SYF Opening Ceremony

Had an extremely long but fruitful first week up on the hills. Yesterday was the 'finale'. I finished lessons at 2, immediately had to rush for the IJ-board induction for newbies then at 5pm had to bring my band babies to the SYF opening. Initially I thought that I will immediately zonk out the moment I reach Indoor Stadium but I didn't. Instead, i was dazzled by the items presented at the ceremony. Of course, our fabulous dance girls were there!! Was happy to see our girls cheering for their school mates. There were many band performances including 1 from St John's Institution from KL. The one that left an impression in me was the combined primary school performance. Those kids were so cute and wore flowers on the bells of their instruments. That made me recall me primary school band days. How we prepared for the SYF competition. I can still remember the pieces we played. I can even remember the solo parts and how it should be played, even after more than 15 years.

Then of course, there's my secondary school. In order to recruit members, we'll plan outdoor band displays for the sec 1s and it's always the most difficult and tiring activity but we all enjoyed it when the product was ready. Then there was JC, NS and then university. Gee...seems just like yesterday.

So what did I accomplish was a youth? Academica achievements aside, I think I had a hell lot of fun. Isn't that what being youthful is all about? I'd like to believe i'm still a youth and will spend this youth day holiday doing something youthful. Haha...

Dug through a whole lot of old pics but could only find some of them. So..this is me, when I was slightly more youthful. I'm youthful. Still. :P

This picture was taken for our year book. A decade ago. I'm seated first row, 6th from the right, beside the band major.

In JC, we made banners for EVERYTHING. This giant one spans 3 storeys and was hung on the rooftop. See how small the stone table looks compared to it. We didn't set out to do one that was so big but because I made a mistake in calculations, we ended up with a cloth that was so big.

Recruitment banner. We had so much fun planning and painting it.

There were only so 'many' guys in my JC class.

We call ourselves the crap-family. Cos we're always so crappy. We all came into JC and into the same class, doing the same triple science combi cos we wanted to be doctors. As fate would have it, only 1 of us made it. The rest of us are, however, happy where we are and doing our share for the community. Let's see, from the left (seated): pharmacist, teacher, business-woman, business-woman, radiologist, doctor (OMG i still cannot believe this crazy woman is a doctor now! :P) Standing: physiotherapist, physiotherapist, pharmacist, nurse.

NEOPRINTS! Haven't seen these guys for almost a year. Must have a class outing soon again! Arghh....

JC life was such a daze. It came and went very quickly and before we know it, we're in NS! OMG....

dead beat

Last night, I blogged while lying on my bed using my Atom. Unfortunately, after I'm done with the entire post, i accidentally tapped the 'back' button and the post was gone. Forever. Was too upset to make another post and I just went to bed hoping to wake up 2 hours later to do some work. I didn't wake up till 6am today.

Yesterday was quite an emotionally sapping day. The mobile phone event triggered off everything and I spent almost an entire period blasting. Still not the kind of blasting I did in another place but enough to make so want to give up. This generation is unfortunate enough to be born into a world of so much distractions. Only the ones who can prioritise will survive. Nothing is more important that getting an education. Up on the hills, people are too sheltered. They do not know that they are competing with everyone else in singapore. They do not know that they have an excellent environment for maximum growth and development, away from the daily fights and frequent disruptions. The only disruptions they have are self-created. Their incessant talking drives me crazy. Their indifference drives me mad. Perhaps I just care too much.

This morn, found out that 2 of them deliberately skipped afternoon lessons "because they dun feel like coming". This time round, I was more composed. I even smiled and replied that I will treat it as a truancy case. They are not the malicious kind, just very playful. I really wish I had a way to make them see that they should really grow up now and be responsible for their own future. Yeah, grow up. Just two days and I'm actually quite drained. Physically and emotionally. Thankfully I've still got plenty of focused and motivated ones whom I don't mind a bit to stay behind after work to help. Sigh...

Kids...

The unthinkable happened again yesterday. Mum's friends were in the house again! Ahhh... They're actually pretty nice people but really, it's the monsters they bring along that annoyed me. Thankfully for these monsters, they've been here often enough to know that my room is out of bounds. Even the area outside my door is out of bounds else this teacher will probably grill and eat them. Somehow these kids have a certain fear in them the moment they know i'm a teacher. Perhaps it's the amount of books plastered all over the walls that scare them. Perhaps it's my killer stare...perhaps perhaps. Whatever it is, I'm safe within the confines of walls of my room. The noise however was most annoying. Nowadays mum has taken to saying "Hey you all better lower your volume ah.....else the teacher will scold!" When I first heard it I was like "What?!" Since when did I become the "karang guni man" or the "policeman" who will catch little kids if they misbehave? These kids will probably grow up with twisted childhood who thinks that teachers are well.... monsters.

Too much blabbering. Anyway, i left the house before it was officially declared a war zone so that I will be spared of the psychological trauma. Lots of things to prepare today cos... school opens tomorrow! Wheee..... :D

Hooked!

Just like Kimberly, I've taken a fancy to chinese songs recently esp to the song below. I first heard it a couple of days back in a cab and since then I've been playing it 10 million times annoying everyone. I'm like that. When I like a song, I play it until i'm sick of it. :P

你那么爱她 by 李圣杰 林隆璇

直到爱消失你才懂得
去珍惜身边每个 每好风景
只是她早已离去


直到你相逢他早已经
不在对你留恋
最后的你 开始了一段挣扎


你那么爱她
为什么不把她留下
为什么不说心里话
你深爱她
这是每个人都知道啊
你那么爱她
为什么不把她留下
是不是你有深爱的两个她
所以你不想再让自己无法自拔


直到爱消失你才懂得
去珍惜身边每个 每好风景
只是她早已离去
直到你相逢她早已经
不在对你留恋
最后的你 开始了一段挣扎


你那么爱她
为什么不把她留下
为什么不说心里话
你深爱她
这是每个人都知道啊
你那么爱她
为什么不把她留下
是不是你有深爱的两个她
所以你不想再让自己无法自拔


你那么爱她
为什么不把她留下
为什么不说心里话
你深爱她
这是每个人都知道啊
你那么爱她
为什么不把她留下
是不是你有深爱的两个她
所以你不想再让自己无法自拔

And here's a fake MTV I found on Youtube. Quite funny!

In the Womb (Twins, Triplets and Quads)

Nat Geo: 24 - 29th June! All those with cable must SEEEEEEEE!!!

WITD

Woke up at 1000 and got an sms from a K. We're meeting somewhere in town to discuss the upcoming exams. Since I've been longing to pay the Singapore MINT Toy Museum, i suggested that we meet at the cafe for the discussion. I arrived there at 1145. Still in my dazed post sleep mood, I crossed the street talking to myself. Then I realised, K was already there waiting for me and caught me in my 'talking-to-invisible-friend' mode. Haha....so embarassing.

Anyway, we discussed and finished up quite a bit of stuff before starting to talk rubbish again. Then at 3pm I realised that I'm late for tea with D! Damn...so we quickly packed and left. Thankfully I was only meeting D in the next street. Phew! So we hung out till late and missed my gym. Argh! Nvm.. will gym and swim tomorrow instead. Today I'll take things easy.

School's gonna reopen again! Gosh...so fast! I'm so excited... :P

This is so (tragically) funny!

The guy actually pointed up and said that "that's the boyfriend! OMG...he will fall for sure...Nooooooo....." So FUNNY!

Mon and Tue: WIDT

On Monday, we participated in an IJ learning journey to discover for ourselves the IJ mission and what "being persons for others" actually mean.

And so we all went and had fun! Wheee....

First stop: Boat Quay! Though we don't know where exactly is the landing site of the IJ sisters, we do know that they landed somewhere here.

And then we followed the footsteps of the IJ sisters who went to the church beside CHIJMES. Yes, we WALKED from Boat Quay to that church. Thank goodness the weather was very good for walking. :) Frankly we chatted and walked so it didn't feel far at all.

At the church we learnt the history of the place. Next stop, CHIJMES, which is just next door.

Through the Gates of Hope. Apparently people had abandoned their babies here to the cared for by the nuns. What really amazed me was that within a few days after the sisters were given the Caldwell House to stay, with only scarce resources including just 1 frying pan for the whole group, they took in more than 10 fee paying students and even more orphans. Even though odds were against them, they did what they thought was right. How many of us can say for sure that we are able to do the same thing under the same circumstances? That really got me into a reflective mode.

The corridors of CHIJMES. How many had passed through their doors I can't say for sure. I think IJ students are really fortunate to belong to a school of such rich history and heritage. Unfortunately, I don't see the kind of school spirit I saw in other schools like St Andrews. The boys there sing their school anthem loud like a war cry that frightens enemies off. I've seen them fight in inter-school competitions, singing their anthem and cheering throughout the entire event. I'm not sure about IJ schools because I've never been to any such sports events as yet but I really hope such strong school heritage do not go to waste. Perhaps it's because I came from a school with very rich heritage too that made me feel so strongly about school spirit. Gan Eng Seng School (NOT Gan Eng Seng Secondary School PLEASE!) was established in 1885 for 'boys who were poor'. During my time, spirit was at an all time high. Now, I think the GESSian spirit is lost. No more pride. Just take a look at the way they wear their school uniform. Shirts tucked out, smoking etc. *FUMING MAD* NOT fit to wear the badge at all. ARGH! Ok too much ranting... IJ should never let their school spirit become like that of GESS.

We had lunch at BK of Cineleisure. So much junk food! I can't stand it! Haha...

And then we played our very own version of Amazing Race in Cineleisure! It's quite a good change considering we had a pretty emo morning with everyone getting into a reflective mode. So we did all sorts of funny things, DDR, Para-Para, Pool, Neo prints etc. Seems like my JC days are back again! I wanna take neo-prints with my best friends soooooon!! :D

We ended the day with some of the us going to Ding Tai Feng, Singapore Toy Museum or Eu Yang Sang. Apparently the Toy Museum group had the most fun. I wanna visit that too on my own next time! I was with the DTF group and we went to Paragon's Breadtalk and DTF to find out what made the company so successful. Just last month, I went to DTF 3 days in a row just to eat the same thing. My fav dish is the chicken soup with noodles thingie!! We had dinner at Fort Canning Lodge and though everyone was very tired, we did went back with quite a lot to think and reflect upon.

For me, I think what I remembered most strongly about that day was about the IJ sister's journey to Singapore and how they persevered against all odds. Human spirit, when pushed to the limit, can work miracles. Are we pushing ourselves enough? In today's comfortable world, are we getting too soft? Is Singapore turning into a nation of softies?

HKG and a wedding

Been back since last sunday but been very busy since I got off the plane. Immediately, I went home and just zonked out waking up for Shi Sheng's meeting. Yeah, if you remember, Shisheng is the brother of the Huang Shi Yu who took part in the Star Search some time back. Here's the link:

http://ch8.mediacorptv.com/around8/interviews/view/240/1/.html

However, Shiyu wasn't the star that night of course. The groom, Shi Sheng was my friend in NUSWS and turns out that, the bride is my primary school friend! So that wedding dinner turned out to be very interesting for me. Not only were there tables for my NUS friends there was also a table full of my primary school friends! I was most surprised to find Jia Miao because, Jia Miao is also my kindergarten friend!



Here's the bride and groom.



Bride and groom again in their 2nd change of clothes. Sometimes I wonder why the hassle? Just let the two poor pple have their wedding dinner in peace man...

And Jiali was there too! She's my JC classmate, one of the members of our clique. Also the counsel president of my year. Gosh...we've all grown so much. JC seems to be yesterday but it's been almost 10 years.

And of course how can any post be complete without me and Ad? :P

This is Jia Miao, my kindergarten and primary school friend. She's the only friend i can remember from my kindergarten days cos our families were quiet close. Oh...she cousin is Zhang Si Li. The ex- Miss Singapore and brother is Teo Say Luck, MP of some constituency.

Wennie, Gerald and Me! Always so FOS in band....sigh.. i really miss playing my instrument.

WIDT

First thing after meeting with the rest of at the hotel, we went to..... POPULAR BOOKSHOP! Gosh.... and we had so much fun buying all the HKCEE bio guidebooks and looking at all the creative questions inside. HKCEE is like our O levels except that their questions are a lot more creative and our syllabus are almost the same. Hehe...

Finally

Finally it's alive! Haha...after tweaking with so many things. I've finally got this thing to work. Somehow I've forgotten how I managed to put my picture up in the personal profile section. I've included the url but somehow whenever I click save, the URL is not there anymore! Compared it with my other blog but I don't see anything amiss. Perhaps someone can give some pointers?

Didnt get to travel much this holiday cos too much work to do so i'm just gonna share a pic of me on my way to visit Hogwarts last year! :P

Alright, gonna fly off to HKG with some friends in a couple of hours and I hope the 4MM and 4P babies have done their homework. If you still dunno what homework, please ask around ok? It's due when school reopens.

Ok, i'll update this as I go along in HKG. :)

PS: And I need links for "JJ's Fab List"!!!!! Else people will think I'm a LOSER with no FRIENDS!! So please gimme your links here. Thanks!