Aaron's Adventures

I have moved...

2011-12-01T18:02:00.001+08:00

why hello!

For my 1000th post, I would just like to say that... I HAVE MOVED!

I now blog at:

http://thehungrygeographer.blogspot.com

SEE YOU THERE!

Brounian Motion

2011-10-02T21:44:00.000+08:00

twentyeight.Sept

Haven't met up with Movin in ages / had a proper dinner with him... since the time we attended Jorel's concert.

Given the huge amount of unhealthy food in my system, I decided to check out Broun Cafe, near Clarke Quay MRT. They apparently serve healthy yet tasty food, and the photos online looked pretty cosy and nice, just right for a catch-up dinner with the big black @dinosauricon.

Just a short walk away from Clarke Quay MRT, and very near Settler's Cafe.

Absolutely adored the simple design.

Unlike other cafes, they don't have a laundry list of food to choose from, so you won't have difficulty selecting.

This was absolutely delicious!

Aglio Olio.

Not the yummiest around, but definitely VERY HEALTHY. For that, it deserves five thumps up!

I'm starting to wonder how many of these shots I have.

Ice-Cream, but not the Magnolia kind. It seems to be specially made by them, and has a fresh fruity taste to it.

Our change came in this box. NO GST, NO SERVICE CHARGE.

Definitely quite a decent meal here... I would love to come back here for snacks and chillout :)

ximending & bruno

2011-10-01T22:16:00.000+08:00

first.Oct

After booking out in the morning, had breakfast with Andy at Wendy's at Nex. Had a huge pancake platter thingum that was so filling.

Went home, rushed out, had a tuition session, then it was off to meet Darren for lunch.

Lunch at the Soup Spoon. Yummy Tokyo Stew and Chicken Mushroom Wrap.

We watched a "Friends with Benefits" after that, which was quite a good film!

Had dinner with Pek and Darren at Xi Men Ding Taiwan Cuisine at Raffles City.

Before we arrive, Darren found out that Pek had just donated blood, and this is what HE sent her.

Look at what she assumed!!!

The last reply was written by me when I got my hands on Darren's phone.

Can you believe this guy is going to be a 3SG?

Yet another one of these photos. Pek didn't press and hold the camera button halfway, hence the blur.

Pek Xuan with her "bedsheet" blouse.

Yummy, and Brenda's presence is missed!

My longevity noodles. 2.5/5, I'd rate it.

Went to Il Gelato di Bruno afterwards. Yummy.

Can you believe this is BUY ONE GET ONE FREE? These two medium-sized cups only cost $8 in total!

Xinwang with the Barbs

2011-09-29T22:04:00.000+08:00

twentynine.Sept

Divya and I have a special end-of-the-month dinner thing. It's end of September, so it's our catch-up dinner time again!

As she mentioned that she wanted a budget dinner, I decided to eat at Kopitiam. Then the retarded BARBS started feeling guilty when I smsed her, "okay, waiting for you at kopitiam".

Not that eating at kopitiam is a bad thing, it's just that we don't like to dine there when we're out for our dinners. I'm sure you know what I mean.

So anyway, yes, I'm a crazy loyal member of Xinwang for three years, due to their Papaya Soup which I love to bits!

How can you go to XinWang and not have MILK TEA???

Clearly a loyal member.

Decided to try the Chye Poh Egg with Noodles.

Yes, it's instant noodles. Mad rip-off $7.90!!!

Told you I have ten million of these shots.

... and so will my friends, soon enough!

Divya didn't even finish her food! Poor starving African kids, I feel for you.

chickens and mudpies.

2011-09-26T21:43:00.000+08:00

twentysix.Sept

On what was supposed to be my chillout day, I had to go to Tampines to help Darren remove the camera form his new blackberry, so he could bring it to camp.

So I ended up at Tampines, and decided to chill at Starbucks while getting started on my University applications for US schools. Having not written much for the past one year has taken a toll on my ability to express myself. Thankfully, I continued to read books and articles, so I don't think I deproved that much... or at least I hope.

After all that was over, since Jerryl lives in Simei and is somehow never in camp, we had a hearty (see? I keep using the same word) dinner at BBQ Chicken. This seriously reminds me of NUSHS Boarding days, when we dined at West Coast Plaza.

When we just entered the restaurant, Jerryl decided to shamelessly ask for a Student Discount. When the woman said no, he said "but we're NSFs, like students"... and the woman relented!

Nachos add-on for the Student meal for only $3. Crazy huge portion, right?

Yes, that huge!

With my Korean Charbroiled.

I look stunningly kid-like again. Sigh, I need to get wrinkles or something, otherwise people don't believe I'm 19!

After dinner, we decided to head to NYDC for our dessert. Yummy!

Waitress was super slow with the bill.

I love NYDC for the desserts... for their main courses... not so much.

Excellent catch-up dinner. Now where are the other guys?

wild oats & tumbleweed

2011-09-16T23:44:00.001+08:00

sixteen.Sept

Decided to try Wild Oats with Andy, at Punggol Park.

I at Punggol Park about exactly a year ago, when it was still Bliss Restaurant. I remember discussing about the final semester of High School back then, and now I'm already about one-eighth through NS.

Here we are!

Quaint location, dining by the side of the pond. (Okay maybe the pond water doesn't exactly have the nicest colour).

Got sick of visiting malls, so this is quite a relief.

Andy was like, half hour late? Haha I thought I was going to be late, turns out it's the other way around.

My $11.90 Creamy Mushroom Spaghetti that wasn't so fantastic. I loved the one at Bliss with the huge German sausage :(

Nonetheless, it's still better than PASTAMANIA.

And of course, the mandatory shots:

Yummy!

Mango Pudding for dessert. About $5.90.

My overly-sweetened brownie that reminded me a bit too much of Cafe Iguana.

Yup, it was a hearty meal as usual, with a long chat :) I love HTHTs haha.

Fish Eggs for Babu

2011-09-14T11:05:00.000+08:00

So everyone's heading off to University, and so is Ravi, who's heading to the University of York to pursue Medicine.

This is sort of our last outing before he flies off... and he decided to have Japanese, since he hasn't tried eating from a Conveyor Belt before.

After roaming around Suntec/Marina Square/Raffles City, we settled on the new Sushi Express in City Link. Each plate costs $1.80 there, compared to the $2.29 at Sakae (mad expensive!)

No messy coloured plates of different pricings... it's just $1.80 per plate!

Prawns with mayo sushi. Nothing quite like this in Sakae, I think. Sinful and fabulous.

Me with Babu the Retard.

Cheese with prawns??? Didn't try this though.

Apparently they had a new dish, called "Scallop King", and I was among the first to try it!

Somehow everyone didn't like Scallop. So weird... it's like the yummiest seafood ever.

Is this Herring?

I think we are quite messy eaters... and here's Ravi showing us why:

Thankfully we're in a restaurant. I feel less worried about eating food from the table. #psychological

I took this, took a photo, and then put it back. Looks quite yummy, but I think it's a bit too filling!

Divya giving her super retarded self-satisfied look, like "HEY I GOT UNAGI AND YOU DON'T".

Best thing ever - Divya was damn scared by the fish eggs and we kept stuffing it in her face, and hence the title of this blog entry.

Healthy options ftw :) This reminds me of Brenda who always eats this at Sakae.

I think the food was average? They don't serve iced water -.-

Anyway, we moved on to Gelare for Dessert, half-priced waffles on Tuesdays!

Yummeh :D

Dominic had an AMAZON KINDLE - I was so impressed by the screen! Didn't think it would be so easy on the eyes. Now I get the hype!

All the best Ravi, for an intensive course in University :) Such a beautiful campus...

Gosh everyone's going places!

of Works, Barrels and Pigeonholes

2011-09-13T10:04:00.000+08:00

Just one week before Brenda departs for London!

She wanted to eat Asian Cuisine, so I was all over ladyironchef and hungrygowhere, trying to find some nice, small restaurant that we haven't tried before. That kind of failed since everything was a bit pricey.

I was in camp at that time, and there happened to be an 8 days beside me! I flipped it and voila, this little restaurant surfaced in the "Where to Eat" section:

Work & Barrel @ 13 Duxton Hill.

It serves local asian food / fusion food.

Such a quaint location, and a short walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT / Chinatown MRT.

We were there for Brunch, so it was just the Brunch menu that was available.

Oops! Not the clearest image ever - got the focus a bit off.

The food is mainly Asian cuisine (local), like Chicken curry, Crispy Pork, Beef Redang, Asian Coleslaw, and there's an American Breakfast set (quite pricey).

So we decided to order TzeChar with one plate of Nasi Lemak rice for all.

Didn't try these though...

Pek with her yummy Omelette which she shared with us. This is a pretty regular-tasting egg dish, nothing spectacular.

'
Our Nasi Lemak Rice as the base - this only cost about $2! The spices here are great :)

Chicken Curry. A little pricey for just two drumsticks, but nonetheless quite flavourful.

Otak otak. Not your run-of-the-mill roadside otah! This one uses a special fish that is super soft and tender, and we considered getting more of it!Of course, our mandatory photos:

Yummeh. I'm blogging this in the morning, and feeling crazily hungry.

Didn't want to upload this picture cause I look super retarded... but it's so candid and nice!

Team Clementi!

This is Pork, if I didn't remember wrongly. The presentation is quite horrendous but it actually tastes pretty good!

Our crispy pork. This is sweet, and tastes a little like softshell crab.Our HPB Scholar:

Oh gosh she looks like an ahma here. The angle is so bad, looks like she's balding.

Our gifts for her. The book is "What on Earth is Going On? A Crash Course in Current Affairs". A perfect book for someone who has trouble identifying UK/CHINA/SINGAPORE on the World Map. :)

And a photo of us to bring abroad, of course!

Darren made this amazing London City Food Guide, replete with maps, and places where Singaporean food can be found!

Super cool :)

Another view of Wok & Barrel.We then decided to stroll down along Duxton Hill to a Patisserie that is quite renowned, but it was full... so we strolled down Duxton Road and found:The Pigeonhole Arts Cafe!

Such a gorgeous chillout spot!

They had a lot of politics and literature classics... Such a good place to read and learn.

Us cosily in a beanbag corner.

I want a reading/studying area in my house that's just like that!

There was a bunch of women purely there to discuss about make-up. Interesting! So you can order drinks and all... and I got a Cappucino at $5.

Pek got a Tiramisu.

Judging by the looks of it... it sucks?

Us enjoying our atas drinks.Shall end with a candid shot:
Yay! Going to miss spending time together, just the four of us, in that squalid little apartment in Clementi =) That was such a fantastic experience... unforgettable.

All the best for University, Brenda! London is so beautiful...

Giving Thanks & Looking Back at the Past 6 Years (The NUS High School Experience)

2011-09-08T17:57:00.000+08:00

In the middle of any arduous or unpleasant experience, complaints and exclamations of hate are bound to fill the air. Such was what characterized a significant part of the "NUS High School experience", as we endured the incessant tirade of assignments, the burden of inflated expectations (Y U NOOO SCORE A+?) and the exhaustion of prolonged lesson hours.

Time and time again, we swore that we wanted to get out and never look back, as each day we conquered represented a small yet significant step in our race towards convocation. Yet, it took a mere couple of days post-prom for that deep sense of yearning, nostalgia and gratitude to hit us with full force. Yes, didn't think I would say this then (especially as I struggled to complete those damned synthetic chemistry lab reports), but indeed, I do miss High School, and am thankful for the six well-spent years!

Not only did I share this experience with so many like-minded peers who helped ease the tough journey, NUS High School gave me a platform to develop numerous skills and grow in a way that I never imagined I would. Above all, the things I got to do during my stay in NUSHS, the experiences I've had so far, have truly been out-of-this-world. Many of these will remain some of the most incredible moments in my life.

I am writing this a few weeks after attending the MND EDGE Scholarships Ceremony. I remember being young and 15, as I first discussed about studying abroad and securing a scholarship with Ms Canice Chua and Mr Pradeep (then-mentor). I distinctly remember our seniors sharing their experiences at scientific conferences abroad, and their many accomplishments. That single mentoring session on a random day in 2007 did its job - I was inspired to start my first research project, and set my sights on broadening my own educational experience for the 4 years that lay ahead. It was then and there that I began leaping right up and grabbing all the opportunities that NUS High offered. And boy, there were tons!!!

Looking back on this journey a mere 8 months after graduation, I have nothing but immense gratitude towards my family, friends, teachers and NUS High School for making the past six years such an exciting phase of my life. Sure, I expended countless hours memorizing and regurgitating information that I will never use in my life, but I'm sure as hell glad for the extra-curricular experience!

Within a short span of six years, I embarked on some of the most enjoyable projects and experienced some of the most amazing things! These include:

TRAVELLING

Travelling abroad a total of eight times! Exchange and homestay programmes in Taiwan, Beijing & Brunei!
Speaking to an international student and teacher audience in science congresses in Japan (International Water Forum) & London (International Youth Science Forum).
An Ecology Field Course in Christmas Island!

RESEARCH

Presenting at the World Biodiversity Congress 2009, to scientists and researchers.
Presenting to panels of corporate and public sector judges at the Singapore Junior Water Prize 2008, National Weather Study Project 2009, SLA Spatial Challenge 2010, Shell-Singapore Youth Science Festival 2010 etc - and we bagged awards at all of these!
Presenting at the nation-wide Clean & Green Schools Carnival 2009, the 12th Global Spatial Data Infrastructure World Conference 2010, the Singapore International Water Week 2008 etc.

SERVICE

Serving as the Head of Public Relations, working with a wonderful team in organizing the 1st NUS High School Sustainable Development Youth Convention, a student-initiated and student-planned convention!
Leading the planning and execution of the Cultural Tours for SIMC 2010 (with Elaine).
Planning school-wide events under the National Education Ambassadors (NEA) and Green Ambassadors (GA): recycling programmes and racial harmony debates.
Stage Manager for the National Day Concert 2009.

CCA

Seeing the Gamelan Ensemble grow into a full-fledged ensemble. Leading the team towards the first SYF Silver Award!
Performing for a renowned local arts production company Sri Warisan, in their Raden Mas musical.
All the many school performances.

OTHERS

Hosting international students from Japan & Thailand.
Participating in Model United Nations and Model ASEAN - the Best Journalist and Best Press Report Awards!
Taking an NUS Module (GE1101E Place, Environment and Society) at the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

Given the copious amounts of free time once convocation was done, I found the time to slow down my thoughts and internalize the things I've accomplished. While I was stuck in 20 Clementi Avenue 1, it was just striking one thing after another off the list; there was never time to savour the success of each achievement.

Yet, as I took time off to kick back and relax, I was blessed with even more good news. On January 24, I received the scholarship offer from the URA! A goal that I had set for myself at 15 has come to fruition... I am pursuing my undergraduate studies abroad! Furthermore, I am tied to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and am crazily excited to get my hands into shaping our urban landscape. This is just the beginning of a whole slew of new experiences and mind-blowing opportunities to come!

We often forget to thank the people who have helped us along the way... people who believed in our capabilities, people who gave us that much-needed push. These are the incredible individuals... teachers and friends in NUS High School who made this journey possible, who kept me on track.

I sometimes imagine how different my life could have turned out - I could have just given up on my studies, slack around, or worse, descend into gangsterism or self-destructive behaviour. While it sounds crazy within our school community, it happens so frequently out there, especially with a lot of the individuals I have met in the course of NS. This makes me even more thankful for all the guidance and support that all of my teachers and friends have given me!

This is my big thank you shout out to all of you:

Mrs Madeline Lim- For countless opportunities to grow, develop and shine. As my mentor for so many research projects, you've provided so many avenues to develop my presentation skills, exercise creative thought and broaden my Geographical knowledge. Most of all, for believing in me and giving me leadership roles in NEA & GA, the chance to design posters for Open House, manage National Day Concerts, ICCS, and so much more. I learnt so much through working with so many different people! In research, it was always one competition or event after another - SJWP, NWSP, Clean and Green Week Schools' Carnival, NUSHS Research Congress etcetc! Not to mention, the unforgettable GE3203 classes that opened our eyes to a different side of Geography, one that I found great passion in. Thank you for all the support, mentoring and faith in my capabilities since 2006.

Mr Malcolm Soh - For taking Intan, Joseph and I on our ARP in 2008, when no one else was willing to. We designed that frog project together, and brought it to win a stunning 5 awards, and presentations at 3 overseas conferences... and now with the possibility of publication within reach! It was crazy to have you drive us to every single day of field work at night over the course of six months. Best of all, there were times when you called at 12 AM in the morning advising me over the edits to be made, while a deadline loomed over our heads. Thank you for always giving 110% to our project, even when you had 10,000 other projects to handle. It's been great having our regular email correspondence, I always look forward to your 'biological jokes' haha!

Mdm Rohaida Bte Ismail- My Gamelan teacher I/C! I still fondly remember the first day we met in 2006. Since then, I've held on to the position of President for 3 more years, and had your support for so many events and things. Thank you for always nominating and pushing me for those leadership and eagles awards. It was such an enjoyable time working with a teacher who became a confidant - someone whom I could always complain to, and share funny stories and discuss candidly about my views with regards to the ensemble. :) Not to forget, that one year of malay class sure added another layer of fond memories!

Mrs Lily Kan- In Year 1, the first teacher who told me that I had "a lot of potential", who first made me mend the Geography booth for Speech Day (which I continued doing for the next 3 years), and best of all, built the most solid foundation for my Geography education. GE4101 and GE4202C were two of the three Geography modules that left the deepest impression in me - there was such clarity in your lesson content that I assimilated and internalized all of it so quickly. Having these key concepts at my fingertips helped in higher-level Geography modules, even in my NUS Module. Thank you!

Ms Canice Chua- The most motherly figure around, and a fantastic listening ear! Thank you for taking me on my first IRP - it was a hell of a ride. You were always there to listen to us rant about school, and yet always supportive of all of our projects. Thank you for believing in our SLA Spatial Challenge project so much, and your reaction to the final product was so encouraging - and we ended up winning second place!!!

And all the other teachers who in one way or another, played a big part in my NUS High School experience :) Who could forget Mr Ku who kept convincing me not to drop to Track 1, and Mr Wu Liang who never failed to remind me to push myself further in acquiring mathematical knowledge (Sorry that I was a bit disinterested).

And of course, my friends! Without them brightening my days, I could never have survived the madness that was NUS High School. I wouldn't have been able to accomplish so much without the help of my groupmates!

Darren - What else can I say? Countless memories, there for all the good and bad times... =)
Pek Yang Xuan - TEN FREAKING YEARS!!!! Since Year 1, been through all the highs and lows, ups and downs, and of course, the final year when we stayed together. One of those people whom I am not afraid to tell anything to, because I am so used to your very humorous take on various issues. Seriously, I never enjoyed calling someone SCHWANN so much.
Brenda - Since that one fine day when we went home on that 156 after cheerleading practice! It has been such a ride, and we even lived together for one year. I could not have survived High School without our daily travel to harborfront, dinner at harbourfront kopitiam... and the countless other shared experiences. Our exercising trips and discussions about life, philosophy etc... Don't think I could have stayed sane in class in the final two years without you!

Divya - OH MY GAWD, BEECH YO!!! Six years of pure drama... with a bit of hate in between, but look how we turned out? I'm so glad we got over all those stupid childish nonsense that was actually quite humorous, now that we look back and think about it. You will always be this fixture of High School, because nobody defined the drama more than you did. And I'm so glad!

Intan - I could not have made it to Japan, London, or won those research awards without Intan Wirayadi. From 2007, we've been collaborating on so many research projects, and you've been such an immense joy to work with. I'm so thankful that I did all those projects with you, because you added a lot of laughter to our fishie experiments and froggy field trips. You're so incredibly talented in so many ways, sometimes I wish you'd see that and have more faith in yourself. I'm so glad that we got to complete these projects together, and I so hope that froggie paper gets published!

Movin - Since Christmas Island, one of those people whom I can click instantly with. My bitching partner-in-crime... how I enjoyed those mornings while waiting for flag raising, our dinners during boarding, hanging out in our boarding rooms... and being so cheerful. For all the times you helped me de-stress as I ranted about bitchy things... Thank you!!!

My 404 friends:

Camille - So glad we became friends in Year 3, working on those avian bipedal extracorporeal zygotes. Your opinions and thoughts are always so incisive, and often packaged in a way that is so humorous. I'm glad for the time spent in Year 4, when we endured the same fist-clenching, head-banging stress of trying to integrate within a matter of three weeks. I love your fresh perspective on a lot of things... and sometimes, I turn to you when I need someone whose words will resonate with that occasional cynical voice in my head. Haha
Janel - Definitely the best study buddy around, I think we have the exact same speed of grasping and understanding things. Could not have survived class in Year 3 and 4 without our special 'division of labour by subject specialty'. I find it amazing that you can be so calm in spite of the storm raging around you. Missing all the times at Changi Airport already!
Rebecca - The biggest thing I learnt from you was to take things in my stride. Cause somehow, things will always turn out okay. I've become so used to your miserly ways that I actually find it quite amusing. Thanks for capturing all the wonderful picnics we had in those photos... your camera and expertise really crystallized all these fine moments =)

The groups of people whom I've collaborated with, that left a deep impact (I couldn't tag so many people in a note, by the way):

Gamelan Ensemble - SIX AMAZING YEARS. Kylie and JunYup, who were with me all the way since Year 1. I have to thank everyone for giving me the opportunity to lead them through six years of ups and downs. I gained so much from planning our retreats, service learning projects, and all the miscellaneous administrative work. Thank you!!!

ARP GROUP - Intan, Joseph, Mr. Soh etc. I don't think I have to say anymore, except... we did it! After months of field work, more months of doing those damned analyses... Our publication seems so near... I'm so thankful for the amazing... close to three years we spent on this project. It was the most memorable project I've done!

Sustainable Development Youth Convention 2010 Organizing Team - Stephanie, ZheXu, Dorothy, Royston, Junyi, etc. I was seriously very honoured to be working with such an incredible team of passionate and enthusiastic individuals. I'm glad we came together and turned it all into reality. I've learnt so much from each and every one one of you in the process (SERIOUSLY!) of organizing the SDYC, and it has been a truly unforgettable experience. I'm thankful for the incredible 8 month journey.To the wonderful members of the Public Relations Committee - Dorothy, Minh Chau, Mathias, Movin, Ziyi - thank you for the wonderful experience!

M05106 - Such an awesome class. I loved every single day spent with M05106 - there were always jokes, crazy antics, etc. I missed those days when I actually looked forward to every single day of school :)

M10602 - At first it was just... so damn strange. A weird bunch of people put together, which some considered the 'worst class after 05 and 06', but look how we turned out? Will never forget the last day of school with balloons, all the endless bitching, class chalets... and LCS. Good times!

National Education Ambassadors - Jessica and JunYi. Oh, how we stumbled through all those Racial Harmony Day debates, National Day parades, the Rojak... among others. I thoroughly enjoyed working with you guys :)

Singapore International Mathematics Challenge 2010 - Elaine Fung. Such an inspirational individual! I'm so glad to have worked with you on planning the cultural tours - we were both so crazily efficient, we got everything together so quickly! It was so much fun walking the route, doing the recce with Ms Sim, and executing it. It's amazing how you could have so many things on your plate and yet accomplish all of it! You're seriously an incredible inspiration - I loved reading all of your updates from your South Africa journey!

There are still many of you out there who inspired, or should I say, continue to inspire me in one way or another. Chua Lynn - for your perserverance and dedication to Physics, and always excelling in your undertakings. Lianhan - known you for six years, and I love how you just do whatever you love doing, and how insults bounce off you so easily. Cedric - for being such a free spirit. Yes, this could go on and on!

Yet, after this long laundry list of shout-outs, I still feel that my gratitude hasn't been fully conveyed and expressed. Thank you, again, to every single one of you who made my NUS High School experience a truly unforgettable one. Without you guys, these past six years wouldn't have left the same lasting impression that it now does.

As the world turns and we all move on to bigger things, I do hope that we continue to stay in touch, and catch-up, even if it's just the occasional facebook message or tweet. I look forward to even more collaborations and great times with all of you in the future, be it through our many business partnerships, our monthly dinners, or well, being flown in one of your private jets.

Cheers to great times, to the past and to the future!

Aaron
24.07.11

August 2011

2011-09-06T16:00:00.000+08:00

This is such a crappily formatted entry - was trying to use Blogger's new interface, and decided to use their new photo uploader. But that uploader kept adding links/centering my photos, making it damn hard to adjust and write content in between images....I got so fed up with it, this is probably the last time I'm using that - going to revert back to the photobucket method :)Read on! ---------------

With that, here's a summary entry of what I've been up to for the whole month of August 2011.

August 2011

eight.Aug

Marina Bay Sands ArtScience Museum with Divya Ramesh and Darren Goh.

There was a promotion for National Day at the MBS ArtScience Museum. I've been wanting to visit the musuem for ages, but the entrance fee was a bit too pricey for my liking. They finally lowered the entrance fee for locals, and free exhibitions for August, in line with National Day.

Frankly, it was smaller than I thought, so I didn't take that many photos.

Mostly very abstract art... much unlike some other NHB museums with artefacts that are more relatable and easy understood.

Must say, I liked this piece quite a lot. Check out Divya's retarded face. HAHA.Then we got to some distorting mirrors.

Midgets :D

Now we are on stilts.

Divya the fat ah-ma.

Ooh, so deep!

I love this quote!

After that, we stopped by the Sands, of course, for Coffee Bean. Yummy.

Mocha ice-blended - what I love Coffee Bean for. For everything else, head to Starbucks.

Divya, with her classic face.

For the price we paid, I'd say the MBS isn't very worth the buck.

Perhaps I can't appreciate art, but I have been to the Asian Civilizations Museum, Peranakan Museum and the Singapore Art Museum - those were cheaper, and much better.

nine.Aug

Farewell Dinner with Janel at Jumbo @ Dempsey

Camille, Janel and I have talked of a seafood get-together for a few years now. Given our extremely tight finances as students plus the insane NUSHS work schedule, we didn't really have a proper opportunity / occasion to actually start striking this particular task off our to-do list.

But here we finally are, as we come together for a farewell dinner, before Janel heads off to University of California, Berkeley for her undergraduate studies - Materials Science and Engineering - under a Defence Science and Technolog Agency (DSTA) Scholarship.

Sometimes, I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that everyone's moving on... from that sheltered haven of NUS High School. We are all spreading our wings, pursuing our dreams... or just being, well, stuck in National Service for now.

Jumbo at Dempsey Hill, where I had my 17th Birthday Dinner with my family :)

Time sure flies!

We ordered a magnificient 6-course meal, just nice for 6 pax.

Steamed fish.

Bad photography here, but whatever.

This was quite worth the money! Some buttered prawns as recommended by Janel.

What is a seafood dinner without Crab? Chili Crab with mantou... the highlight of our dinner!

Farewell Janel, for at least 2 years.

It's seriously crazy how fast time flies. One moment we were sitting next to each other in class, struggling to master integration in three weeks, and next thing we know, we are all off to our respective universities.

Sometimes I'm glad that I'm still in National Service... the moment University begins, it's like the start of the rest of our lives. These teensy years will then have completely passed us by... so I need to cherish my youth as much as possible!

14 August 2011

Farewell Brunch with Jessica Loo at The Garden Slug.

Another farewell brunch, this time with Jessica, whom I've worked with under the National Education Ambassadors (NEA) and the Singapore International Mathematics Challenge (2010)

She has been quite a joy to work with, with her bubbly personality. Jessica is heading to University College London (UCL) to study Economics, under the Public Service Commission (PSC) Singapore Government Scholarship.

I can't wait to head to UCL too! That is, if I don't decide to go to the US instead...

Anyway, we decided to dine at the Garden Slug, one of my favourite brunch places, with fantastic all-day breakfast sets.

At Lorong L Telok Kurau.

Yummy Iced Lemongrass Tea. A perennial favourite.

Standard all-day breakfast set.

Jess giving a toast to the awesomeness of the Garden Slug!

Forgot what this was called

A toast to future civil servants-to-be!

You're probably wondering why Darren isn't in the previous photo... that's because he came a spectacular 1 hour late.

We are anticipating the future, when we will meet up and share our own experiences in separate fields of the civil service. Perhaps we'll meet again at the Garden Slug?

nineteen.Aug

Visit to NUS University Town

Camille and Yang Xuan just enrolled in NUS, studying Bioegineering and Environmental Engineering respectively. They are in the University Scholars Programme, so they're staying at the newly constructed Cinnamon College in the brand new NUS University Town.

It's high time NUS added some fresh flavour to its landscape. It's so hilly and dull.

Camille's room... 6 rooms are linked into one common area. Quite an awesome living space!

It's the babs, yo.

Cinnamon College.

The landscaping is beautiful! Where else in NUS can you find such manicured lawns?

Studying area.

Such big open spaces... Really reminds me of my time in Imperial College, at the Queen's Lawn.

U-Town has its own Koufu, Fish & Co Express, Cheers, and Starbucks!

We had dinner at Fish & Co.

The beautiful new Camille Arcinas.

This redefines "Boo, babu".

Discounts for all of us yo. I used my old NUS Card in order to get discount :p. Thank God I took that module last year.

We had quite a good discussion over dinner, with some good quotes. Well, it was mostly anti-Divya as usual.

Divya, "I wonder where I would be if I had taken A Levels."

Me, "Then you'll be in SIM!"

and...

Camille, "All your boys are in NS, divya, where are you going to find new boys?"

Divya, "I don't need to find boys. Boys come to me."

As usual, it was a pretty darn good catch-up with old NUSHS folks :) Will always cherish these friends.

twenty.Aug

Janel's Farwell and Departure to UC Berkeley

Yes, and now the part where she actually leaves for Berkeley :)

Us with our specially made lamb from Build-a-Bear workshop! Shared with Darren, Camille, Yangxuan, Rebecca and Divya!

Isn't this the cutest lamb ever???

The process of making this lamb was incredibly embarrassing! The staff at Build-a-Bear kept making me do awkward things like rub the heart in my two hands, kiss the heart, etc. I mean, it makes sense if I'm a kid but hello???? Thankfully no one was around to see that!

Then again, it's these little things that add to the appeal of the brand!

Aww... to think Janel will be gone until May 2013.

Here's wishing her all the best :)

twenty-six.Aug

Lunch at Maxwell + Dessert at Bonheur Patisserie with Andyy

As I celebrated Gerald's birthday last month, NS has indeed welcomed a new circle of friends. NUSHS has been quite a sheltered place I guess. Even as I attended numerous overseas and local student conferences, I was probably mingling with people from the same backgrounds - students who were academically-inclined and from slightly more privileged families.

Being able to attend University was never an issue for most of the people within my circle of friends, even for most of those at the periphery. To suddenly be exposed to individuals who struggle to make it to University, or even just making it into a good polytechnic after their ITE education, has been an incredibly eye-opening experience.

National Service is indeed a social leveler.

Anyway, my sister handed me a 50% off voucher for Bonheur Patisserie, a little bakery in Duxton. It was expiring, and I decided to ask Andy out. I met Andy recently (in April) in the course of work in NS (he's my 3SG). I was quite surprised the first time we sat down and had a conversation - we talked for about two hours straight! Since then, he has been quite a joy to have around in camp, with all the long hours spent chatting about well... just about anything. :) (Once we spent 5 hours straight at the sentry chatting LOL)

I think it's quite rare to find someone who's just on the same wavelength as you - Brenda, Pek, Darren, etc. These people make for great company.

Cheesecake.

Green tea cake... really spongey, tastes a bit like overly-moist pandan cake.

This picture is a bit strange... wish we took a better one!

twenty.seven.Aug

Back in school for SDYC 2011

So I spent the bulk of last year working on organizing the Sustainable Development Youth convention 2010, as the Head of Public Relations. Now that we have graduated, it's incredible that our juniors have taken over, furthering the vision we all had from the start - for continuity, and to provide a platform for students to learn skills and expand their worldview.

It was pretty amazing seeing the Convention run in its second year, bigger and better than before. Here's a shot of us 2010 Exco, gathered together again:

Back together!

The reason I'm so underdressed is because I was there in the morning for a field trip - helping Mrs Madeline Lim with her ecology research group, since the school lacks ecology research mentors at the moment.

thirty.Aug

Brenda's Farewell Party cum Housewarming

Balloons from her relatives! I love the graduation cap.

We were kind of early, and for a moment, all of Brenda's friends seemed to be guys alone LOL, and all her relatives were secretly casting us, or rather, HER, judgmental looks.

Buffet! These prawns were the most delicious prawns ever.

All kinds of unhealthy goodness running through my system.

Love this photo!

And facebook detected the woman's face... the one on the TV in the background.

Champagne... but naturally I didn't drink since I can't hold liquor well.

Yay to the couple that's going to experience that Simple Plan song, "Jet Lag" soon.

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

And that rounds up the entire month of August!

Pek's Birthday Celebration

2011-08-18T09:23:00.000+08:00

14 August 2011

It's bigpeck's birthday!

Reunion of the flatmates... We decided to have a wholesome day at the Marina Barrage flying kites. Youths are always on the computers and the mobile devices these days... we totally need more outdoor time!

AS USUAL, PEK YANG XUAN was the latest of all - seems like whenever I meet her, I have to wait at least 15 minutes for her glorious entrance.

What a good start... the kite's already dead!

While we were trying to start up our noob kite, there were some majestic ones flying around us...

That's me trying to tie the string and start the kite flying.

Struggling to get it going. The wind was kind of weak for a period of time.

Pek managed to get it up!

Once again reminded of the gorgeous skyline... Singapore is such a stunning metropolis!

All the hopes and dreams... fly free! #poeticattemptfail

Here's the other kite. Well, the kite kept swaying to the left, and we were wondering why. My conjecture was that it MUST BE THE EYE PATCH!!!

What in the world are they staring at?

Another octopus!

Stupid Darren take this picture without me looking at the camera!!!

It's pek's catchphrase!

With that, we ended up at Raffles City to have a healthy korean steamboat:

Bibigo! Customer service was EXCELLENT.

Darren and I shared this hotplate chicken... Yummy!

It was time to present her with the next gift...

I think this is the coolest gift idea ever! *self-praise*.

Since Pek loves playing cards so much... this is really the best gift!

I can't believe I've known Pek for about 10 years now. She's the main reason why I ended up in NUSHS instead of Dunman High School... She's always so bubbly, so optimistic, so hopeful, and with great aspirations to change the world!

Plus, rooming together in our flat in 2010 was one of the most fantastic experiences of my life :)

Happy 19th Pek, with many more to come!

Starting on a Fresh Page

2011-08-06T16:15:00.004+08:00

Over the past six years that I have been blogging on this platform, my life has changed tremendously. This is immediately evident through the frequency, style and content of my blog posts over the years.

Starting at 13, when blogs were central to any prepubescent's foray into the world of teenagers, blogging was about jotting down my daily activities, and my thoughts revolving around them. My approach was a paradoxical private-public one - strangers were welcome to read my blog, but I didn't want too many of my friends there. Strange, huh?

At 14, owning my first camera-phone, I began taking pictures of all my little exploits and adventures in school. I was adept at capturing some of the 'controversial' happenings in school, writing out some fiery piece, and in the process attracting daily readers that went up to 2oo per day. I was also applying some creative processing to my blogging, making comics, and documenting my life in pictures, with an entertaining angle to boot. I was clearly in the 'teensy', angst-filled phase of my life, sometimes posting some mildly philosophical rant, or just contemplating the teenage issues of self-worth, identity and finding my place in this world.

15 and 16 represented two big years of change - NUSHS began loading us with an intensely busy schedule, and in order to sleep eight hours a day, there was simply little time for blogging. I kept it up as much as I could, and I still have treasure troves of photos and events that I didn't have the time to publish.

17 and 18 marked my significant reduction in blogging. In my final two years in high school, my ambitious self was taking on an unforeseeable number of projects, leadership positions, all the while keeping my social life up. I had matured considerably since then, with more entries containing long essays detailing my gratitude for NUS High School, my thoughts about my future career, fulfillment in life, etc.

Now I'm mid-19, and halfway through National Service. While writing a facebook note on "Giving Thanks and Looking Back at the Past 6 Years", I rediscovered the joy of writing. I missed having an outlet to express my thoughts. While my friends make for good reprieves for my inner-most thoughts, there is a certain empowerment and freedom associated with writing on my own blog... and I'm right about to make blogging a part of my life once again.

I contemplated shifting to a new portal, to start on a fresh page. Wordpress, perhaps? But abandoning this repository of my thoughts was a bit too hard. I have grown so attached to this space and this URL, and I decided to continue blogging here, perhaps well into university. At some point in time, this blog will document my life story.

Yes, my style has changed again. I will continue to post pictures, but I foresee myself writing more 'essays' detailing thoughts...

To all of you who read my blog in the past, those who continue to read it and pester me to update my blog, and all my dearest friends who continue to accompany me on this journey to adulthood, I thank you. I hope that at some point in time, you enjoyed reading one of my entries, was inspired to think or even write about one of the issues I penned, or even better, share what I have written with others.

Here's to a great new chapter!

I Did It!

2011-02-20T22:04:00.006+08:00

I DID IT!!!!!!!!

My dream school UCL has given me an unconditional offer to pursue Geography with Economics. The financial barrier was the seemingly insurmountable one, potentially barring me from even going abroad - and I now have a SCHOLARSHIP with the Urban Redevelopment Authority!

It's an amazing feeling to have made it!!!

Cheesy as it sounds to call it 'dreams come true', it is indeed one for me, because I worked so incredibly hard to get to what I got today. On one fine day in September 2007, I remember telling myself that I definitely wanted to pursue my undergraduate studies abroad - and henceforth began doubling my efforts to push myself towards that goal.

I took up new leadership roles and research projects in a bid to boost my portfolio back then. However, I soon found myself thoroughly enjoying these extracurricular activities. In fact, these activities became a counter-balance to schoolwork. I hated the latter, and the former was sort of a channel for expression. Strange as it sounds, I grew to find a lot of joy in research (applying what I've learnt instead of the usual rote learning) and leadership (working with people, planning events, etc).

The satisfaction I derived from these drove me to pursue all of these further. Perfectionistic by nature, I sought to improve each time, making each new project bigger and better than the last. At my peak, I was crazy, having 3 leadership roles and 2 research projects running at the same time, alongside mugging for APs!

Yet, I learnt that I was capable of so much more than I could have ever imagined! I kept up my routine of sleeping by 1030 pm that I started at the beginning of Year 4, and I found myself growing in terms of time management skills and self-discipline. Hyperproductivity and super-efficiency were the orders of the day. Furthermore, I was always looking for newer, bigger, and better events to involve myself in, to hone my skills.

These gave me an enormous sense of satisfaction, knowing that every single day, I was putting in my 110%.

In Year 4, I embarked on the IRP on Fishes with Ms Koh. At the time, I sincerely hoped that it would be a springboard for me to go abroad to present at a Congress. While we didn't get such an opportunity, I thoroughly enjoyed working with Intan and Darren, and it was at that moment that I discovered the joy I got from applying what I learnt. From there, research became, for me, a therapeutic experience.

Then I embarked on the craziest project of my life - my Advanced Research Project on Frogs, that took a stunning two years to complete. I got rewarded for my efforts in ways I never imagined - trips to UK, Japan and Thailand, and incredible opportunities to present and win awards at a national level.

On the CCA front, I stayed with one CCA for 6 full years!!! I poured my heart and soul into the Gamelan Ensemble, and was so proud of us finally securing the Silver Medal at the SYF! The blood and sweat we put into establishing this ensemble paid off!

At the end of the day, I feel this immense sense of joy and satisfaction, thankful for all the opportunities NUS High School has given me, and how I have used these opportunities to the fullest. Cliche as it sounds, the 'work hard and your dreams will come true' adage is indeed true!

There's this fuzzy feeling within me, a sense of... FULFILLMENT. Knowing that I persevered through the past 6 years, put in my 110%, and leaving knowing that I did not waste my youth on 'frivolous pursuits', whatever they may be.

I am so incredibly blessed, and very thankful for all the teachers who moulded and shaped my character along the way (Ms Madeline Chen, Mdm Rohaida, Mr Malcolm Soh etc), friends who made every stressful test day easier and less demanding, and to all the peers whom I've worked with for various projects, many of whom I've learnt so much from as well. Of course, above all, my parents and family that have helped make this happen, for all of their support through tough times!

The road ahead remains long and arduous, with many obstacles that lie waiting for me to tackle. I am looking ahead with bated breath, excited for all these new experiences, new friends, and new lessons in life!

UK, here I come!

An Incredible Day!

2011-02-18T23:17:00.000+08:00

It's an incredible day!

The morning started with an email update from UCAS Track that I received on my blackberry first thing in the morning. Was it King's or UCL????? Logged into the King's College portal, and there it was:

Unconditional Offer from King's College London for BA Geography!

Sounds regal, right? All was good... and I went to camp for our Graduation ceremony. Was done with that, and booked out at 2pm, becoming official soldiers of 8 SIR!

With all that time on our hands, WeiSheng and I decided to go get the Birthday gift for Jerryl. I needed to collect the NUS Transcript, so we stopped by NUSHS first (since our camp was in Clementi) and then got on the bus to town!

I was in a joyous mood, so I treated him to XLBs at DinTaiFung @ 313!

XLB ftw!

Shopped around, bought myself a copy of LKY's Hard Truths, Jerryl's Gift and it was off to dinner!

HOT TOMATO @ 313

Can you believe we upsized our meal for this pathetic piece of bread???

Food wasn't very nice. The pasta I ordered was a bit dry, and the sauce was... well... not tasty at all :(

Right about that time, I got an email from UCAS Track on my BB. I was in the middle of a conversation with Weisheng when I exclaimed "FML" in full. I knew that it must be a reply from UCL, and I DIDN'T GET INTERVIEWED YET. THAT MUST MEAN REJECTION!!!!!!!!!

With bated breath, I logged onto the UCAS portal (Thank you RIM for your awesome blackberry OS6 browser)... and there it was, right before my eyes:

The last of my choices - University College London: Unconditional Offer for Geography with Economics!!!

I have been waiting for offers from King's and UCL for quite a while now. With UCL at the top of my radar, I was semi-regretting applying to the highly competitive "Geography with Economics" course. I mean, everyone was getting replies from Law, Economics, Natural Sciences etc, and why was mine taking so long? I started having this nagging feeling that my rejection letter was in mid-air, just like how the Cambridge one was...

ANYWAY, it was so awesome! FINALLY, all this nail-biting waiting was over! All the replies were in, and I now have four UK schools to choose from!

And this book was what Weisheng thought was a good gift:

So, after all that was over, we had to celebrate, of course!!! Double Happiness in one day!

Went to B&J's at the OC, with ice-cream and a long chat :)

It's amazing how we talked about almost anything under the sun... from getting a bachelor's pad to goals, our thoughts on our education, A levels, and well, just about anything. I think I spoke with a level of candour that I only do with a small group of friends, and I actually felt comfortable doing so. It's the same feeling I get whenever I make friends outside of school - this sense of being accepted and accepting others wholeheartedly, without being judged based on hearsay or your history within the school. That's not to say that there aren't people like that in school - I love my school friends to bits - but I find that some of my friendships outside school seem to grow deeper faster :)

Well, I have block leave for 4 days this week, so it's time to party!

YONG, MUHDY & CO.

2011-02-04T11:00:00.004+08:00

January 2011 has been one hell of a ride :) Enlistment!!!

Spent 4 weeks at Kranji Camp 3. I am not allowed to detail what we did inside cause it's classified military information, so here are just some pictures of us post-BMT.

Initially, I was wondering how I was going to get past these 4 weeks. I didn't know anyone, and every single day felt like a chore. As the days went back, we all became friends, and the days passed increasingly quickly, and I actually looked forward to booking in!

Here's us on the last day, after booking out of camp:

From left: Me, Weisheng, Jerryl, Gerald, Andrew

Buddies since Day 1! (EH TYPO it should be 4111 and 4112)

Platoon 4!

We went for a swim afterwards at Choa Chu Kang - Weisheng's turf.

Weisheng has a damn B****face!

He almost scared me to death when he and Andrew teamed up, and claimed that he (weisheng) had a Bionic/Prosthetic leg!!!

My world was rocked by an earthquake - 100 on richter - and was crumbling apart... and then he said it was a joke. @#$#%$#%$^$%^$!!!!!

Camwhoreeeeeee

Then we went to Dian Xiao Er for CNY-eve lunch.

Angelica Herbs Duck. I love Dian Xiao Er to bits!!!

Andrew had to leave early, so we were left to play Monopoly Deal at McDonalds :)

It was a very stressful game. Gerald's brains almost popped out of his head.

Best of all, I made a bunch of really good friends... and they were very supportive as I went for interviews for USP and URA. On 31st January 2011, I was offered the URA Undergraduate Scholarship for Town Planning / Geography!

This whole enlistment thing has been a huge eye-opener. I've met so many new people from all walks of life - and I have grown in terms of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.

For one, I became acutely aware of the ease at which I judge people, based on stereotypes and prejudices. I've been conditioned to label things so quickly, often learning that these pre-conceived notions turn out to be nothing but completely false! The new friendships forged here are definitely worth treasuring - it's the head-shaving and uniformity that creates a sense of equality. Indeed, stripping us of all the things that indicate our socioeconomic status or academic background have indeed created a sense of camaraderie, one that is impossible to replicate in any other environment!

I love these buddies, and I think we will stay in touch for a REALLY long time!

With that, I've finished my first 4 weeks of service, with 100 more weeks to go :)

For now, I have 2 more weeks of ST Training at Clementi, so wish me all the best in NS!

Christmas + Boxing Day Gathering 2010

2011-01-03T17:34:00.000+08:00

With my long spate of inactivity from blogging, I decided to not drag out my entries unlike in the past. I have tons of photos from tons of partying events, and it's finally time to get them out all out =)

Christmas Lunch at Stephanie's Humble Abode (25th December 2010)

It was kind of Steph to host the Christmas Lunch. As usual, the wonderful hostess opened up her holiday home to us, complete with food of top-notch quality. It was nice to see everyone from SDYC again + others.

Look at the amazing spread of food!

YUMMY.

Turkey!

There was CHEESE from Belgium! Yummy!

Guess who?

A lot of stuff going on in this photo.

Steph came up with a diabolical plan!

It's a gift for Divya with Minho in the photo! Sort of a 'parting gift' as Divya will be away on Holiday for a long time!

Divya's reaction?

By the way... Steph the hostess makes GOOD gingerbread houses too!

Cannot believe she made it herself, right? Hehe.

With every gathering comes camwhorring!

Yay for Stephanie's Chalet!

We proceeded to watch Sandra Bullock's "Blind Side" and Inception on DVD =)

Boxing Day Gathering at Chua Lynn's (26th December 2010)

Gathered again with the London bunch to party!

We were playing Monopoly: Here and Now edition, which uses Credit Cards. Anyway, it was so awesome that it was the London version! It had all the attractions like "Science Museum", "Wembley Stadium", "Covent Garden"... and it was like, "WOO, we've been here. Yup, gone there".

Our first FULL gathering! Finally YuJun could make it!

In this photo: students from Raffles Junior College, Hwa Chong Institution, NUS High School and River Valley High School.

More awesomeness!

After playing the Game of Life etc, we went to Chomp Chomp for dinner. It was too full, so we dapao...

We had Stingray + Hokkien Mee + Oyster Omelette + BBQ Chicken + Satay + Sugarcane etc.

Love this bunch of people, and really miss our times in London!

2010 at a glance!

2011-01-03T16:27:00.000+08:00

2010

2010 has been a lot more than what I've wished for. Did a lot of new things, went to 5 different countries (all during term time) and reaped the rewards of my efforts!

For me... 2010 has been...

A YEAR OF CLOSER TIES

I stayed in a flat with 3 flatmates! Tired of travelling to school, and too used to Boarding, we opted to stay together in a flat in Clementi. This has been one heck of an awesome experience... and the memories we shared in this tiny space has been truly unforgettable!

Thanks to Brenda, Yangxuan and Darren for making this experience what it was!

In January, I celebrated my birthday at the flat as well, with a semi-surprise 18th Birthday party.

2010 was also...

A YEAR OF TRAVELLING (ON A SHOESTRING)

Yup. I travelled to 2 continents this year. Thanks to an enormous subsidy from the school and MOE, I spent less than a $1000 travelling to Japan, China and London!

In February, I travelled to Osaka, Japan, for the International Water Forum organized by Ritsumeikan Moriyama High School. I presented two projects - one on Frogs, and another on Pollution in Waterways. Homestayed at a Japanese home (super kawaii) and well, made so many new friends!

Yay for being on the trip with Darren, Lianhan and Mr. Soh!

In July, I went on a 10-day Cultural Immersion trip to Beijing, China, organized by Beijing No. 4 High School. Got to visit virtually every single major tourist attraction in Beijing - Tiananmen, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven etc. Had a homestay experience, and did very Chinese-y things, and again, made new friends! Doesn't help to have Cedric and Viona, who make for excellent buddies on a trip.

In late-July, I was successfully selected to represent Singapore at the London International Youth Science Forum, under the MOE Overseas Student Attachment Programme. Imagine, 14 full days, ALL EXPENSES PAID! It was another great voyage... my first steps on European soil, and being one of eight projects selected for oral presentation to an entire audience. The best part was meeting people from ALL AROUND THE WORLD. I got to know Chua Lynn much better, and made new buddies - Yu Jun, Chai Hao, Pei Ling, Meng Ying, Shi Yang & ZongMin. I love this bunch!

In November, Darren organized a trip to Phi Phi Islands, in Phuket. Part of a Graduation trip, we all enjoyed relaxing by the beach, snorkelling in the world-renowned Phi Phi Islands, lazing on Maya Beach, and did well... Islandy activities.

In November again (with 8 hours of rest after touching down from Phuket), I visited Jakarta. Nothing beats having locals show you around... and staying in the middle of the CBD! We went to Bandung to shop at factory outlets, stay near the top of a mountain, and well, did more shopping. Indonesia couldn't have been better =) Great thanks to Intan & Family!

Beautiful eh? Another graduation trip!

2010 was also...

A YEAR OF HARD WORK AND ACHIEVEMENTS

This year marked an incredible array of achievements... and I'm incredibly blessed and lucky that all my efforts paid off!

My Advanced Research Project, "Effects of Microclimatic Variations and Habitat Disturbance on Frog Communities in Singapore" garnered awards at the Republic Polytechnic Science Congress (Best Poster), Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (Merit), Shell-Singapore Youth Science Festival (Best Oral Presentation and Bronze). Presented the project in Japan and in London. Couldn't have done it without Intan and Joseph - I loved working on this project so much, because the company was awesome!

My Independent Research Project on Investigating Pollutants in Waterways was a finalist at the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair, and was presented in Japan.

As Geography majors... we embarked on the Singapore Land Authority Spatial Challenge 2010 from April to July, part of our Year 6 GIS Module. Against all odds and using skills acquired outside the module, we managed to DESIGN + OPTIMIZE Bicycle Networks in the City and Heartlands of Singapore. In a nation-wide competition, we emerged 1st Runner Up + $2500! The going got very tough halfway as we were very last-minute, but we managed to pull through, after using some bossing power!

One of the five maps we made!

At Speech Day 2010, Gamelan won the CCA Achievement Award (Team), and I received the Book Prize for Geography.

At Convocation 2010, I graduated with the NUS High School Diploma (Distinction). To my surprise, I won three awards along with it: the NUS High School Outstanding Student (Achievement, Leadership and Service), the NUS High School Outstanding Student (Geography), and the *gasp* A*STAR Young Researcher Award. It was an amazing feeling to have graduated after six long years in NUS High School!

Post-Graduation, I got the results for the NUS Module I took in Semester 2. Reading GE1101E Place, Environment and Society - I scored a freaking A+! The feeling of being able to score an A+ even at a University level was truly beyond me... I learnt so much from the module, and am thoroughly intrigued by the concepts of 'Sense of Place' and 'Place Identities'.

In late November, I received not one, but TWO offer letters - Unconditional from Durham University and University of Nottingham!

2010 was also...

A YEAR OF SERVICE

In June, I served as a Student Liaison Officer for the Singapore International Mathematics Challenge. Together with Elaine, we mapped out a cultural tour route through Chinatown and Little India. It was awesome to work with someone as efficient as Elaine!

As an SLO, I worked together with Hafizah and Jessica, bringing students from Patumwan Demonstration School around Singapore!

In July, together with a team of students in the Gamelan Ensemble, we had successfully executed our first Service Learning Project with Singapore Children's Society (Henderson). It was fun going down with Wai Leng, and a good learning experience looking out for the needs of the children.

And of course...the 8-month journey leading up to the Sustainable Development Youth Convention 2010! Being part of the Exco of NUS High's 1st student-run Convention was an exhilarating ride. I got a chance to work with incredibly experienced and talented individuals - Steph, Zhexu, Royston, Nicyeo, Andy, JunYi, and of course, my fellow Comm-Head Dorothy! Leading a team of Year 4 to Year 6s through the PR work of an event was very fulfilling.

Really enjoyed being Head of Public Relations!

Post-event, this opened the doors to many new friendships!

In December, after 4 years of volunteering with People's Association, I finished planning my own 2-Day Camp!

2010 was also...

A YEAR OF LASTS

In October 2010, we celebrated the last... CHEMISTRY LESSON. The last chem practical we will EVER DO in our lives... in the Synthetic Chemistry Lab!

the last PE LESSON

the last DAY OF LESSONS

the (okay maybe not) last OUTING with CAMILLE, before she flew off to Hungary!

2010 was also...

A YEAR OF PARTYING (WITH OLD + NEW FRIENDS)

In 2010, we partied like we never did before!

Watched Kelly Clarkson LIVE in April!

Watched Missy Elliott at the F1 Grand Prix!

On 10 October, we kicked off our partying with a big bang, celebrating Steph's 18th Birthday at Marina Bay Sands. The result? EPIC.

It was non-stop partying all the way, with a massive Halloween Party at our flat (31 October)

We had a full gathering of us LIYSF people in December... and it was awesome!

IN SUMMARY 2010 was...

*cue Disney music*

PERFECT

I really could not have asked for more! It's going to be hard to beat the awesomeness of 2010 :D

2011, here I come with full force!

Camille's Farewell Outing

2011-01-02T17:43:00.005+08:00

Shall blog backwards... since I have infinite material from the past few months! This entry is on our farewell outing with Camille on 28th November 2010... wow, it has already been more than a month... crazy fast!

We decided to do something wholesome - which in this case is Kite-Flying at Marina Barrage! It was super cool to be there on a cool yet windy day, together with all the families having a good time there.

We met at Marina Bay MRT at 4 pm, and the sky was obviously threatening to rain. Camille was like, "I just graduated... I don't wanna be like Benjamin Franklin!"

So anyway, we went ahead, and the results were fabulous!

We really struggled quite a bit initially, wondering how exactly to fly a kite. I haven't flown one since 8!

The barrage is so beautiful, especially when overlooking the MBS and Flyer.

And this wholesome kite added to the atmosphere, quite a bit!

Oh yeah, the Amazing Race Season 16 used the Marina Barrage as the pit stop in Singapore.

Yup, and with the huge cluster of kite-flying families around, our kite kept getting tangled with others...

Have you seen Camille this happy?

Opera mask as a kite?

Then we saw a ginormous OCTOPUS kite!

But it really struggled to fly... and as we watched on, the owners suddenly just gave up trying to get it to fly.

More photos!

Deserves to go on cuteoverload.

Becca is very happy that I donated this polaroid to her. Haha.

We then headed down to the Sustainable Singapore Gallery, before heading to Raffles Place for dinner. But that was a bad choice, since there wasn't much to eat besides Seafood, and Becca would no way in hell pay for seafood.

But we found a lamian place, so we were saved :)

Post-dinner, we went to the Max Brenner Bar at Esplanade.

The SERVICE was SO BAD. The guy took so long to serve us, so we went in and sat down by ourselves. When we finally asked for the menu, the guy said, "NEXT TIME COME TO PEOPLE'S RESTAURANT, READ THE SIGN. IT SAYS 'WAIT TO BE SEATED'".

There was hardly any person in the bar and he took so long to serve us! Urgh.

Anyway, we weren't going to let him spoil our mood, so dine away!

Yummy!

Good times... with more to come when Camille returns from Hungary :)

NUS High School iPhone App

2010-09-06T15:38:00.004+08:00

I'm actually blogging for the first time in 2 months! (My last entry was 5th July 2010).

Anyway, what compelled me to write this entry is this awesome awesome new IPHONE APPLICATION.

It's the NUS HIGH SCHOOL iPhone App! Exclusive to NUS High School!!!

... and it has a cool advertisement to boot:

So... a few months ago, Sidwyn asked me what I would like in an iPhone application for the school - and I thought: SO COOL, so I gave him some (er, not so good) ideas like CAP calculator!

Anyway, he finished up the application, and it's super cool!

Here are the some of the things you can do, which any NUS HIGH SCHOOL iPhone user will DEFINITELY want:

1) Call and email any teacher in NUS High School with the click of a finger!

CONVENIENCE! No more walking to the staff room grimy phone and filtering through the tiny words on the staff directory. No more guessing teacher's extension numbers, or email accounts!

Just scroll, and click!

2) Search teachers by department or name

Not sure what the new Chemistry teacher's name is? Fret not! For all stalking purposes, simply go to "Chemistry Department"! Or, if you are not sure which department Mr Lim Teng Hong belongs to, just type his name in.

3) Create your own personalized timetable

At the start of every semester, we get this ugly white/colourful timetable thing posted on eSpace with all the unnecessary modules (I mean, who takes that many modules?) Now you can easily customize and view your own timetable at a breeze!

4) Login to NUSOPEN network automatically

Sigh, another one of those features that tempt me to switch from blackberry to iPhone. I'm sick of having to go to "Network" and then connect, and subsequently select "WiFi Hotspot Login". For iPhone users... life is so easy with this application!

5) One tap shortcut to useful links

Yes, anything you will possibly need to access at your fingertips - eSpace? checked!

STILL NOT CONVINCED?

I think it's really cool that someone I know has come up with an application like that!

Takes so much dedication and time - plus the results are amazing! It's a pity the school banned the advertisement, I mean, this is OBVIOUSLY a display of talent!!! SUPPORT NUS HIGH SCHOOL.

Go download the app NOW! http://bit.ly/nushighapp!

OR visit http://iphoneapps.sidwyn.com/

Brewerkz @ Clarke Quay!

2010-07-05T17:42:00.001+08:00

20 June 2010

Overseas!!!

2010-06-05T17:54:00.002+08:00

I'm looking forward to Term 3 already, cause I'm going to spend a massive amount of time overseas!

*Cross fingers* nothing goes wrong and I get to go on all three!

Beijing International Summer Camp (14th to 24th July)
- Got selected to represent NUS High! All expenses paid... except, I have to pay half the airfare. It's going to be an awesome experience!
London International Youth Science Forum (29th July to 14th August)
- Went through a second round of interviews with Year 5s this year, and from the original 10 that were selected last year, Kenneth, Gary, Chua Lynn, Shiyang and I are left. The latter 2 are going with me to London :)
- FOC, plus we get an allowance! I'm so excited!
Exchange Programme to Patumwan Demonstration School, Thailand (September)
- I already met some Patumwan kids during SIMC. Would love to meet them again!

I'm praying hard that everything goes smoothly because I really want to enjoy this last semester abroad! =)

... and it'll be my first time to Europe, which is crazy!!!!

Intan's 18th Birthday!

2010-05-10T17:30:00.003+08:00

I'm such a slow blogger.

I guess my priorities have changed for now, since the onset of the examination period. Just emerged from my last exam, and looking forward to the insanity that awaits me!

Yup, I've been confirmed on the team going for the 1st Chinese Culture Experience Summer Camp in Beijing! Amazing, cause Beijing No. 4 High School is paying for all our expenses, and half my airfare is subsidized!

8 May 2010

Okay, so we were planning to celebrate Intan's Birthday and all. I was thinking of surprising Intan at her place, and Christopher wanted to help, but in the end, Intan's sister told us the whole family was going to Coca Restaurant.

By the way, we celebrated one day early since Sunday was Mother's Day and hence a bit inconvenient!

With some help from Darren and YangXuan, we came up with the concept for the card, and I started cutting and pasting during the break between exams...

Chio card, right?

This was actually us waiting for her to arrive!

Apparently her mother forced her to come out for lunch against her will (she wanted to study) and told her she was going to get her cervical cancer jab!

Intan's faves :) I do these collage/scrapbooking-like thingies best! *smack my ego*.

Anyway, Intan's faves: Hetalia, Pandora Hearts, Scott Ang, Running! Intan's hates: Justin Bieber, Fast Food, Twilight!

Intan arrived and she was so pleasantly surprised! :))

Her family (about 6-7 of them) sat at another table, while she joined us :)

Look at ALL THE FOOD!!!

It was a steamboat!

After a lot of bitching, a lot of ordering, it was time to cut the cake!!!

It's a strawberry shortcake, from St. Leaven. We love the place!

Yayyy Intan!

Wow, it's been so many years since Cheer Prac in Year 1! Intan has grown so much since then... and I've had such a great time doing Research Projects alongside Geog class with her all these years :)

Thanks Intan's Dad for paying for our meals!

Conversations

2010-05-04T23:03:00.002+08:00

I was going to do a long entry of pictures again, and then I found this:

Thoughts?

Tumblr find

2010-05-01T12:55:00.000+08:00

A million different thoughts ran through my mind when I saw this picture.

Growing Up Listening to Kelly Clarkson, and the All I Ever Wanted Tour in Singapore

2010-05-01T10:59:00.004+08:00

During SDYC Camp (Sometime in March), I found out that Kelly Clarkson was coming to Singapore. I MEAN, KELLY CLARKSON!!!

I quickly rounded up a bunch of people (Stephanie, Movin and Camille) and yes, we are definitely going!

I had to go, because I've grown up through my teenage years listening to Kelly Clarkson! When I was 10, I watched American Idol on Channel 5, and rooted for her as she boot out Justin Guarini for the top spot. Who can forget the climax, where she sang "A Moment Like This" with uncontrollable shrieks of joy, and with tears rolling down her cheeks? The song was befitting for the moment, and her success touched the hearts of everyone worldwide!

When I was 11, I snagged up my copy of Thankful (right after I purchased Dangerously in Love by Beyonce).

While it was not the bubblegummish pop that I was so into at that teensy age, I still found the tunes melodious enough to replay for a period of time. Standout tracks include A Moment Like This, Thankful, Just Missed the Train, Beautiful Disaster and the collaboration with Tamyra Gray - You Thought Wrong.

There was something special about this CD - it was great full of soul! I chucked the CD aside in favour of Dangerously in Love, which had more bombastic productions.

Then in 2004 came Breakaway. The first single blew the world away, and the follow-up, Since U Been Gone was an epic hit single. In Christmas 2004, Breakaway was sitting under my Christmas Tree as a gift from Santa.

And the hits kept coming. I watched TRL back then, and I was glued to the telly, watching the World Premiere of Behind These Hazel Eyes. The concept of the video, a runaway bride, was similar to that of We Belong Together (Mariah Carey), and both videos competed for the top spot on TRL each week. I was rooting for Kelly Clarkson, and even went online to MTV to vote!!!

There's just so much emotion in this video. This is my FAVOURITE Kelly Clarkson video.

I spent my 12th and 13th year on this world looping the album on end. Standout tracks (other than the Singles) include: Gone, You Found Me, Addicted. This album was the subject of discussion and common interest among the first few friends I made in NUS High School. I remember chatting with Stephanie about Kelly Clarkson!

After a short little break, she released My December. The first single, "Never Again", was a song filled with angst, and a chorus of empowerment. I was instantly hooked onto the song, and the accompanying video (My 2nd Favourite Kelly Clarkson Video)

I love how she haunts him in this video!

Anyway, there was so much controversy with this CD, and how her label manager offered her millions to remove tracks from the CD in favour of more radio-friendly tunes. She refused, and good for her!

Her most beautiful album cover yet :)

I bought my copy within two weeks of its release, and although I did indeed find many of the tunes less marketable, there were still a few tracks that caught my attention. These standout tracks include: Sober, Judas, How I Feel, and One Minute. I listened to the CD for a few months, and then chucked it aside in favour of, again, Beyonce's B'Day.

The album was extremely low-key, and I think she lost some fans in the process. I strangely stayed loyal and continued to listen to her tunes.

Then came MY LIFE WOULD SUCK WITHOUT YOU. It was like, pop paradise, and a return to pop perfection! I looped that song on end, and loved every single bit of it!!!

Without hesitation, I quickly snagged up this CD in January 2009. The first track that caught my attention was Whyyawannabringmedown. Normally I hate noisy rock screamo kind of music, but Kelly Clarkson totally pulled it off!!! Listen to this:

This is my favourite song off All I Ever Wanted. Other standout tracks from this CD include I Do Not Hook Up (such a cute anthem!), Don't Let Me Stop You, All I Ever Wanted, and Long Shot.

I've grown up listening to her CDs! The amazing thing about BUYING CDs rather than simply downloading off the web is that you get to hold a hard copy. Every single time you look at it, it brings back so many memories. Each one of Kelly Clarkson CDs is like a checkpoint in my growing up years...

Besides, I never got how people could call themselves "FANS" if they never went crazy and bought all the CDs, which is a direct contribution to the artist. At least purchase the singles legally to call yourself a true fan!

My CD collection spans hundreds of CDs, and every single CD brings back a unique set of memories!

And of course, now that KELLY CLARKSON is coming to SINGAPORE, how could I possibly not go!!!????

27 April 2010

We bought $125 CATEGORY 3 tickets, so we were pretty darn close to Kelly!

HTC gave us these inflatable balloon clappers, which were so much fun!

Camwhorring time!

The show started promptly at 8 pm!!! Amazing, she wasn't late!

SET LIST

All I Ever Wanted
Miss Independent
I Do Not Hook Up
Impossible
That I Would Be Good (Alanis Morissette cover)/Use Somebody (Kings of Leon cover)
Breakaway
If I Can't Have You/Can't Get You Out of My Head (Kylie Minogue cover)
Never Again
Lies (The Black Keys cover)
Acoustic Medley
Just Missed The Train
Low
Addicted
Gone
Behind These Hazel Eyes (Acoustic)
Save You
I Want You
Don't Let Me Stop You
Because of You
Walk Away
Since U Been Gone

Encore:
Already Gone
Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes cover)
My Life Would Suck Without You

While we weren't quite used to such a chubby version of Kelly Clarkson, she still managed to rock the house down! The special thing about Kelly is that her concert is just a pure, unadulterated display of vocal prowess. She didn't need to dance, have smoke, or use strange gimmicks to entertain - she is, in essence, a singer.

Her voice was so good live! She blew everyone away with her amazing vocals and acoustic ballads. Some songs sound so much better live than on record!

She spoke to her fans in an intimate manner, "I read on my Twitter that you guys wanted me to play these songs", and "You'd think I remember my own lyrics, given that I wrote the song, right?" - in response to some forgotten lyrics. Her "Intimate" puts Beyonce's "Intimate Performance at Wynn" to shame.

I had so much fun with these bunch of people, screaming and jumping and clapping like crazy!

The people around us were surprisingly sessile! They just sat there and watched. At one point in time, I was jumping so crazily that they stared at me like a retard.

I thought it was awesome that I listened to all her CDs, so I could thoroughly enjoy all the tunes she belted out. I know the others didn't know a few songs, but of course, they could still enjoy nonetheless ;)

I really let loose this time, because her voice was so awesome, and the company was great!

Both photos above are from TODAYOnline.

I jumped and screamed through the entire "My Life Would Suck Without You". So much fun!!!

The 90-minute concert was a bit short, but we all left feeling extremely satisfied. Contrast this to Rihanna's concert in 2008, when I left feeling cheated after paying $99. For Kelly Clarkson, I felt like I underpaid her. $125 for such a performance? Too cheap!!!

On the way out, I was being retarded, and COULD NOT RESIST BUYING THE DELUXE EDITION OF BREAKAWAY.

I've always loved the new gray-blue cover of Breakaway, but I never bought it because I had the original white one.

BUT THIS TIME, I went ahead and forked out $20 for it!

Us with our new CDs.

After watching Kelly Clarkson, I must say I'm overwhelmed by her vocals. She's special in her own way... she doesn't need loud beats and thumping drums to entertain. She can rely on pure vocals. Yet, behind those drum beats, she's able to deliver top-notch quality singing too...

I must say, she's indeed one of the most amazing SINGERS of our time! I loved the feel of the concert... it was very intimate and we definitely connected with her on some level. I would pay a lot more to watch it again!

LOVE KELLY CLARKSON!

Thought

2010-04-17T22:01:00.004+08:00

I honestly am quite contented when I look back at how I've lived my life in the past 3-4 years.

I spent each and every single day giving my 110% to everything I do, and I feel like I've lived the past 3-4 years to the fullest, in some sense.

I still give my 110% to all my commitments, and I really want to maximize my potential during my high school years. I set out wanting to learn as much as I can, grow as much as I can, so that I can face the future with confidence.

And I'm somewhere near that point.

I've been blessed with so many opportunities!

Watching ANTM

2010-04-16T00:07:00.004+08:00

Was watching ANTM, the first time I'm watching in since Cycle 6/7. It's Cycle 13 now.

This photo is so beautiful!

From: http://www.cwtv.com/images/c/0018/cw-antm13-nicole-container_056972-a68997-500x666.jpg

I usually scoff at some of the photos cause they look quite bad, but I realized this one is really beautiful! I think her expression really captured me... there's so much vulnerability. Though her pose looks a bit contrived, I still think she's at her best in this photo!

I think all the other models' photos just pale in comparison.

I think it's scary how she looks so disproportionate in real life, but once the cameras and the make-up are on, bang!

Japan Trip (Updated till Day 3)

2010-04-15T21:43:00.000+08:00

Okay, I'm going to keep updating this entry and keep it at the top. :)

Date of last update: 15 April 2010, up to Day 3

19 February 2010

Okay, so we were on our way to the International Water Forum 2010 at Ritsumeikan Moriyama High School. I'm presenting my Frog and Environmental Management project. Darren is also representing the EnviroManagement one, and Lianhan some fish thingy. x)

Our flight was at 1 AM, so we met at 11 pm on the 18th. Mad awesome!

Donovan happened to be there and so he saw us off. =)

Us hanging around in T3, my favourite hangout place. Had two flights from here and I really love the vibe. Makes me proud to be a Singaporean!

Me and my siew mai. OK I KNOW, MAD CAMWHORE OK.

Instead of the usual retarded photos in the airplane, I decided to fast-forward to...

KANSAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, OSAKA.

with our Teacher-in-Charge, Mr. Soh!

You know he INSISTED that I take that shot for him!?

All of us wore two layers and we thought: "Aiyah not so cold leh". Then when we exited the airport and into the Osaka climate... WTFFFF!!!!!

Me in the bus. This is my new facebook profile picture.

We're ahead of schedule, since the programme starts at 5pm. A guide brought us around!

Industrialization.

The Kayukkan (Aquarium) wasn't open yet, so we went to this Bird Sanctuary for a quick walk.

Crazy cold and I was wearing gloves.

It was like 6 DEGREES!

I love these photos!

Lianhan like some glowing old man LOL.

We went back to the van and off to the Kayukkan! It's apparently one of the largest oceanariums in the world!

Lianhan with his best rendition of Japanese neoprint girls.

Mega kawaii kids!

It was a oceanarium/zoo kinda thing, with some animals.

THIS RAT IS DISGUSTINGLY HUGE!!!

Once upon a time, Camille told me that there were rats this huge, and I thought she was lying.

NOPE, SERIOUSLY, LIFE-SIZE!!!

There was really so many different kinds of animals.

I was tempted to buy all the souvenirs then I realized I had to save money.

Had some time left, so we were off to eat! It was so mad cold outside I almost died!

We bought mochi from this stall.

1500 yen is about 22 SGD.

If I gave you this as a souvenir, LOL now you know how much it cost! But hey, I was reluctant to give it away.

We ate at some cool restaurant.

Yums! Lianhan soaking in the aroma. It was really aweosome teppanyaki ish.

I'm so hungry right now I'm drooling.

After that we were on our way to BKC at Ritsumeikan University, our lodging for 3/4 days of the conference.

Us packing up and waiting for our buddies to arrive. In the meantime, we hung out and had fun.

People exercising in this weather! Crazy.

Me in Japan's high-tech toilet. A must-try!

We left our luggages at BKC, and boarded a 40-minute bus ride to Ritsumeikan Moriyama, where our buddies were waiting!

On the way, met loads of people from UK and Canada. They were amused that we could speak proper english, lol!

Anyway, when we reached, we realized that ALL the buddies were female, EXCEPT Darren's! Kinda weird when half the homestay people are guys...

So anyway, I met my buddy, and I'm damn lucky again! Her dad picked me up, and off we went home! It was a pretty fun 45-minute drive, and we exchanged information about Singapore/Japan.

OH I FORGOT TO MENTION, I'm MAD LUCKY because my buddy stayed in Canada for one year! That means she could understand everything I said perfectly :D Perfect translator for her parents and me. I heard the other homestay buddies struggled a little.

My room! So Japanese, eh?

Their amazing living room:

They brought me to this Japanese Festival. Apparently it happens once every year, and it's the kind of thing you see on all those animes!

People come here to pray for peace.

Drop a coin, and tada, you can wish for something awesome. Oh DID I MENTION HOW CRAZILY COLD IT WAS!!???

It was -2 degrees and I was, well, dying. Homestay parents gave me an extra leather coat, and I was still freezing!

There's so much food! I love the street 'pasar malam'-ish kinda thing.

They basically asked me if I wanted to eat anything, and I of course didn't know what to order, so we sat down and ate :)

They bought me an Okonomiyaki - which is some omelette thingy which is fantastic. Great for the cold weather.

There was tons of food, and they kept buying and buying for me. I was getting fat.

This can be found in Singapore too :) I loved it!

Then we went back home...

We sat around, and they fed me with tons of green tea. I used their shower, which was so cool!!! Even the floor was heated.

Damn funny lol, when my buddy was showering, Homestay Dad and Mum were communicating with me via BABELFISH. Basically he keyed in stuff and I keyed in stuff and we kept translating in order to communicate.

Then my buddy finished showering and we were saved!

They are so amazing! Homestay Mum has the same birthday as me :)

I went off to bed in my nice and warm room, set to about 22 degrees. Love how snuggly it was.

20 February 2010

Had an awesome breakfast, and we took some final shots outside their beautiful house. Homestay was only one day, so off we went!

Their house is really big and cool.

Now, since fuel is so expensive, they drive to the train station, and the dad takes the train to work!

It went to negative 5 at night, and I stepped on a PUDDLE of ICE.

Mind-blogging train network.

Awesome trains.

The wind chill is horrid.

After the train, got on a bus to get to school. Everyone was starring at my bright green jacket.

My buddy and I were the earliest!

All the homestay people came early, so we were taken to a special room for a tea ceremony.

We played some Japanese traditional games first.

Mickey, that's her name.

Lianhan doing tea ceremonies. The British girls are from Camborne Science and Community College.

MY TURN! I think I was ultimate fail lol, cannot mix properly.

It was quite fun :)

We had some time outside, so we proceeded to camwhore in their new campus!

Eriko - she knows Chua Lynn! Her english is not too bad :)

They even had a countdown!

It's a student-run event.

We then proceeded to go on some school tour.

Japanese drums.

And they have special shoes for every location, so the floors are never dirty!

Kendo!

Their campus is mad beautiful.

Spot the Ms Angela Lim.

We went back to BKC and walked around Ritsumeikan University.

Then we proceeded for our OPENING CEREMONY!!!

Quite cool, but we didn't really make friends yet, minus the Japanese buddies :)

21 February 2010

Now that we are staying at BKC, got up in the morning for my breakfast, which is basically BENTO SET, plus oolong tea. Always the same! I drank Oolong Tea like it was water. Haha. And count how many Bento Sets I ate throughout the trip!

Then off we went to the Opening of the International Water Forum! (I know, there's an opening party and a proper opening ceremony).

The opening was really cool :) When they call out the school name, the spotlight flashes on your assigned seats. So you have to stand up and wave to the crowd :) Awesome!

Some dancer was dancing around and little did we know, she was actually painting this:

The Governor/Mayor of the Prefecture was there to grace the event!

After that we split into different groups, and I was mad nervous cause I had to make a presentation to so many people! Plus I was the only one from our school who's presenting. Other schools send 3 students from one team lol, and we send three people, from three different teams.

Darren and Lianhan proceeded to do some neoprint-taking.

And then it was time for the presentations.

From Camborne.

From Canada.

My lunch. Bento set again!

I was too nervous cause my presentation was up next!

Yeap, I overshot the time by a bit!

Anyway, left the place, and went for the poster session.

Notice the snow-capped mountains in the background.

And off we were to the poster presentation session.

Darren thinks the mountains behind him look like some religious painting.

3 different sections, and all our posters are located in:

Water and Biodiversity!

Singapore is mentioned!

NUS High! By the way, I forgot to mention that the reason there's an angmoh is because she's an exchange student from USA. She's been here for about a year.

On our way back to BKC to have an awesome dinner.

After some resting time, dinner!!!

We made quite a lot of new friends! But no pictures though...

Cultural performances!

I remember the one from Camborne was awesome! There were Korean traditional music performances, quizzes on USA etcetc!

And the food was great!

Our delegation again :)

Back at BKC:

Darren loves the dustbins!

OK More later.

Some Haunting Music Videos...

2010-04-13T09:05:00.004+08:00

Okay, this sounds really mundane, but I'm primarily blogging because I opened my vault of old music videos in my hard disk, and I realized how much I love some of these videos!

1) Kelly Clarkson's Never Again

This song was a bit low-key, but the video is amazing. The guy tries to drown Kelly Clarkson, and ends up being haunted as he rushes to the airport to flee with his girlfriend. I absolutely love the concept, and the scenes where she haunts him are truly frightening. To top it all off, the video is interspersed with scenes of the band playing; and they're all dressed in white (symbolizing some form of purity/innocence when in love).

She sings with this resentment and force in her voice - "never again".

(At 2:35 onwards, the climax is great!)

2) Rihanna's Disturbia

I think this could be my favourite video of all time!!!

I remember looping it on end because I thought she really disturbed me! The scenes in the video - the one where she has no eyeballs, the tarantula, the fire, the bondage - are really disturbing images that leave such a deep impact on your psyche. And the way they made her head shake violently... I wouldn't want to watch this video at night!

OK that's about it. Wanted to add a few more but I got lazy.

Speech Day, UWW and Awfully Chocolate!

2010-04-10T14:19:00.002+08:00

9 April 2010

In the morning, NUS High had its 6th Speech Day. I'm quite glad to be a part of it again, receiving the Subject Book Prize for Geography, and the CCA Achievement Award for Gamelan Ensemble!

I've come quite a long way since Year 1, when Leon Chen once told me that I "was not fit for this school". LOL.

Anyway, after that, we had a Bio test, and then it was off to Underwater World for our Bio field trip!

Me at the travellator.

We had to do this worksheet, and being the awesome class that 602 is, we split into four groups. Each group did one page, and we would all meet at 4pm to compile the answers before submission at 430. And yeap, our collaboration worked extremely well!

After that, we went to Dian Xiao Er, for our semi-class dinner.

Yay!

After that, we were supposed to get Ben and Jerry's. But on our way to the ATM to withdraw cash, we passed by AWFULLY CHOCOLATE OMG!!!

We bought a pint and shared it among the three of us! Brenda got one scoop by herself.

OMG this is the best chocolate ice cream I've ever tasted! The texture is so smooth, and the blend of butter, cocoa and flavouring is perfect! We ate and ate but never got tired of it.

In fact, I kind of regret not going in to purchase the chocolate truffles. They cleverly placed samples for us to try. Once you try, you will surely drool and want to buy!

Love 602 =)

Going Overseas!

2010-04-08T22:11:00.003+08:00

Awesome!

I'm going to the London International Youth Science Forum 2010!

Got through MOE OSAP last year, but didnt manage to go cause of H1N1. Heng we got resubmitted again, and I managed to get through this round alive, and with my first choice again! This will be my 7th school overseas trip!

Awesome! This trip is all-expenses paid, with allowance =) THANKS MOE! LONDON HERE I COME!!!!!!!

Excited to the maximum!

In September, going on Exchange to Patumwan Demonstration School in Thailand.

Barcamp Singapore 5

2010-03-27T21:39:00.003+08:00

27th March 2010

The morning was spent at the NYEC, which was honestly poorly planned minus the amazing keynote speaker :)

Anyway, during lunch, we sort of met Vishnu and Sidwyn! They were there at "BarCamp". I know, sounds so foreign, right? But I was so intrigued and dying from boredom that I decided to flee NYEC... and it was all worth it!

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

By the way, Brendatan has been making a series of scandalous remarks, let me show you:

Read it chronologically (from the top). Green highlights are tweets by sidwyn, blue by me.

At this rate I'm going to lose all my followers, since I keep posting their convos online. Then again, Twitter is public!

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

I shall try to answer the following questions based on my understanding of today's event.

This is my first Barcamp, and I definitely want to go to more Barcamps in the future!

1. So, what is a BarCamp?
They are ad-hoc meetings and gatherings of people. These people are generally full of ideas and are willing to share and learn. Event venues and dates are publicised through various social media platforms.

2. Who the hell goes to Barcamps?
All kinds of people! From IT geeks to teachers, students, entrepreneurs, musicians etc etc! All it takes is for one to be enthusiastic about learning and sharing.

3. How does it work?
Apparently everything is haphazardly scheduled. Participants just decide what they want to do on the spot, and paste it on the board, and people vote. If enough people want to listen to the talk, it is scheduled on the spot. It's very conducive for learning; if you don't like a session, you can just walk out and attend the one happening in the next room (concurrent sessions). You can even start your own presentation!

Enough said!

We barged through the event at 1+ pm, and thoroughly enjoyed our first talk, which was on "How to Cook the Perfect Egg"

Apparently if you maintain the egg in boiling water at a certain temperature, the egg will turn out differently!

Mad cool, the guy had a temperature regulator and a lot of eggs cooking in a pot while he explained some of the science. He also talked about reverting back to some paleolithic diet.

He said that before we started eating rice/noodles, for thousands of generations, homo sapiens ate a different kind of diet. And he was advocating reverting to that diet for better health. More details can be found at paleonu.com

Anyway, the whole egg thing really works!

The eggs at this temperature (I think 64 degrees) is really buttery and nice! Amazing!

Us with eggs, very contented people.

Anyway, here's the list of topics, outside:

Don't you just wanna attend every talk? They have talks for everything from "7 Steps to an iPhone App" to "Let's Fuck GFW", "Eliminating Poverty" etc!

People voting with stickers.

Lightning talks are like, 5-minute speeches made by any single person in the audience. You can just speak when you want to =)

We selected some talks to attend. Since there were many happening concurrently, we had to select the one we liked best.

These are the other ones we went for:

Talk #2: Fat-Free Music Production

(I know the photo looks like no one's there, but there are a lot of people behind us)

Anyway, this guy was using a very lean software to make music! He connected his guitar and a small keyboard to this receiver. And this software is amazing - Studio One.

Really cool, cause he managed to play Sweet Child of Mine.

Topic #3: Hacking Singapore's General Elections

It was a talk about why so many Singaporeans have the right to vote, but yet haven't voted in their lives due to walkovers in their GRCs.

It was very interesting to here views from people from all walks of life! I was really enjoying myself, cause the talks were so engaging and enriching!

Topic #4: 21 Seconds to Impact

This speaker was talking about how to make good avertising videos, apparently those under 21 seconds!

Topic #5: Let's Fuck #GFW

The talk's all about how the Great Firewall of China works, and the numerous means people have to bypass the firewall. The speaker was from HongKong, and he managed to condense a lot of programming and technical stuff into layman terms. Amazing!

And the LAST ONE we attended was:

Topic #6: My Hotel Sucks!

This guy was recounting his experience. He was travelling with an Indian friend, and he booked two tickets to this supposedly well-rated hotel. However, when he was there, he faced a problem: His Indian friend was not given a room that he had booked previously.

The speaker said he was wondering why it wasn't mentioned on the site he read - which brought him to his point about taking information from reliable sites. TripAdvisor, a reliable site, apparently listed the issue of 'racism' when you search the hotel name...

Quite an interesting perspective.

Overall:
I think Barcamp is a really meaningful event. I felt genuine excitement when I walked into these rooms to listen to these lectures. People were interested in learning and sharing, which made it fun for everyone!

Lectures should be in such a style =)

Thanks to Sidwyn (@hyperous) and Vishnu (@burnflare) for showing us around barcamp!

#barcampsg5!

Follow me on twitter!

The Week in Photos

2010-03-27T20:55:00.002+08:00

25 March 2010

Went out in the evening to IMM for a much-needed break, and a good dinner! Yum!

We were looking at the directory and seriously pondering what to eat, I mean, there's SO MUCH TO EAT AT IMM!!!

Eventually, I saw a TAIWANESE restaurant. I felt like drinking milk tea (esp taiwan milk tea) so where else to go than to XIAN DING WEI?

Quite cute, it can also mean "reserve seats first" in mandarin, or "fresh taste always".

They have a really awesome set meal. You'll see later...

Only $1.30 for my milk tea since I bought the set meal.

Of course I was tweeting like crazy... you should've seen my mad stream of tweets with photos :D

Hurray for flatmates!

Only $10.00 plus milk tea =)can you believe how cheap?

Brenda was having some vegetarian shit, so I'm not showing hers...

After that, went shopping... and this is the outcome:

Yeap!

26th March 2010

IT'S THE AMAZING ARCINAS'S BIRTHDAY!!!

Guess what I bought her!?

Super cute right? Mad appropriate for her! Im sharing this with Janel :)

Apparently she had a ton of fun with it in class too x)

She's so happy today! Her special day :) It's the only day she's not on the verge of swearing.

Who can forget, Janel?

AHAHAHA, I miss all the outings together already!

Happy Birthday Camille!

Camille is one of the most amazing friends I know =) I think the most admirable thing about her is how she's able to persevere through everything. She's one incredibly intelligent person who makes the best, and most spot-on comments. She's one of the few people who I go to when I feel like bitching about school stuff and life, in general =)

Here's to a great 18th year, Camille!

The Quest for Immortality

2010-03-18T22:54:00.002+08:00

18 March 2010

We're damn cultured y'all!!!

From picnics to museums!

Now we are happily hopping from Body Worlds to Filipino Art Exhibition to Quest for Immortality!

It's FREEEEEE admission for students, so take some time to go see it if you can :)

Naughty vandals!

Endless sphinxes and mummies.

I'm using my Lumix's Indoor Mode. Not too bad I guess... I can't use flash inside.

This is some cross-section of the Giza Pyramid.

There were loads of panels with information.

Of course, some mummy action:

I seriously wonder how they got some of these items.

It didn't take us too long to finish the entire exhibition, I think about 1-hour-ish?

The badges look cool, but it's $2 each.

We went on to look at the other galleries.

We went to some Singapore History part of it...

A lot of herbs!

I wanted a shot too actually! bleagh.

We went to the Cathay for dinner at Astons! I had to give Becca her belated birthday present:

I made that! chio right?

Happy 18th Becca! Sorry I couldn't celebrate with you cause I was in Japan!

Okay, now I have to prepare Movin's :)

North East Run 2010

2010-03-18T22:01:00.002+08:00

14 March 2010

Of course I'm not running!

Anyway, we were told to report at 11 pm the night before, or at 3:40 am in the morning. They provided us with a sleeping area lah. So we reported at 11 pm and registered. We decided that there was no point sleeping!!!

So we took a cab to Tampines to watch "Kidnapper". The show is so classically mediacorp. Anyway, after that we went back and hanged around in the darkness, like homeless people.

Thankfully Becca brought her free camera!

Darren being retarded.

At 4 AM, we had to gather at the finishing point to collect our gorgeous awesome goodie bags, and head off to the starting point.

We were stationed along the 16km path. Since we all weren't wearing shoes, we were not allowed stand along the grassy area. Instead, we had to go to the drinks station. AWESOME, NO SUN!!!

The runners started coming and it was a mad rush to get the drinks to them, while not compromising on their speed.

See the other volunteer going crazy!

One guy managed to topple 3 cups along his way and yet failed to get a single cup -.-

Basically 2 jobs: filling the cups, or giving them out.

I seem to be doing both huh x)

They prepared the drinks by pouring concentrate and loads of Ice Mountain into the tub. I don't want to drink 100plus anymore.

Runners sure aren't environmentally friendly people.

It ended!

All the cups!

We then boarded a bus back to the main area and collected $30. SERIOUSLY, they gave us $30 on top of CIP Hours.

We then went off to get our McDonalds breakfast, then rush back home to sleeeeeeeppppp!

I love the yellow colour :)

Some Reflections...

2010-03-16T11:10:00.003+08:00

I'm at my Station Booth right now, in the midst of SDYC Camp. Kids are running around playing my station game...

The past few weeks have been incredibly memorable. During SSEF, I felt this sense of solidarity like never before. Suddenly, I was cheering on for NUS High School to win as many medals as possible. It was incredible to see how our level leans on and supports one another during times of bliss and crisis.

Winning the Merit Award was disappointing for my group, of course, since we expected to get a medal for 1.5 years of slaving away. Vera and Joyce were quick to congratulate us on winning, and when I heard Junyi got a Merit (I know he wanted a better award), I just felt compelled to go there and comfort him. I guess it's because we were in the same predicament. Junyi was visibly upset, and I don't know... It was nice having some support and yet, supporting someone else. :)

It was also nice having encouragement from Dr. Tan Ee Ling and Mr. Malcolm Soh, who sincerely congraulated us on a job well done (they were clearly aware of my disappointment). Someone reminded me that I've won 3 awards (NWSP 1st Runner-Up, RP Science Congress Outstanding Poster Award and now SSEF Merit) and got 2 trips (Chiangmai and Japan). In light of these achievements, yeah, they are right, I should be contented. And looking back, yes. Because I've learnt so much from my interactions with my groupmates, so much from slaving through sleepless nights rushing reports, and most importantly, enjoying the ups and downs of research!

Today, I'm here at SDYC, working very hard to move the Relations Committee forward, as well as playing a part to make the camp a success. 3 months into working with an entirely new bunch of people that I have never worked with before, I must say I have never been happier. Working with new, capable people always humbles me.

I see the amount of time and effort Steph puts into coordinating the camps, Dorothy's quiet earnestness in completing her planning for the Night Activities and Station Games, Zhexu's ability to spice up a presentation with his amusing style, Royston's talent for leading discussions in the most diplomatic matter and able to approach academic topics with flair, Junyi's analogy-churning talent (Turtle).

There's so much more that I have to learn from these people, and it always keeps me in check.

Right now, seeing the camp going on, I feel really happy that SDYC is moving along. It's great that the core team is so driven, so motivated, and it's nice to have the school's support.

Well, this is the last year, and I'm glad I'm contributing to the school in planning SDYC - an event that will leave its mark on NUS High School.

For now........ waiting for the teams to come back! :)

Updates so far...

2010-03-09T09:37:00.000+08:00

Back from Japan, and currently drowning in work!

Over the years, I've really learnt to make sleeping a priority. This means I really have to make every waking hour productive in order to finish all the work...

Anyway, it's SSEF week! ALL THE BEST!!!!

Off to Japan!

2010-02-17T17:37:00.003+08:00

Will be away in beautiful Japan for the next week! Well, more specifically, from 18th to 23rd Feb.

And that photo was sent by my Japan buddy - it's a picture he took right outside his home!

I'm really mad lucky, this is my 6th school trip already, and it's part-Congress, part-Exchange (with homestay) and school's paying 75% of the cost! LUCKY!!!

I got into the 2010 round of Exchange Programmes! Will be going to Patumwan Demonstration School in Thailand!

All in all, I have been to:
1. Brunei Student Exchange Programme
2. Christmas Island, Australia
3. World Biodiversity Congress, Thailand
4. Tioman (BL Module)
5. Taiwan Student Exchange Programme

I'm so incredibly blessed :)

Tumblr finds

2010-02-17T14:31:00.000+08:00

Sakae Sushi Dinner!

2010-02-15T11:34:00.002+08:00

8 February 2010

I remember the day was a really tiring one - we had lessons until 2 pm! I know it sounds like I'm damn lazy, but that's what happens when you have no lessons on Tuesday, and only one lesson on Wednesday (which starts at 1:30pm).

Monday was HIP day. Ok, by now LCS has distributed my handout to 4 classes. I chose Venezuela cause I started following Chavez somewhere in March last year, and since there was an entry in the Economist, why not do an HIP on it? But I understand that people don't really give a **** about where Venezuela is or who Chavez is, so I guess I had to add background info. :) Guess he liked it!

I spent the afternoon biking around... biked to Fusionopolis where I got Starbucks, and then came back for dinner. Darren and Pek, post-ODAC, wanted to eat Sakae! So off we went to CityVibes.

Us at the start, ordering... since waiting for the food to come by the conveyor belt may take quite some time.

Couldn't get a proper one taken...

Each coloured plate was $1! Mad cheap promotion.

Pek eyeing the food...

Sushi!!!

So many plates!

I was quite full in the end, but spent only about %7.20! :)

Okay, off to CNY visiting again!

Laser Quest and CNY Reunion Dinner

2010-02-13T21:54:00.004+08:00

12 February 2010

The morning was spent doing nothing - since I had no lessons. The CNY Concert was a blur - I think I wasn't concentrating on the concert, but rather, on what I was going to do after that. But the Dance Club's performance was not bad!

We went to Laser Quest at CDANS!

OK, at first we proposed to group ourselves into two groups - GEOG class and non-GEOG Class. But in the end, we decided to o-ya-bei-ya-som, and guess what!!?? All the geog class people had their palms faced upwards, while non geog students had their palms faced downwards! Cool!

It was my first time at Laser Quest and I was kinda scared!

Basically, there's a maze-like place inside with a few obstacles. And we need to hide and use the laser to shoot the opposite team. MAD FUN!!!

AHAHA, Brenda was like "DIE FUCKERS DIE", and Movin was busy smashing people with his gun (PHYSICAL VIOLENCE). There was one time Ravi and I were just shooting each other non-stop.

The above photo was us post-game. 30 minutes and we were crazily worn out.

They got one more member than us ok!

Whitebitch is me. BBBitch stands for "Big Black Bitch".

You even get a scoresheet at the end!

Cool eh?

It's $10.40 for 30 minutes, which is SERIOUSLY MORE THAN ENOUGH. I swear I ran like more than 2.4km or something!

After that, went back home to rest for a while, then met for CNY Reunion Dinner! Becca found the place at IMM, so off we went!

It's 7th Storey Hainan Cafe at IMM!

The steamboat is mad awesome, $8.90 per person, and free flow of drinks!

Each person gets a set of MEAT (containing prawns, fishball, squid, fish, etc etc) and a set of VEGGIES (cabbage, caixin, mushroom, tanghun, shitake mushroom etc) and egg for the soup! and rice :) ALL FOR 8.90.

I love the steamboat atmosphere!

I felt like smashing the egg at Camille (who was taking the photo) but then the camera would die too.

GROUP PHOTO:

MAKAN!!!!

There were two steamboats, so two kinds of soup - one was Herbal Ginseng, the other was Traditional.

HAHA then we tried to take another picture:

Movin chopstick FAIL HAHA.

I've never seen Camille so happy! Devouring her prawn. Becca was trying to swop her food with everyone else cause she hated seafood.

Cracked an egg and look how the albumin in the egg like bubbled into!

We had the usual bitching, discussing about people, etc:

Yeap, that's about it!

I thought it was one of the most memorable nights and outings so far! The steamboat added to the atmosphere and made it more homey... There was really a very warm feeling in our hearts and we shared so much to each other...

OK I know I sound weird. Haha.

Happy CNY!

The Week in Pictures (1st to 6th Feb)

2010-02-06T21:38:00.003+08:00

Monday was spent rotting away in school, went gym with Brenda, then ended up at Subway:

chio bu alert!

We all ate 6-inch sandwiches, and PEK ordered like FOOTLONG with NO VEGGIES. Mayonnaise and Honey Mustard somemore!

Defeats the purpose of subway!

Here's here resisting my camera skills.

On Wednesday, went biking at Ulu Pandan Reservoir with Darren

Surprised by my pro BlackBerry shot?

Dinner with Brenda and Darren after that, where Darren ate like wanton noodles AND prata. Gluttony strikes again!

On Friday, went for Media Club for the first time! After CCA, went home to clean and then dinner at Sakae!

Yumyum! $1 COLOURED PLATE.

Love it!

That's all for now :)

Flying off to Japan on school trip!

School subsidize so much! :DDDD

Another Twitter Conversation

2010-01-30T21:07:00.003+08:00

Here's another twitter conversation that caught my eye.

OK, so Sharma has been constantly streaming the twitter world with his tweets about K-Pop, and some fellow twitterers find it irritating. (I actually find it kind of cool that he devotes his twitter life - like, so passionate! :)

I made this convo easier to follow by rearranging tweetdeck. Now, you can read top-down instead of having to scroll-up.

Characters
divvi1612 = Divya Ramesh
hyperous = Sidwyn
thenitwas = Mitchell
nightelves92 = Sharma

Okay :) Twitter convos never fail to amuse me.

And, welcome Stephanie Chew @stephanieisbored to twitter!

CCA Fair 2010

2010-01-28T22:00:00.003+08:00

Pushed past the 60,000 readers mark two days ago. Thank you!

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

It's the 5th CCA Fair I'm involved in, and it's the last one.

I remember in Year 2 preparing for CCA Fair 2006. A small group of us headed down to the new campus to prepare some signs and stuff... Dr. Seah was our teacher I/C then. Time really flies by!

We were on the verge of being closed down; had to campaign to stay alive. Those were pretty tough times I think, and we sort of survived it through a long talk with Prof Lai back then. Dr. Seah left the CCA and was replaced by Mdm Rohaida. Little did I know that Mdm Rohaida and I would collaborate so well on so many occasions! Went on to Malay Class (6 MCs of A grade!) and soon, we were talking about all kinds of things! She was sort of like a friend :)

Now she's no longer in the CCA, but I totally miss working with her around! She's seldom hanging around in the canteen, which is kind of sad :( Hope she gets well!

Anyway, looking back, staying up to 5 years in one CCA can be one hell of a ride. At times, boredom hits you in the face, while at others, the achievements can be pretty damn worth it. The SYF Silver last year solidified and sort of marked the pivotal moment that I dreamed of for the CCA in Year 2. Now we are moving past that peak, and plotting to traverse more treacherous paths, such as sustaining interest in the Ensemble.

I've gradually let go of my control of the CCA. I'm extremely happy that my fellow Year 6's are taking over, and making my life easier! I really do love the teamwork here.

I joined the Gamelan Ensemble because it was something new and intriguing to me. Today, I still appreciate the uniqueness of these East Asian Ensembles and what they have to offer. Playing it, one realizes that there is a complex harmony between the instruments; and if you learn how to play it properly, you will soon realize the beauty of how every instrument falls into place.

Enough of emo-talk, it's time for CCA Fair pictures. It struck me halfway through preparation that this is going to be the last time!

Making bookmarks for the new members

I love this cute banner!

Years devoted to this cca.

Our booth! We have really gone such a long way...

We played three songs (although one failed) for the new students. I was chatting with Cassandra the whole time, and it's always interesting to discuss about school with different people.

After that was over, we shifted to our new room!

Hanging out with Movin and Divya who were at Drama/Orchestra.

With this CCA Fair coming to a close... I wonder what the numbers entering Gamelan will be like!

Visit to Body Worlds, Science Centre and Filipino Art Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum

2010-01-26T21:01:00.004+08:00

We're sibeh cultured!!! I mean, what better way then to merge the Sciences and the Arts than to visit both the Science Centre and the Art Museum on the same day!?

The idea of visiting the Art Museum popped into my head somewhere in November, as I took a quick glance at the lighted panels while trodding along the travellators in Dhoby Gauht MRT Station. Who better to follow us than our very own tour-guide, Filipino Ms Camille Arcinas?

Anyway, we decided to go to Body Worlds first. Bring a PassionCard if you have one; it costs $17 instead of $21 if you own a PassionCard. We got a bit lost lah, so we sort of went to the Science Exhibitions first.

They have a new section called the Science of Sound!

Camille's camera vs. my Blackberry camera.

We went straight into Body Worlds after that; apologies, no pictures except one, cause they were damn strict about the camera thing!

This is my second time to Body Worlds actually, the first was in Primary School at the Singapore Expo.

The perverted comments! Camille's "pervert" remark in the guestbook...

And our infinitely more meaningful guestbook entries.

We spent close to two hours in the entire exhibition - it's really quite worth the money. And since we took Advanced Animal Physiology last semester, we kind of can understand what most of the stuff are talking about. There's even a Pituitary Gland exhibit! (but they of course don't refer to "ADH", they just call it "Growth Hormone")

Oh yeah, I asked why there were no female exhibits except one. Camille's reply, "well, there are perverts around".

Went to iSpace

AVATAR WORLD.

Becca's impeccable camwhorring skills.

After all the fun was over, we made our way to the Singapore Art Museum.

Cameras were allowed in this one. Oh by the way, tickets cost $5.

I don't really know much about Philippines' history, so it was quite a nice walk through of history of the only Catholic nation in Asia.

Chronicles of Faith.

Lamb print "appropriately" at "Job". A bit sacrilegious.

The pope in Manila. This painting is very panoramic and is beautiful up close!

For this painting, the author had to come all the way down to SAM to paint the parts that were not on the canvas!

This was one of my favourite ones - the plight of the rich vs. the poor. Polluted and congested Manila highways with the impoverished knocking on the cars begging for cash.

Tarot cards!

This exhibit is covered with Binary Numbers.

And of course, who other than Imelda Marcos to feature?

I like how there are so many meanings in this portrait. That huge Golden Shoe, her lying down in the middle of the sea singing a lovely tune, and sharks in the surrounding sea.

She looks like Paris Hilton in this one - except with the broken mirror, cracked walls and slanted photo. A bit like trouble in paradise.

I think Imelda looked really beautiful when she was young - damn royal.

We proceeded out of SAM (they close at 7pm), and guess what we saw, right outside!

FLIRTING POINT! Now, no more excuse if you see your partner flirting away there eh?

Lousy security guard couldn't take a good picture for us - the point of the photo is the Flirting point -.-

Anyway, we went off to try this cool Hong Kong Restaurant.

Looks a lot like Xinwang.

My milk tea. I have to scoop up the ice and place it into the drink myself.

My honey pork ribs rice.

The intellectual.

That concludes our day! We spent the rest of the time talking :)

I'm 18!!!

2010-01-19T20:55:00.004+08:00

I'm freaking 18! Madness!

While I come to terms with it (hence not blogging lately), I will give thanks to all the amazing people in my life who made my 18th so awesome! My parents, sister, friends, etc. :) Pleasantly surprised again actually!

Thank you all!

Gonna leave you with that picture. Will come back roaring and blog the following:
- Bintan Trip
- New rented flat
- Birthday party
- CCA Fair
- More plans for this year.

In the meantime, SIGN UP FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT YOUTH CONFERENCE. I think the most awesome committee is RELATIONS :) guess who's comm head?

Will probably blog in two to three days, the past few days have been post-SSEF recovery...

Anyway, I happen to be loving this song like mad!

3OH!3's Starstrukk. Katy Perry is mad pretty here.

A Crazy Week!

2010-01-14T16:11:00.000+08:00

I cannot even begin to tell you what a crazy week it has been! SSEF was the focus of this entire week, rushing to write, edit and sign numerous forms and reports. Admin work is hellish.

Mrs Lim suggested I join the A*STAR talent search. Didn't quite think about it until MR. Soh again tried to persuade me to join. Filling in the forms was another nightmare. The questions were incredibly hard to answer, and doing it this last-minute was certainly not my cup of tea!

Feeling what it's like to be incredibly stressed and rushing to finish last-minute again. This is what school was like in year 3 and 4.

In the meantime, the overloading of free periods just makes schoollife a wee bit too boring. I mean, having to wait so long for lessons? then again, have to look on the bright side... At least no more crazy timetable; more time for participating in more meaningful things!

This Week in Pictures (4 to 8 Jan 2010)

2010-01-09T12:21:00.003+08:00

The week began with, of course, us moving into our new home.

And it somehow became some minor topic of discussion because random people were coming up to me and asking about the flat. And even teachers, like what the hell.

Anyway, spent the first night, after an incredibly boring day at orientation, at SumoHouse for our first dinner together!

Cheap cheap!

Got back home, and Darren did some decor.

Wait till you see the rest of my room!

I spent most of time reading this incredible book:

Only 8.90, from Popular Book Fair. I remember some weird person asking me why I picked this book (He was in front of me in the queue). I said, "I kind of like reading non-fiction more" [given the fact that there was only a small section of non-fiction books on sale]. He went all "Wise choice! I thought kids your age only like to youtube and watch tv shows!"

Weird.

Second day of Orientation was kind of another borefest.

That is Brenda Tan at her most bored state. Steph, FangYi, Beryl and Cancy will behind and were all bored!

Wednesday, we escaped school.

Movin, Brenda and I went gym to jog. OK, I know can totally jog for free.

Ravi winning at Monopoly Deal! We played this the whole time after lunch.

Went back for Campfire night.

K my hand shakiness is bad!

Damn awesome and super fun!

I think the best part was all the cheers, really got the house spirit together.

And mass dance, which I did with cancy! :) HAHA, loved it!

Spent the whole day hanging out with Ravi, Movin, Cancy and Adhitya =)

OK, Leroy was totally not supposed to be in the picture. Sorry if this sounds rude!

And I think part of the reason why the campfire was such a success was because of Mitchell! He really enlivened the entire school with his spontaneous cheers.

Awesome, eh?

Friday was spent at Republic Polytechnic's Science Congress, where we won a prize of $500 for our poster presentation! (Frog Project)

Was quite a surprise since we didn't expect to win, and the judges grilled us like mad regarding our science. Ecology is quite an inexact science, so it's of course prone to errors!

"Effects of Microclimatic Variations and Habitat Disturbance on Frog Communities in Singapore"

We started in August 2008, and now on the verge of finishing. Got Merit at NWSP, won $2500, now poster competition another $500. School kopes a total of $1500. Got to go to Chiangmai for presentation, and going to Japan in February. Was supposed to present this at London as well.

Work hard on your ARPs y'all!

Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-02T01:47:00.002+08:00

Happy New Year 2010!

Another decade has just flown past us, right before our very eyes. It's strange how we celebrate "New Year", when actually, January 1st is just like any other day on the calendar.

Anyway, have been busy moving into my new flat. Sharing it with Darren, Yangxuan and Brenda. It's a whole new experience altogether, and with close friends, which makes it all the more awesome! I can invite Clementi peeps to my place and we can party from time to time. Stay tuned for our housewarming party!

I'm just loving life right now. A new year, all sorts of new possibilities. Best of all, I've loads of things to look forward to:

1) Housewarming party + living with friends in a rental flat (less regulations compared to boarding).

2) Trip to Japan! School's sponsoring 75%. I'm presenting two of my projects somemore. Killing two birds with one stone. Going with Mr. Malcolm Soh, Lianhan and Darren...

3) New IRP with Camille, Janel and Rebecca. I love doing research with my friends. It makes the entire experience all the more worthwhile. The only reason I keep piling up projects is because it creates time to spend with my friends! =) And this group is special, because we miss the efficiency that we had in M08404.

4) Concluding my Frog ARP. Oh gosh, this one has been running for 1.5 years. Finally on the verge of completion and am mad happy! Will celebrate with Mr. Soh, Dr. Bickford, Sam, Intan and Joseph.

5) Sustainable Development Convention. OK, I'm still excited everytime I think about it =) It'll be so awesome to have such an event running in our school, executed by us!

2010 is going to be another incredible year. So many new projects, commitments and events to look forward to.

And apparently, doing more MBTI reports reveal that I'm apparently more ESFJ than ENFJ. I feel like this describes me completely.

OK - more photos later. I realized blogging photos consume way too much time!

Round-up: Birthday Presents of 2009

2009-12-31T15:17:00.002+08:00

This year, I took the effort to make gorgeous birthday presents for my friends. 2008 was filled with fun gifts, but I thought of taking 2009's to a higher level.

Most of all, all these presents were made with sincerity. I didn't actually make presents for all of my acquaintances. I'm not the kind that feels obligated to make nice gifts... No point making a gift if I'm forced to do so! =) I will substitute those with normal, but still sincere gifts.

So, without further ado, a round-up of my artistic genius in 2009:

#1 Movin

Movin's 17th! This was my first attempt at making a reasonably nice collage, after the huge scrapbook for Darren in 2008.

I made this kind of last-minute, but still, with a lot of effort okay! I had to specially bring my sister's magazines from home, cut them out and viola :) awesome collage.

#2 Becca Seow

Hehe, I spent two hours making this!

#3 Camille Arcinas

Yeap, another two hours on this one. Distributed this during our Bitching at the Beach. =)

Oh by the way, we are doing an IRP together!

#4 Intan Wirayadi

This one is special - the flaps can be opened and all that :) I spent 2.5 hours on this one... printing and cutting and making the flaps work!

#5 Janel Chua

Hers was a special gift made using IKEA FINLIR

It contained 10 images of all our little escapades in 404!

Haha this one really took numerous hours and wasted photo papers. Sometimes resize then blur then had to recalibrate etc etc!

#6 Darren Goh

It's a Pop-Art Booklet! Told you I'm running out of ideas.

Last but not least...

#7 Divya Ramesh

Divya is truly retarded!

Yeap, that's about it for 2009. :)

Quote of the Day

2009-12-29T22:20:00.003+08:00

“Wrath springs only from thwarted desires. I do not expect anything from others, so their actions cannot be in opposition to wishes of mine. I would not use you for my own ends; I am happy only in your own true happiness.”

— Autobiography of a Yogi - by Paramhansa Yogananda

Thought of the Day:

Since this entry, I realized I really do no longer have strong negative opinions towards the school anymore. In fact, I'm really extremely thankful for the numerous opportunities the school has given me. It's like some major paradigm-shift.

And when people say some things like, "oh the school is bullshit" and all that - I may agree that a particular change shouldn't be made, but I cannot agree with overwhelming criticism of the entire school anymore. I'm not brainwashed by anything... I somehow just, am thankful. I've learnt so much, and without this school, I won't be where I am today.

Being at NEA Camp, looking through the Constitution, planning activities, participating in Hemisphere's Carbon Footprint Challenge... events may be going by fast, but their impact on me is nonetheless deep. So many available outlets to broaden my educational experience... it's great!

Anyway,
Year's coming to an end!

The End of 2009

2009-12-26T11:55:00.005+08:00

2009 is drawing to a close again, and time continues to fly by at an ever-rapid pace. Wasn't too long ago that we sat in the library of the old RJC campus, pondering about steady-state population in Year 6. The memories of yesteryears feel strangely familiar yet distantly archaic; it seems like we have lost track of time amidst the hours toiled away and growing up.

At the start of Year 5, shifting into boarding was one of the highlights of 2008 year-end festivities. One year in a brand new living experience and a brand new class... I remember being apprehensive yet excited at the same time, a kind of ambivalence. Life is full of countervailing feelings sometimes, eh?

Staying in boarding proved to be everything I signed up for - more time to complete my homework, accomplish my goals and yet, more time with friends. Had the most amazing time bitching, disguised as star-gazing (with Movin), hanging around, and just, well, enjoying my youth. I found time to exercise a little bit more than before (Before that I generally tried to eat healthy to make up for the lack of exercise, even though health junkies will tell me that is not enough).

Year 5 was also the year I tackled numerous problems head-on. Problems that I generally tried to avoid addressing before. I learnt to love myself more, focus on my strengths, and slow down the pace of life. I forcefully demanded less of myself, in a bid to suppress that perfectionist streak within me - but I fail miserably, each and every time. I began recognizing my achievements and celebrating them, rather than collecting accolades and looking out for more hurdles to overcome, more tasks to accomplish.

It has been a year of revelations - one in which I've indeed grown so much stronger. I discovered my sense of self. I found a better balance between work, friends, family, and exercise. Time management skills generally worked to my favour again, and I found myself finishing work in advance and getting my precious sleep. I grew closer to my friends, and learnt to celebrate my achievements rather than merely collecting them.

Another big lesson I learnt was not to follow the crowd. Against the advice of my math teachers, I went ahead with dropping Math Honours. I'm now left with one Honours course. I'm intending to drop AP Chem and focus my energies elsewhere... in subjects or tasks that are more worthwhile. I don't want to take things for the sake of taking them, especially not subjects like Chemistry... concepts which I will barely apply in my future line of work, I hope.

Best of all, I ended the year feeling an immense sense of satisfaction. I feel like I've done everything I need to do in this school, and have maximized my potential. The only other thing in store for me is finishing one more IRP (a final project I'm doing with Rebecca, Camille and Janel as our parting gift to each other), and executing the Sustainable Development Convention. Those two are my ultimate goals, and plans area already well under way. Once I finish those, in June, I'm all ready to graduate. Ready to move ahead and meet new challenges!

Yet, I still have things to learn. New lessons and obstacles to overcome. I hope 2010 will be a stable, solid year - the final year where I can truly enjoy my time in school sans teenage angst that accompanied me through the past 5 years.

So here's to a great 2010! :)

Christmas @ Janel's

2009-12-26T00:34:00.002+08:00

I was thinking of putting off blogging again - thinking that I already blogged not long ago. And then I realized it was Saturday, post-Christmas already.

Plus, I really need to clear the billions of photos I have left unblogged, before the new year comes. Expect another introspective entry in a few days, before 2010 arrives!

22nd December 2009

We planned this party months and months in advance! Supposed to be hosted by Divya, but she occupied her function room for her birthday, and turns out nobody could book it twice (Kind of retarded cause the slot remained UNBOOKED on the 22nd anyway!) so we went to Janel's place.

It was a Secret Santa party. We wrote down what we want on a piece of paper (costing between $10 - $20 lah). Then we placed it into a bag, and then drew lots to see who we would buy for. Secret-santa style of course.

Then, on the actual day, we had to guess who our santa was, based on the clue left behind.

Okay so anyway, on the 22nd, right before the party, went to Parkway to print my disgustingly overdue photos. I have a total of 320 photos to print, and it cost me a total of $64!

After that, went to Janel's place at Edelweiss Park Condominium. She says everyone always alights at Ballota Condo by mistake.

Everyone was kind of late.

I love these get-togethers :)

Which freaking reminds me, Movin and Intan couldn't make it :( And Becca was late, hence not in this photo.

There was a lot of food, and presents galore!

Us getting ready to unwrap and figure out who our Secret Santas are.

First up: Camille

Cheapskate wrapper ahaha.

And it's a camera pouch!

Babu

And she got earrings!

A pathetic looking stuffed toy, as requested!

Cool book!

Yay! Exactly what I wanted!

Thank you Babu! It's from Nat Geo store! :D

From Turkey!

And Brenda's cheapskate present:

AHAHA, we kind of lost her lot, so she bought this, and in the end gave it to Janel.

We proceeded to play card games, Indian Poker, and then went back.

Awesome! Love these parties so much... :)

Darren's 17th Birthday @ Modesto's

2009-12-21T23:10:00.000+08:00

19th November 2009

OK, I'm a slow blogger.

The only reason I'm still bothering to blog is because it's just... nice to look back on my life via photos on my blog =)

So, anyway, Darren's birthday came in two parts. This first can be found here...

Decided to go to Modesto's this year :)

Yangxuan shows us her glam camera-taking skills!

We got this fabulous $22 deal - it's for 4 persons, so $22 each. Comes with appetizers, main course and deserts! There were 8 of us, so two of this set was perfect.

More photos to come of Birthday boy

Seafood Aglio Olio - I ordered this, but ended up trading with YangXuan for her Carbonara.

Yay Intan!

SJWP Group Again.

I keep tagging photos of the three of us as SJWP.

So much Food! The pizza here is thin-crust, yet crispy, baked over firewood.

Happy Birthday Darren!!!

Our desert which turned out a bit pathetic.

And it was present time!

I made this one, it's like a pop art montage thing with his 3 BFFs.

Beautiful right? It will be compiled into a booklet. The second image is not complete - I didn't get a photo of the completed one with a space for a message.

Oh, and we got him a remote-controlled helicopter too! One of his favourite retarded toys...

I'm running out of ideas for birthday presents!!!

Divya's 17th Birthday Party and Preparations

2009-12-20T23:43:00.002+08:00

14 December 2009

(I realized blogger's compose mode doesn't have an underline function, so each time I use underlines I have to manually key it in html form. But I insert photos via html anyway, so no difference.)

It's Divya's 17th!!! For the first time we are actually celebrating it - most years, everyone is away on holiday... :(

Anyway, Monday was a visit Movin and have fun day :) Awesome! I haven't seen Movin since like 234325345346 years ago so it was fun... we decided to bake a cake together for Divya. Ohmy Indians!

(Speaking of which, Movin bitch is now on holiday and totally gonna skip our Christmas party!!! This kind of friend also have? haha.)

Getting the ingredients ready...

Smashing biscuits, similar to the entry I did last year about making strawberry cheesecake.

I know, JackNJill is like, hello? Blatant ripoff and placed side by side in the supermarket. Never tried Creamo so I don't really know what it tastes like.

But how can you beat the legendary oreo? You don't see Creamo McFlurry, do you? or Creamo Cheesecake?

Camwhorring is compulsory.

Movin said he had to convince his mum to buy him that whisk. I wish i had the machine, even though I don't bake... but I think it's cool to see how it works.

Lousy aiming.

Smash oreos!

Oh dom arrived, by the way.

In a hot bath. Oh I didn't explicity state that we were baking an OREO CHEESECAKE.

While waiting for it to be done, we sat around and watched movies.

OK, Sunday School Musical.

So vulgar!!! He did that cause Dom was using my camera and taking random shots.

15 December 2009

Not even Divya's actual birthday lorh! But nevermind, one day early better than one day late!

Once again, I made Babu the most awesome present:

Anyway, to show you how retarded she is, I needed to get some of the photos from her to blog... and this is what I got:

She's retarded!!!

So, we went to Varsity Park Condo for her party... her condo is freaking awesome to the maximum.

At about 8 plus, Aaron Tay gave Divya a surprise by arriving in a freaking BIRTHDAY CAKE. But I didn't manage to snap it down! After that he removed the cake and gave it to Divya.

Aww... we used to have that cheer remember?
"A-A-R-O-N-T-A-Y,
Divya's in love with a Year 3 guy,
Everything he does will make her day,
And his name is Aaron Tay!"

And FangYi also composed the Damien Mak one:
"D-A-M-I-E-N-M-A-K,
Divya's in love with a freaking gay,
She has found the guy she wants to f***
And his name is Damien Mak!"

Divya is so classic!

Cake bakers.

I decided to be nice.

Happy 17th Divya!!! One more month and I'm 18th!

And online, we had this retarded conversation on Twitter:
Aaron: How's the cake?
Divya: A bit under-baked which makes some parts runny despite putting in freezer. but tastes good nonetheless :D
Aaron: It's filled with like, all the jokes we made about you in the past few years.
Movin: It's filled with LOVE.
Divya: No wonder it ended up so mushy! xD
Aaron: YOU ARE SO RETARDED!!!!
Divya: HAHA NOT BAD HOR. I crack a joke once in 2734785 years.

Anyway, oh gosh, Divya Ramesh. Bloody 5 years. And literally bloody. We fought all sorts of wars, some where we had common enemies. From Leon Poh to leeching in Year 1, to calling names and ostracising in Year 2, to cold war and big break in Year 3, to sudden realization of the many memories we shared and we instantly became like bffs again in Year 4, and hostel in Year 5.

Christmas Cards

2009-12-19T21:50:00.001+08:00

Christmas cards for all :D I send them every year...

OK I totally got the cards on discount, but it's the thought that counts!

Tumblr finds

2009-12-19T18:18:00.000+08:00

"And then I felt sad because I realized that once people are broken in certain ways, they can't ever be fixed, and this is something nobody ever tells you when you are young and it never fails to surprise you as you grow older and you see the people in your life break one by one.

You wonder when your turn is going to be, or if it has already happened."

Updates from Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook

2009-12-18T16:31:00.002+08:00

I have to admit that I use social networking sites quite often (who doesn't)? I only post on Facebook and Twitter, but I do use/read the others...

Here is one entry from each of the sites that I'm saving on this blog... the ones that are amusing me right now:

#1 Tumblr.

This one amused me quite a bit, partially because I took a full ten seconds to get the joke!

(Couresty of Timothy's Tumblr)

#2 Youtube

LADY GAGA has a CHRISTMAS ALBUM!!!

#3 Facebook

Aww.. :)

#4 Twitter

Another amusing Twitter conversation.

Once again, start from the bottom and read upwards.

What do you think?

p/s the first tweet looks weird cause the original is like too long ago, cannot be archived by tweetdeck (only 100 at a time).

p/s I know someone noticed that I posted this initially and then removed it x)

Taiwan Student Exchange Programme (Days 1 to 4)

2009-12-13T13:12:00.007+08:00

I was attempting to squeeze everything in one entry, but I failed. Here's the first four days:

Student Exchange Programme 2009 (Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Senior High School with NUS High School of Math and Science).

I'm super lucky. I applied for Exchange Programme 2009, well knowing that I have already been on (1) Brunei Exchange Programme, (2) Christmas Island, (3) World Biodiversity Congress in Thailand. Considering the apparent need to give everyone a chance, I wasn't counting on getting a single trip.

But one fine day, on the way to Class Outing at Clarence's House, Ms Li called and told me that I was selected for Taiwan Exchange Programme! It's like a leftover spot, and I mean, if people don't want it, I'll take it =).

And best of all? My BFF Darren is on the trip too! Super lucky!!!

DAY 1 (6 September 2009)

Spot our flight. Sorry if you can't read Chinese.

Mr Ho in the background. Departing from Terminal 3 for the very first time!

They freaking have a butterfly garden inside the terminal itself. There's a greenhouse there.

Our first group shot - see how beautiful the waiting area is!

ZOOOOOOOM OFFFF TO TAIWAN!

Baby steps in Taiwan.

Totally wrong target audience.

Jonathan is excited, waiting to collect stuff from the conveyer belt.

But we are going to Kaohsiung, not Taipei. The only SIA flights that travel to Taiwan only fly to Taipei, so we are going to the High Speed Railway right now.

Everything's in freaking Traditional Chinese! Oh gosh!

Exploring the train terminal...

The background stupidly reminded me of the Parthenon. I know, retarded.

Ugly signs. I really don't get Kiss and Ride.

This train is seriously fast. I think it travels at 300 km/h? There are those food sellers that push their carts around to sell food, but they are obviously overpriced.

At Kaoshiung, the homestay families were there to receive us!

No family yet :(

A group shot, and off we went!

For dinner on the first night, homestay parents brought us to the city centre, and I ate DIMSUM!!!

No pictures, cause I thought it was a bit rude to keep taking photos.

They've been to Singapore and eaten Dimsum here, so they ordered some really exotic ones that they were sure I haven't tried before.

Stopped by this popcorn stall where we got buckets of popcorn. Homestay mum got chocolate flavoured popcorn just cause I said that was my fave flavour.

When I got to their home, I got received by this:

You can totally see the river and part of the city skyline from the window!

They gave me a free WiFi dongle somemore, so awesome!

DAY 2 (7 September 2009)

First day of school!

Welcoming ceremony.

We had combined calligraphy lesson in the morning.

AHAHA.

Went to their mini-canteen during the break. They have no canteen! This is like some bookstore/snack store. They order their food from some local restaurant every single day.

After all that was over, buddy picked me up and off I went to class.

The kids in my class were the youngest in the school (15) and were super friendly! They were swarming over me, and made me stand in front of the class so they can ask me questions about Singapore.

Had a great time with their class cause they are super talktative and welcoming =)

Their favourite topic: Caning/Pornography.

In the afternoon, we attended their lessons. For today, it was swimming.

In the evening, homestay mum picked us up. Oh I forgot to mention that homestay dad drove me to school in the morning.

We went to the old British Consulate up this mountain.

Just a few weeks ago, the entire area was devstated by a typhoon, remember?

History of Kaohsiung and some science exhibition:

Had Beef Noodles at some local restaurant. Forgot to take pictures - the noodles were awesome!!!

Got some iced mango thingy along the way home. =)

I have yet to pay a single cent.

DAY 3 (8 September 2009)

My awesome breakfast!

We had Defence Education in the morning... All Taiwanese students have to go through it, no matter what.

Yes, self discipline is of utmost importance.

Jonathan, for once, listening intently, probably because we get to play with the guns!

The above two Taiwanese are actually teachers!

Then we had a special PE lesson...

That building looks super antique.

We had Badminton lessons with this teacher who is some renowned Taiwanese national player. She apparently earned about two or three gold medals in some regional competitions.

We spent more time camwhorring around and taking photos of the scenery than anything else.

That's her!

Then I met my buddy and went back to class for lesson observation.

Everday, the kids order this bento set thing from some shop. This is the meal for the day:

Their classroom. Super small, super stuffy, tables super old. The building was constructed in 1942 (can you guess, by who?).

Later at night, homestay parents brought me to Dream Mall, Kaohsiung's Biggest Mall.

Freaking FERRIS WHEEL =)

Homestay parents got me and buddy on it so that we can see KS scenery!

My buddy's scared of heights!

The mini-amusement park is on the highest level.

The mall is like, VIVO-size multiplied by about six levels?

Shopping and enjoying life, before going back to retire for the day.

DAY 4 (9 September 2009)

Got fetched to school again.

I have the best breakfasts in the world! Homestay mum super nice eh?

My amazing tiramisu cake.

Had combined lessons in the morning again - Chinese musical instruments and calligraphy!

This lesson was quite cute, got to play the pi2 pa2.

Then, calligraphy lessons with this famous guy! His paintings sell for thousands - my homestay family has one of his, and homestay dad says it costs about $3000!!!

We got to write our own art pieces.

The guy freaking wrote 12 dui4 lian2s for us to bring home! Super nice, right? This is the one he wrote for Mr Ho, it's "Think No Evil".

And then we presented our beloved Mr Ho with a special gift!

HAHA inside joke, all the way from Year 2.

Then it was back to class...

By the way, they have a 1.5 hour break in the middle of each day. It's specifically for napping. They have lessons all the way till 5 pm.

After that, got picked up by homestay mum again, and went to have a sumptuous dinner!

It was some health steamboat place.

Homestay parents say they come here quite frequently, cause it's healthy =)

They use a lot of kinds of sauces though - I ate it plain and they said that Singaporeans seem to take bland foods well.

A thought

2009-12-12T23:12:00.002+08:00

This is totally worth just a random tweet:

If being friends with someone is so bloody difficult cause of sensitive issues that keep popping up all the time, why the hell bother being friends?

As much as it's okay having problems with friends from time to time, in my opinion, it's not acceptable if it happens all the time. Like hello? Don't let someone be such a big liability, unless you know they are worth it.

My Top 10 Songs for 2009

2009-12-12T21:57:00.003+08:00

The year's coming to a close, and I've got to do my customary entry (I'm all about traditions) on my favourite songs of 2009!

Here's the top 7 songs (2009) on my iPod and WMP combined.

#7 Britney Spears' 3!

What better way to end 2009 with a mega-hit from the artist of the decade. Britney sounds mechanic and soul-less on this one, but the club-thumping beats are irresistible. Nevermind the racy lyrics.

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#6 Lady GaGa's "Bad Romance"

Even the biggest gaga hater cannot resist this track. If you're still resisting the track after a few spins, the video should leave you in a semi-speechless state, clamouring for more.

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#5 Cobra Starship & Leighton Meester "Good Girls Go Bad"

Cobra Starship works magic here. Leighton Meester adds a bit of star power to the song too. This song gets you thumping your feet.

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#4 Miley Cyrus's "The Climb"

Minus the pole-dancing and her declining image, the songwriters for this song are seriously awesome. A ballad that will reach out to anyone out there.

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#3 Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams"

Electropop to perfection. Beyonce tried something new and pulled it off!

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#2 Kelly Clarkson "My Life Would Suck Without You"

I think this is one of the best songs ever. Instantly catchy!

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AND MY FAVE!!!!

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#1 Jordin Sparks' Battlefield.

Why does love always feel like a battlefield? This song is one of the most epic ones - the production and the emotion she conveys just oozes out from the speakers. A true emotional war.

Crazily Busy

2009-12-10T20:33:00.002+08:00

I've been incredibly busy this holidays. Jetting around from place to place, finishing projects, planning ahead for 2010 amongst numerous fun-filled activities, of course. I'm not compromising my holidays.

Past two weeks have been crazy. Bintan trip, followed by 3-day camp at SKCC (See entry after this), then work. I'm having a lot of fun, but I guess fun can be tiring too x) Getting home in an extremely fatigued state every single day.

And I kind of dread/am semi-excited (which makes me kind of ambivalent?) for the next few weeks, cause of numerous events/tasks that are demanding attention.
- 2 Christmas parties
- ARP/IRP papers, 2 SSEF Posters, 1 RP Congress Poster, IRP samplings etc
- 1 Birthday party
- NEA Appraisal/NEA Camp on 28th
- Planning for NUSH Sustainable Devt Convention
- CCA Fair, Settle exco and new positions for 2010

Us at 313 @ Somerset, on 9 December.

New mall, huge F21 with guys stuff.

I've been a mad socialite! Going out after work every single day. Shit crazy. Did I mention how much I'm having fun at work? My colleagues Felicia Ang (freaking 22 years old!) and Ms Aliana (an actual art teacher) are so fun to work with. The kids are actually quite disciplined too =)

Did I tell you about some horror stories?

1. Backstabbing
Boy A tells Boy B to walk into the Eco-Garden (forbidden area). Boy A runs and tells camp leader that Boy B walked in there.

2. Bitching
Two girls were talking happily. Suddenly, Girl A runs up to me and tells me that Girl B talks like a baby, and is irritating.

3. Rich kids
Me, "Look! It's a squirrel"
Girl, "Chey, I've seen it in London before".

Okay, updates later. Still got ten million unblogged photos from yesteryears.

Children's Camp (Again!)

2009-12-06T18:14:00.005+08:00

It's the December holidays, which means children's camps again! Super awesome, it's like our 8th camp already.

I've gotten over 350 CIP hours from SengKang CC. All the overnight camps since 2007 contributed a lot. Together with all the other school commitments, I've managed to chalked up about 513.5 hours in total - and all while enjoying with the company of great friends =)

I remember doing Gaming4Charity when Mdm Ho called me to join the camp (she's sort of some bigshot in people's association). I was a bit apprehensive about joining it, but in the end, I made new friends, that I cannot believe I am still in contact with today.

And every year we have birthday parties and our TRADITION: CHRISTMAS PARTY. We are rotating homes and this year it's mine!

Each camp brings and adds on so many more memories. At every camp, something will happen that serves as an allusion to something that happened in the past. And we've had pretty retarded moments like fooling around like retards.

I think one benefit of having friends outside of school is that there's a new perspective on things... you are not confined by the social rules that you experience in school. Which is awesome cause I can totally see how we would all fit in differently if we were in a school together!

Time passes so quickly, and we're all growing up!

Okay, enough emo, now on to...

Day 1

Me and Kenn at Registration Counter. I think Darius took this shot - wth got woman's head in the way!?

And I look abnormally red because I just returned from Bintan the day before. It was blazing hot!!!

As usual, the kids got down to their morning exercise:

Bryan leads them again, for the millionth time.

Then we were split into two big groups, my group did the agar making and logcake baking first.

The colourful agar was of course, pre-prepared.

They had to chop it into pieces and place it into this container of hot agar for it to solidify.

It's for them to bring home to their parents.

Wayne! He was from my group the last camp.

They had to make the logcake then. Again, cake was pre-baked. They just have to smear the cream, add the rainbow sprinkles and add in the candy cane.

Chio right? That's like, the sample of course x) Theirs won't be so big and so nice.

Then it was lunch time - fish fillet and chicken thingy. With baked beans, and plain water.

Hungry kids are seriously noisy kids.

Other VJ volunteers.

It was the only time we had a break:

Us outside. Darius holding the camera. This is Yangxuan's second camp, after the very first one we did in 2007.

Preparing for craft:

This is what they were working towards:

A photo can be inserted there. This one is incomplete - haven't sprayed on the snow spray yet.

When this was done, they all assembled outside for some games.

They had to, using a chopstick held in their mouth, to fish for one of these papers containing a prize inside.

Okay, random photo of Cherry's razr vs. mine. She go and buy that retarded Simpson's Cover for her razr, after the cover started peeling off!

I need to follow the Speak Good English Movement and stop writing in such singlish.

Oh by the way, this is the end-product after snow spray. Nice eh?

Then the 4 of us went for dinner (Sandra wasn't around.

Gross.

Our customary Longan again. Brings back all the amazing memories!

Day 2

Day 2 is always field trip!

Darius and Denzel came in the same colour outfit LOL. Coincidental.

They have a love-hate relationship.

After morning exercise, kids got on the bus and ZOOM to Police Dog Training Unit.

I just realized, today, that the reason it's called K9 is because it refers to
"Canine". Am I right?

Onward to high security area.

Dog fountain. Eww like saliva.

Fion - her second camp.

So the kids were treated to a performance by the policemen. They were shown how obedient the dogs are.

These two kids volunteered for some experiment. Okay, first the dogs sniff through a pile of boxes. Then the dog is taken away. The kids hide cannabis in one of the box, and the dog is called out again. And it manages to sniff out the correct box!

Putting the box in place.

Engrossed!

Then they went on a tour of the kennel.

They get to touch the dogs!

Then it's back on the bus and time for lunch.

Very difficult to coordinate them.

Another VJ volunteer.

Then, on the bus to Hort Park!

It was raining, so the kids couldn't go see the butterfly garden :(

So we entertained them with "Jingle Bell Rock". Divided into two groups and they had to sing - it's strange cause Cherry and I were the only few amongst the volunteers who knew the tune of the song.

Actually, I only know the tune cause I heard it on Mean Girls.

After that, went back to SengKang, and then got our dinner again, complete with Longan.

Prior to this, I helped YangXuan pick out gifts for her Taiwan buddies - she was leaving on Friday morning for Taiwan.

Feel the Christmas spirit at Compass Point!

Day 3

This is Su Ning - she is so well-behaved! I love kids like that :)

Another VJ/NJ Volunteer.

Bryan leading the morning workout again:

Back to craft room for the last piece of artwork: A butterfly! It's for them to put around their finger for the performance.

My group - YangXuan supposed to be in this picture too!

Wrapping like mad!

Then I had to leave early - I finished making the video montage, then left... (I had to go off for Job Briefing actually). But I came back after that.

The customary dinner treat from the teachers!

Half of the volunteers are missing here!

Okay, I shall post a retarded picture of me.

Yay!

By the way, there was this peculiar girl wearing an apron throughout the camp. When Darius asked her why, she said, "I'm carrying around my baby kangaroo".

LOL, KIDS.

Next up will be outing and Christmas party :) Job starts this coming monday, and more kids. Madness!

Against Happiness?

2009-12-05T19:38:00.002+08:00

"Chase away the demons, and they will take the angels with them" - Joni Mitchell.

Just finished reading "Against Happiness" by Eric Wilson, a professor at Wake Forest University. I picked up this book at the library as the title grabbed my attention - I thought people generally love preaching about having a right to be happy? Isn't happiness what we are striving towards?

The author opens the book and adds the perspective: The USA, it seems, is fast developing into a nation devoid of melancholy. And he has statistics to prove it - only about 15% of Americans claim they are unhappy. The dazzling variety of antidepressants that americans eagerly pop before their sleep, in a bid to keep the harsh reality away, may actually be doing society wrong.

The introduction sort of painted the author as a snob. I mean, doesn't it sort of jump at you? Like the classic - the common laymen lead lives of shallow ecstasy, while the superior celebrate in sorrow - kind of argument.

I read on and realized that there was some hidden truth in his preachings. Our emotions, it seems, can be divided into three parts: happiness, sadness, and the in between. Wilson claims that most men choose between either of the two extremes, and urges us to consider straddling the continuum between both - for it is apparently the precarious tight rope between the two stands that make life worth leading.

That being said, the book spends plentiful of pages trying to convince americans not to subscribe to the prescriptions of the media god - that sustained ecstasy is the aim of life. He claims that we need to be against mere contentment in order to fully embrace ecstasy. For without a loss of innocence, one cannot truly understand and experience possessing innocence.

I'm all for experiencing hardship, for it enhances the joy of euphoric times, but unlike Wilson, I'm not against people drowning themselves in prozac in a bid to remain happy. I don't see anything particularly wrong about that, since people have a choice as to how to lead their lives. One can choose to buy into the plasticity, frivolity and superficiality of life, for it is more pleasant than the real one. The kind of happiness that he is preaching, a kind that can only be achieved by challenging the status quo, facing the inevitable melancholy that strikes us from time to time, may not exactly be the most gratifying form. Experiencing it does not make one any better than those who are strangely constantly whistling to a euphoric tone (in fact, sometimes, I pretty much admire how some people hop from one thing to another and can always remain happy).

The author sort of makes a distinction between his reference to depression and the clinical one. Melancholia is good, and depression is bad. Melancholia is "turbulent", while depression is "passive". While the greatest musicians composed their legendary works at the bleak nadirs of their lives (Joni Mtichell, Beethoven, John Legend among numerous other artist(e)s cited), the apparent enhanced creativity as a result of full immersion into melancholy is not an adequate proposition of the supposed benefits of melancholy. An extension of the logic would give rise to supporting an argument that contends that we should make no attempt to counsel violent, drug-consuming gangs against their ways; since these are the people who will probably become the greatest artistes of our time!

At the end of the day, I would still sort of recommend this book, because it adds a new perspective. In the course of reading it, I'm reminded of some of the tough times and how I've learnt so much from them. When wallowing in self-pity and drowning in sorrow, we sort of learn to appreciate the highs, and analyze society or life from a deeper frame of thought. I'm no stranger to that, but I've sort of managed to find some form of contentment, in learning to live with myself, and being comfortable with who I am. I'm not immune to the obstacles that prick my ego or push me down into a valley, but I've grown to become able to manage them much better. Though I do not wish to pursue a path of escapism, one that is constantly running away from the occasional awareness of the sorrowful realities of life, who is to stop or criticise those that choose such a life?

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

2009-12-05T00:28:00.000+08:00

Morals

2009-12-02T21:06:00.002+08:00

[Define] Moral: concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles.

From infancy, we were 'indoctrinated' to stick to our morals. The child who throws tantrums is spanked. The child who is selfish is reprimanded. The child who lies has his allowance docked. Why? We were taught, through the means of conditioning, that we need to do things the right way.

As we proceed into teenagehood and adulthood, maturity replaces conditioning with logic and reason. Yet, the teen who cheats on a test is severely penalised. The teen who steals from shops is humiliated in front of the entire student body. The teen who is irresponsible is slapped a strict curfew. It seems that we have to tread along the treacherous moral path, never to succumb to temptation, never to veer off course.

Yet, at some point along the journey of maturity, we realize that adults aren't exactly perfect subscribers to the moral code. They make concessions every now and then. The scruffy-looking hooligan sells drugs in order to support his family. The businessman cheats on this wife for self-gratification, claiming that his wife is not supporting his 'needs'. The clerk secretly removes supplies from her office for home use.

When confronted, adults supply, well, what they call, "excuses". In order to survive, it seems, we now have to bend the rules of the book of morals. A new, unspoken rule is added to the guide to life. A rule so unclear, and so prone to subjective interpretations, it throws you into a semi-state of confusion.

What now? If I steal because I need to support my family, does that make my crime less severe? When is it okay to depart from your morals? Under what circumstances is it acceptable to commit an act deemed morally wrong? Why does the term 'white lie' exist?

I doubt anyone can fully address these concerns. Along our journey, we sort of pick up cues, and make mistakes, and learn more, as we encounter increasingly complex situations. It is difficult to stick to one's morals all the time, but how much you choose to compromise makes all the difference. Because no matter what, your conscience is well aware of the crimes you've committed, and there's no way you can escape the effect it has on your being.

Darren's Birthday Part I @ Fortune Cuisine at Sunset Way

2009-11-30T08:01:00.000+08:00

17th November 2009

No surprise this year. x) Aiyah so many years liao, enough!

Anyway, the present was still a surprise. :)

I worked with Donovan to get all the materials. His idea was to get a poster of a map (A0) and then use coffee to antiquate it. I thought it'd be better to get A3, and get a noticeboard along with it. =) Then both of us set down to making it - but due to the immense lack of time, I even had to do it during Council Meeting, cause Donovan had no other time.

Okay, more of the present later.

The party is split into two parts because Donovan and Sidwyn were going off on Wednesday, the 18th of November. Darren's birthday is on the 19th! Sharma came along, I guess, cause he was more familiar with the company on this day :) Today's like his inner circle friends party.

Us at Sunset Way for a great buffet!

4 flavours for 2 steamboats, each partitioned into two.

Quite good!

The buffet was not bad, with a decent spread.

A very hungry me!

Aromatic!

Donovan fishing for prawns.

We had a great time talking about retarded things x)

Yay Happy Birthday Darren! =)

The gift that Don and I made! Quite chio on close up - the map I bought is like, so old, Russia is still labelled as "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".

Also pasted vintage stickers for the countries, alongside photos of my trips with Darren, along with Donovan's own trips.

How's that for a great gift?