but I supposed Ledang is one of the more difficult mountains for the average climber. The climb from the foot to Check Point 5 mainly requires good balance and observation skills, cos we have to look out for slippery mud, rocks, logs, tree stumps etc. Not to mention the river crossing parts where we have to step on the wet and slippery rocks. From CP 6 onwards, we have to use both our hands as well as we were clambering over steep rock faces, climbing ladders and using ropes which seriously need replacing. I thought the climb would be perfect if it was done at a more leisurely pace, as I was feeling quite spent by the time we returned to the foot of the mountain, even though I declare that I have an above-average fitness.

Then came the mini conference where we shared our reflections of the climb. I thought what the Sec 1s/2s said were cliched ("The climb was breathtaking/We were all feeling tired"), what the Sec 2 councillors in high Council positions or those power-hungry ones waiting to impress tancw or onghy said were fake or just feigned pretence ("We learned leadership because the faster ones were waiting for the slower ones and being a leader is about showing concern to others"). I forgot what the general response was from the Sec 3s, but they were the ones which made most sense.

So when it came to Onghy's turn, which she could have exempted herself from commenting like the other teachers did, she decided to rave about how a leader should give proper instructions and show concern to others. All because tancw said, that we should have been smarter to bring more water and follow his instructions in the emails. I didn't know that warranted such a fierce and abrupt reponse from Onghy because she herself failed to give any instructions although she assumed partial responsibility for the well-being of the students who went for the trip. It was obvious what her motive was - to disgrace/niao tancw in front of everyone (including Mdm Tan), which is disgraceful by itself. [info]cjqsg wrote in response to [info]tornarchon's entry that the outburst was to seek solace from the Sec 1s because she's losing her grip on the Sec 3s, which I think is partially true. I really think there isn't the need for tarnishing someone else's reputation using all the chim stuff and quotes from famous people just to make yourself popular. If indeed she does succeed, then this popularity she earned is definitely not cemented because she made herself popular only to the gullible ones by shooting someone else down. She has no right to criticise others because she DID NOT even attempt to display some leadership even though she was in a position of LEADERSHIP.

Then Mdm Tan talked to the CMC members about our roles, purpose etc. She asked if we thought our supposed roles/duties were superficial because she gathered that all we've done is to make the class function. Are we in the CMC to learn or to make the class function? Personally, I think TanKK has modelled the CMC into some sort of organising committee that is mainly concerned about the functioning of the class (discipline, treasury, attendance etc), but lacks the chance to do some proper learning. Mdm Tan asked if we thought CMC members were less important than full fledged councillors and whether we think we are here just to be drafted into duties and roles if the consortium is short of councillors. I certainly thought that way but less so after Mdm Tan assured us that we are in positions of leadership and she will strive to work with the FTs to ensure CMC roles include opportunities to learn as well as to make the class function.

I think this is the most lengthy post so far, and I admit sheepishly that I'm trying to emulate [info]cjqsg's style of writing.
Current Mood: [mood icon] thoughtful
Current Music: More than a Woman - Bee Gees

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November 4th, 2004


01:39 pm - Elections
I really don't understand the reactions of the majority of us (as in Singaporeans) after the results of the 2004 US elections were released. To me, Bush is a more capable leader in these times of crisis. He has led the war against terror well, built steady foundations between the US and other countries, and most importantly, ensured the safety of Americans as well as the people of the world (not counting those stupid people who went to Iraq). Kerry promises much, but what has he actually done? I read somewhere that Kerry want to prevent further outsourcing of services to countries outside US, and what good is that? As Bush has pointed out, Kerry appears to be undecisive when it comes to matters pertaining to the war on terror, which would give the misguided militants another reason to carry out terror attacks.

Another advantage of a Bush re-election is that in the knowledge that he cannot contend another election, Bush can try out new ideas, venture into untested waters. We would be seeing an even more liberal Bush, open to new policies which may further shape the world. Furthermore, Bush has already promised Kerry to work towards a united America, which has become divided in recent years.

I was against Kerry prior to his speech in which he conceded defeat. I was actually rather touched by what he said. He would have made an excellent president, no doubt, but I'm sorry John, the US in times like these is best suited to be headed by Bush. Bush has already taken America deep into war, so why not let him take America out of it? Why not let him build upon those steady relationships he has established with countries worldwide (esp. China, SEA, Britain) in his first term?

To all those who may still be aggrieved at the election results: the Americans know themselves best. Let them decide who they want to be their President.
Current Mood: [mood icon] hopeful

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October 19th, 2004


04:17 pm - ACE and the future
I know I'll get hammered for saying this, but, I think the current ACE system is really stupid and isn't reflective of our true abilities in any subject. It IS true that I myself have relied upon ACE to give me better grades in Bio, Chem and Physics, but when I reflect upon it again, I find that any A1s that I got through this current ACE system has a weeny bit of incertitude in it, because I know that I do not deserve this A1.

People have told me that they are getting grades like B4, C5 and C6 for Chinese and even Math, but thanks to ACE, they jump three grades to the range of A1s and A2s. This is where I'll like to point out the flaw. In Chinese, you can never cheat and hide your real capability. From the way other people hear you speak or look how you write, they can tell whether or not you belong to the A1 or A2 range. And our dear Chinese teacher isn't being any helpful (for now, I stress) as she gives out ACE points freely.

By deceiving ourselves with this "assisted" grades, we are cheating our future employers too. As the pioneer batch of IP, we will not be having any O' Level Certificate to show our future employers, and everyone knows that the A Level Cert is not sufficient either. We will have to produce some of our Secondary School results to show for our competency. So when the employer looks at the Math grade for example, and sees that one of us got A1s and A2s when he actually sux in Math and practically smoked through the entire 6 yrs for Math, for all we know, the employer may actually put this person in the accountancy department or something related to Math, and in the end, the person suffers.

So what's the point of all this? You may say, the guy who sux in Math probably won't pursue any career that's related to Math anyway. While it's true to some extent, most employers really would look at our all-round grades before making a decision whether to hire us or not.

So I think it's best to scrap this ACE, or even better, reduce it back to the 9% since ACE activities are important as I deem them to be. Why deceive yourself and those around you about your own capabilities?
Current Mood: [mood icon] contemplative

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07:18 am - Grades and all that
Can't say I'm too happy with my results. Look below:

English
Paper 1 - 24/30 + 27/30
Paper 2 - 36/50
Paper 3 - 12/20 (I screwed up my lines after facing laurang who happened to be my invigilator)
Total - 74.8 %

Thank goodness Liew said he would round up, so an A1 for English perhaps?

Bio - 68/100
Chem - 72/100

ASSUMING that I have 26 ACE points for the both of these subjects (didn't talk a lot in class, so might cause me some marks), I would have a 75% for Bio and 81% for Chem. I've already gotten an A1 in IH thanks to MRP and exemptions in Math and Chinese. So, I have a chance of repeating the impossible feat: getting a MSG of 1.00 when I hardly deserve it. It hangs in the balance, thanks to Leefy's GL marking scheme and Letchmi's paper which I underestimated the depth of the answers required cos she set some rather simple questions. Evil, I say, though I ought to have anticipated that.

Peeved at David Chew. I'm sure u don't need to ask to know why.
Current Mood: [mood icon] discontent

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October 15th, 2004


09:23 pm - Post-Exams
Hmm... Don't think I've been blogging for about a month now cos I have been busy studying for the exams. Now that they are over, I can gladly say that I will now have the time to blog more often. Here's what I plan to do in the next few weeks since exams and unnecessary stress from school are out of the picture:

1) Build up my muscles
2) Build up my stamina
3) Watch as many movies as possible
4) Learn the guitar (hopefully)
5) Catch 2046 even though it's NC 16
6) Watch all Man Utd matches
7) Play more street soccer
8) Thrash David Chew in table tennis

While we are dwelling on point no. 8, I can say my skills are more or less on par with Chew. When we were playing today, I beat him under windless conditions, but he appeared to thrive when the blustery conditions return. So by rights, I should be the one winning.

And we got back our Physics paper today. Haha, got 88 marks, which would give me more than 100 marks if I count the End of Year score in the same way everyone has been counting. My Bio is in the B3 range, which would give me an overall of 74.6. Considering the two C5s I got for Bio in Terms 2 and 3, getting an overall A1 would be miraculous. But thanks to Hon, I think many of us have a chance at the venerated 1.00.
Current Mood: [mood icon] accomplished

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September 22nd, 2004


11:12 pm
Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards
Mark Jones
David Pegg
Tommy Taylor
Liam Whelan
Walter Crickmer
Tom Curry
Bert Whalley
Ken Rayment
Alf Clarke
Don Davis
George Follows
Tom Jackson
Archie Leadbroke
Henry Rose
Frank Swift
Eric Thompsom
William T. Cable
B.P. Miklos
William Satinoff

- The 23 Manchester United players who perished in the Munich Air Crash on Feb 6, 1958.

I've been looking for the names of these 23 Man Utd heroes for quite some time, and fortunately Soccernet reported something about Sir Bobby Charlton unveiling a memorial in Munich. Looking at what Man Utd achieved AFTER the crash - including Div 1 titles (the best division then was div 1) and European Cup in 1968, I can safely say Man Utd was (and still is) the greatest club in the world.

In other news, we went to watch Spellbound today, which was about an American National Spelling Competition. The winner won with the word "logorrhea", which meant excessive use of words. I noticed most of them don't know what the word that they are supposed to spell is supposed to mean, so that means that either their phonetics is very good or they memorised the entire dictionary. Either way, the show was rather boring.
Current Mood: [mood icon] indescribable

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September 17th, 2004


08:16 pm - Online gaming
I just played some Gunbound (yes, when I should be studying for exams), and am appalled at the profanities and vulgarities used by some of the players. For example, I was in this game and they start calling each other "noobs". And the other guy gets pissed off and starts insulting the former's parents. Sooner or later, I will be dragged into the entire fracas, mainly because I have just made a particularly lethal shot. :D And let's face it, who wouldn't retaliate if ur parents get insulted?

And is NgSC so deviod of attention that he must USE CAPITAL LETTERS in all the titles of his emb posts?
Current Mood: [mood icon] bouncy

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September 13th, 2004


12:54 am - TV Serials
Haiz. Guess I have been watching TV too much, especially Channel U and Channel 8. I seem to get mesmerized too easily by certain Chinese actresses. This time, it's Alyssa Chia in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, showing on Channel 8 during 7-9pm on weekends. She's the one acting as Zhao Min, the cute Mongolian princess. Not to mention other actresses in that show who are equally cute.

The thing is, can Mediacorp and Mediaworks not show good Chinese serials so near to the exams? They should show lousy ones like the no-brainer which was aired three or four months ago (I can't recall the name) during exam periods, so that we will get down to study for the exams. Showing great shows like Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre now only serves to distract us from our revision.

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September 1st, 2004


08:30 pm - PSB Msg
Dear Mr Hon, Ms Yeo, and friends,

I am Lim Shi Hong of 3N. I would like to suggest that we revert back to the old system of using textbooks to study Chinese, and occasionally discuss newspaper articles or conduct interviews. The current system of focusing on compres, compos, interviews and newspaper articles etc, although trains us in an all-rounded manner, I would think that using textbooks would be better as it focuses more on expanding our vocabulary.

Before we start raising our objections, may I request that we consider and reflect how much we have learnt in the year so far? On a personal note, I was writing my ying4 yong4 wen2 when I experienced writer’s block. I discovered to my surprise that it was mainly due to a lack of vocabulary, which caused me to use the same terms a lot of times, and subsequently, causing the composition to be devoid of style and creativity. I find it difficult to express my exact thoughts into the composition. Furthermore, the focus on the aforementioned has led to many of us to be “tired” of the same kind of homework over and over again, and therefore, leading many to put off writing for a while. I have noticed that our class has a problem of not handing in Chinese homework, especially zuowens, on time and it has caused great inconvenience to our Chinese teacher.

On the other hand, I find the old system favours me more. I was able to connect with the interesting topics in the textbooks and many of them actually teach us lessons very pertinent to our lives. The focus on vocabulary is very much greater, which means that we learn more new words and phrases. We will be able to express ourselves more accurately, regardless of whether we are in conversation with others or penning our thoughts in compos or other forms of writing.

What’s intriguing is that Chinese tests and exams are still set based upon lists of vocabulary and “cheng2 yu3”, written according to the syllabus approved by MOE. As a result, many of us clamoured for a change as we find ourselves desperately studying the lists given to us, and discovering that we are horribly short of knowledge on the required vocabulary.

Currently, my Chinese teacher asks us to do group presentations of words in the lists. I find it rather ineffective as my classmates and I find this platitudinous and actually do other things while listening to presentations.

Therefore, I would like to suggest that we use back our textbooks, and on some occasions, introduce newspaper reviews, lessons on Chinese history and interviews as “extra ACE opportunities” to inject some liveliness into the education system. I truly believe that we would stand to learn more Chinese this way and also raise the awareness of many students who think that Chinese is secondary.

Thank you,
Lim Shi Hong (11), 3N
Current Mood: [mood icon] determined

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11:41 am - Tchrs Day
Teachers Day Celebration was, needless to say, rather boring, save for that entertaining skit/play by Maumu and Warren. The skit/play was about life as CHS students, and life as grown ups (played by YongJS and Vincent Tan). It gave Warren a chance to showboat, for he was doing pushups as "punishment". I can't say much about the musical performances, cos everybody was making so much noise and the hall doesn't resonate sound that well, so we could barely hear the music. But I have to say that guy who sang The Reason doesn't really have the voice to do it.

Went back to TNS with [info]hectortroy, Calvin, Zeqi and Waipeng. Was amazed at how many CHS pple there were in CHS; I don't even know there were so many ex-taonanites in CHS. Apparently, CHS got released the earliest, and I thought 10 am was a tad too late. Saw the teachers, namely Wenglaoshi, Mrs Ngoh, Mrs Chiam, Mrs Soh and Mrs Neo. I was surprised Mrs Ngoh and Mrs Neo could still remember my name, after three years following graduation from pri school. Mrs Ngoh is now pregnant with twins and look much better now that she's fattened up a bit. Oh yeah, not to mention the ever-increasing high disparity between the guys and the girls (with all due respects to Nat).

One more thing, I discovered to my surprise that Otelli Edwards, the TV presenter who presented the Olympic show at 10pm, was from TNS. I found that out when I was looking at the roll of honour, and there she was at the 1990 row, which means she would be 26 now.
Current Mood: [mood icon] surprised

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